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Russia’s top box-office grosses for 2021 reflect something we rarely see on international charts: near-total domination by major U.S. studio releases. (#1 was “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.”) The two local titles in the top 10 — “Upon the Magic Roads” and “The Last Warrior: Root of Evil” — were Sony and Disney co-productions, respectively.

A check of key Moscow theaters’ websites shows multiple venues set to open Warner Bros. release “The Batman” on March 2, with tickets on sale for specific showtimes. Top films usually open in Russia parallel to worldwide release as they often do in Ukraine, including “Uncharted” last weekend. Per IMDb Pro, Ukraine had not set an opening date for “The Batman” prior to the invasion.

The invading country has been kicked off the Eurovision Song Contest. Formula 1 canceled the Russian Grand Prix. Ukrainian filmmakers are asking that Russian films be denied access to international festivals. Twitter has blocked...

The coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on cinema chains across the globe, with protracted lockdowns, limited seating capacity, and delayed releases of Hollywood blockbusters sending the likes of Alamo Drafthouse into—and out of—bankruptcy and pushing giants like Cineworld and AMC to the brink.

Yet for Russia’s Karo Cinemas, the past year has hardly slowed pre-pandemic growth; at the rapidly expanding cinema chain, which is among the country’s largest, it’s currently full speed ahead. “We still have quite an aggressive expansion program,” says CEO Olga Zinkayova, who recently presided over the opening of Karo’s 33rd multiplex. “Our [plan] for the next few years is to almost double the amount of locations we have right now.”

The past year has underscored the strength and resilience of the box office in Russia, where despite a nearly 60% drop in total B.O., to $341 million, during a pandemic-impacted 2020, industry observers are...

As the calendar turned to March this year, and the cold, dark months of a pandemic winter gave way to hopeful signs of spring, Evgenia Markova, head of the Russian film promotion body Roskino, mooted the prospect of hosting a physical version of the Key Buyers Event, a showcase of new Russian content now in its third year. “I was hoping that it would be possible,” she tells Variety. “But the further it went, the more uncertainty there was around it.”

With the coronavirus pandemic still spreading in Russia and across the rest of the world, Markova and the organizing team decided to revisit last year’s successful virtual model, which attracted more than 600 participants from around the globe, including 200 foreign buyers from the likes of Rtl Group, AMC Networks, Cgv Mars, Wild Bunch, Beta Film, and Chinese streaming service iQIYI. The three-day event features live presentations, pitches, panel discussions,...

Disney co-production and genre features among several features sold.

Russian distributors have closed multiple deals in the wake of the recent European Film Market (EFM), including a fantasy hit produced with Disney and several genre features.

Moscow-based All Media has been doing strong business with fantasy adventure The Last Warrior as well as sequel and recent box office success The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil.

The two films, produced by the Walt Disney Company Cis with independent studio Yellow, Black and White group, have been sold to Germany (Telepool), Italy (Minerva Pictures) and France (Mediawan Rights).

The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil...

While the coronavirus pandemic briefly shut down local production last year and sent the exhibition industry into a tailspin, Artem Vasilyev, of Metrafilms, is among the many Russian producers who did not sit idly by in quarantine.

“We had a very, very fruitful autumn in the industry,” says Vasilyev, who shot four features between August and November, including “30 Days and 30 Nights,” the new film from Venice Silver Lion winner Alexey German, Jr. (“Paper Soldier”), and “Jetlag,” a feature film and episodic series from Michael Idov (“The Humorist”).

Despite the financial and logistical challenges, cameras continued to roll in Russia throughout most of 2020. Coupled with optimism over the rollout of a locally produced coronavirus vaccine, Vasilyev says industry players are hopeful that the growing Russian biz can come roaring back in 2021. “I really see things on the bright side at the moment,” he says.

Alexander Rodnyansky shares that optimism. The two-time...

Disney Russia recorded box office takings of $22m over the New Year period.

Russian cinemas have reported a healthy boost in takings over the New Year period, offsetting a more gloomy picture at the global box office.

While the ongoing virus crisis has seen the closure of some cinemas in Russia – and restrictions reduce capacity to between 25-50%, dependant on region – both mainstream and arthouse features have been doing robust business.

Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, has grossed $1.3m in the territory since its release on November 12 by Capella Film. It makes the award-winning Danish feature and...

Disney Russia recorded box office takings of $22m over the New Year period.

Russian cinemas have reported a healthy boost in takings over the New Year period, offsetting a more gloomy picture at the global box office.

While the ongoing virus crisis has seen the closure of some cinemas in Russia – and restrictions reduce capacity to between 25-50%, dependant on region – both mainstream and arthouse features have been doing robust business.

Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, has grossed $1.4m in the territory since its release on November 12 by Capella Film. It makes the award-winning Danish feature and...

Disney Russia recorded box office takings of $22m over the New Year period.

Russian cinemas have reported a healthy boost in takings over the New Year period, offsetting a more gloomy picture at the global box office.

While the ongoing virus crisis has seen the closure of some cinemas in Russia – and restrictions reduce capacity to between 25-50%, dependant on region – both mainstream and arthouse features have been doing robust business.

Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, starring Mads Mikkelsen, has grossed $1.4m in the territory since its release on November 12 by Capella Film. It makes the award-winning Danish feature and...

Russia opening helps ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ stretch lead over ‘The Croods: A New Age’ in global tallies.

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ debuts with $2.6m in Russia

An estimated $2.6m debut including previews for Wonder Woman 1984 in Russia was more than enough to balance out the erosion of the film in all its other international markets. The Warner Bros/DC Films sequel grossed an estimated $5.2m in total internationally, up from $4.8m for the previous session, and bringing the international total to $105.9m. Add in North America, and the worldwide total is $141.7m.

Warner Bros reports that cinemas in Russia are operating at 25% seating capacity.

Update, writehru: Fans of Kollywood cinema got a treat this weekend as Tamil action thriller Master debuted in India and a handful of other markets across the harvest festival period. While we do not have confirmed figures for the Vijay-starrer in India, estimates had it at around $11M from Wednesday-Friday with the film believed to have crossed the coveted Rs 100 crore ($15M) gross mark over the weekend. Bows in such international box office markets as UAE, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, along with the U.S., added about $3M (including previews) for the film from director Lokesh Kanagaraj.

Now, as we always caution, it is notoriously difficult to cull early numbers out of India given its varied states and reporting structure — which in some cases is gross and in others net after the subtraction of an entertainment tax. The situation is further complicated when a movie releases in four different...

Lily James Rom-Com Adds Cast

Sajal Ali, Shabana Azmi, Rob Brydon and Asim Chaudhry have joined the cast of Working Title and Studiocanal’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? Shoot is now underway in London on the pic, which Deadline previously revealed would star Lily James, Shazad Latif and Emma Thompson. Jemima Khan wrote the screenplay and will produce, with Shekhar Kapur directing. Nicky Kentish Barnes is also producing alongside Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, with Sarmad Masud as executive producer. Story is a cross-cultural rom-com about love and marriage and is set between London and South Asia.

‘Last Warrior’ Slays Russian Box Office

Russia’s box office got a big boost in the early part of 2021 as The Last Warrior: Root Of Evil set a record gross of $22.1M across its first ten days of release. Originally opening to $2M on January 1, the movie from...

“The Last Warrior: Root of Evil” nabbed $22,1 million across Russia and Cis for the first ten days of theatrical distribution – from January 1 to 11, 2021 – and outperformed all Russian pandemic-era releases despite tricky circumstances for movie theatres with capacity reduced to 25% and social distancing requirements.

The heroic sequel produced by Disney, Yellow, Black and White and TV Channel “Russia” became the highest grossing release of the post-lockdown theatrical distribution in Russia and the first film to cross one-billion-ruble mark among domestically produced and foreign films during that period.

“The Last Warrior: Root of Evil“ got a huge head start collecting $2,0 million on January 1, 2021 from 1971 screens in Russia and Cis and having 12 000 screenings daily. According to Disney Russia, it has also entered in top 5 international box office hits over the last weekend (8-10 January).

“The Last Warrior: Root of Evil“ is a sequel of a 2017 Russian fantasy comedy film directed by Dmitriy Dyachenko,...