Moscow- The role of Russian cinemas was directly affected by Western sanctions, which led to a number of consequences, including the lack of foreign films in Russia and changes in the Russian cinema industry itself.
After barely began to get out of the Coveyd 19 Crisis crisis, which, according to some experts, caused the loss of Russian cinemas about one billion dollars in 2020 alone, the local cinema industry found itself again in a difficult situation due to geopolitical changes, which eventually turned into sanctions against Russia.
Accordingly, the show of many major international films in Russia has stopped, which led to a severe shortage of performances and new publications in cinemas.
Moreover, access to Western media and services has been reduced, as access to social media and media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube) has been banned, which restricted the viewing of foreign contents through these platforms.
The lack of content is clearly evident by stopping the distribution of most foreign films, as the five major Hollywood studios left the Russian market.
However, studios remained smaller and still cooperate with Russia, but the question is: Does one of its products see? And if he watches it, are the revenues of their display to the level of cinemas?
The answers to these questions are especially clear when comparing the box office revenues over the past years.
The number of tickets sold in Russian cinemas in the first quarter of 2025 has reached its lowest level in the past three years, according to the data of the unified automated information system for film show information in cinemas.
In the first quarter of 2022, which coincided with the start of the military operation in Ukraine and the comprehensive cancellation of the first shows of Hollywood films in Russia, cinemas attended only 34.2 million viewers.
The result was at the beginning of this year better than the numbers of 2022, but it is worse than the first quarter of 2021, when the Corona virus restrictions remained in force in most regions, including Moscow.
In light of the sanctions, social networks and Russian instant messages programs have become the most popular, as well as the content that is not related to politics and sanctions, such as news, entertainment, lifestyle, educational content and entertainment content.
In addition, the sanctions led to structural changes in the Russian cinema industry, making it more dependent on local financing and the local market.
But it is important to note that before these changes, local films have only acquired two or three centers among the ten films that have achieved the highest box office revenues in Russia in recent years.
Under these circumstances, some officials in the field of culture, for example, appear that 87 million viewers watched local films in 2023, twice their number in 2020, when he watched 42.5 million people Russian films, a little strange.
It is true that the sporting logic behind this statement is true, but this information was presented as a great victory for the local cinema industry, and did not mention anything that these results were not possible except in the absence of almost complete competition in the market, due to the disappearance of the most famous foreign films.
Production crisis
The content maker and screenwriter Leonid Vodofuzv emphasizes that the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian cinema industry is to restrict access to financing, technology and international experience.
According to Al -Jazeera Net, this led to a decrease in the number of joint projects with foreign partners. The ban on loans and investments for the Russian cinema industry, especially from Western companies, has led to the difficulty of producing and distributing films.
The restrictions imposed on the supply of equipment and software needed to produce films (such as graphics processors and editing programs) also slowed the pace of introducing new technologies and increasing costs.
In addition, the closure of film studios and restrictions imposed on cooperation with foreign partners has led to a decrease in the number of joint projects and the restriction of access to the international distribution market.
On the other hand, the restrictions imposed on reaching foreign films caused a significant increase in the share of local films in distribution, as the Russian cinema industry became more oriental towards the local market, which led to the increasing national topics and at the same time a decline in diversity.
Based on the foregoing, the spokesman concludes that the Russian film industry market is able to withstand the sanctions, but there are still risks, and to confront them, Russia must take measures to combat the risk of sanctions, in addition to stimulating the Russian film industry market.
Void
For his part, the advertisement official at the Kinomedia Cinematic Protection emphasizes the need to pay attention to the use of scientific and technological progress to create new forms of films, such as virtual reality and computer graphics, to attract viewers and make local cinema more competitive in the global market.
According to him, the sanctions of local producers provided an opportunity to prove their worth, however, not everything is so simple.
As he explains, the shortage of specialists who left the Russian film production market after the sanctions also represents a risk, due to the difficulty of training future professionals in the film industry.
It also indicates a problem related to restricting the distribution of Russian films abroad, and calls, in response, to focus on other markets in countries that he describes as loyal and active promotion of Russian content, especially on electronic platforms, as well as buying alternative contents, for example, from Türkiye and South Korea.
He continues that to increase the public’s interest in local cinema, Russia can attract investments in producing high -quality content, developing film festivals and other events, and developing electronic platforms for the distribution of films, allowing access to local cinema to a wide audience.