Increased success expected for Russian films in 2016

Russian films are predicted to increase their local box-office share this year.

According to forecasts by Russian analytics firm Nevafilm Research, domestic films are expected to take a 20% share at the box office, compared to 17.3% in 2015. A 20% share would constitute the best performance by Russian films since 2008.

Such high expectations are owed both to large-scale domestic releases and a government promise to upgrade cinemas in return for screening Russian-made films.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter senior analyst for Nevafilm, Xenia Leontyeva, highlighted the importance of the state-sponsored programme, in which regional cinemas receive funding for upgrades if they dedicate at least half of their screens to domestic films.

It is not anticipated, however, that increased success for local releases will negatively impact upon Hollywood films released in Russia, which normally dominate at the box office, with Nevafilm predicting that European titles and smaller independent US movies will suffer most.

Prominent Russian films being released this year include Crew (Ekipazh), a disaster film from director Nikolay Lebedev, and Alexei Mizgirev’s period drama Duelist (Duelyant).

Source: Hollywood Reporter