The giants of American cinema had decided to withdraw from the Russian market following the war in Ukraine. But the Russians have decided to circumvent this limitation to broadcast the last blockbuster of the year.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian cinemas have been in a gray state. 41% of cinemas have even had to close since the beginning of 2022, according to russian news agency. And for good reason: a very large part of American films are no longer available for legal distribution in the country. Studios like Warner, Sony or Disney have indeed decided to cancel the release of all their films in Russia until further notice.
Never mind the Russian cinemas, which have decided to resort to piracy as an emergency solution. For several months already, some cinemas, like in St Petersburg or Yekaterinburg, have been using illegally downloaded copies of films. Some operators have also managed to obtain films in Digital Cinema Packages format, the standard format intended for dark rooms.
Copies of Avatar 2 donated by Kazakhstan
The practice, however, intensified with the release of the second opus of Avatar by James Cameron. As revealed by the specialized site TorrentFreak and the Russian independent media Medusaseveral Russian establishments have tried at all costs to get their hands on copies of the long-awaited blockbuster.
Some cinemas were even prepared to show clandestine recordings of the film. However, they were able to fall back on high-quality copies, donated by friendly countries such as Kazakhstan. How these files were exchanged was not disclosed. According to Alexei Voronkov, president of the Russian association of cinema owners, this practice has become essential.
“I can’t even blame the cinemas for getting into pirate screenings anymore. As of today, the wave of unauthorized film releases is growing exponentially and will only grow. […] I think it’s not caused primarily by the desire to make money, but by the desire to survive,” Alexei Voronkov told Russian media. Kinometro.
However, this illegal technique is not used by all cinemas. Establishments have also decided to postpone their projection of Avatar 2 to January 13, 2023, so as to favor Russian productions during the end of the year, when the industry usually records its peak attendance.
