MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Olga Sobolevskaya.)
Russian movie theaters are beginning to attract increasing numbers of people. In some estimates, box-office takings will reach $350 million in 2005. Some two or three years ago the audiences were made up mostly of young people between the ages of 13 and 25, but now the average age has gone up. This change is largely due to three factors: Russian blockbusters of 2005, advertising, and distribution companies.
Sergey Sorochkin, general director of a famous distributor, Luxor, said: "When big budget movies were released before, usual discounts did not always apply, but now everyone has realized that this simply excludes a whole section of moviegoers. Now all major movie houses have decided not to cancel discounts." Sorochkin said that Luxor has discounts for students in all its movie theaters. "Now many follow this practice. One of our movie theaters, Havana, has special programs for various social groups, which allow them to buy tickets for as little as 40 rubles ($1.41). Now older people have started coming to our movie theatres." On top of that, matinees are half-price.
Still, motion pictures themselves, especially Russian films, are the main reason why more people come to movie theatres. (Sociological polls bear this out.)
After the success of the screen versions of Boris Akunin's detective novels The Turkish Gambit by Janik Faiziyev and The State Councilor by Filip Yankovsky, older people who miss home-made heroes and patriotic plots have joined the audience. The Turkish Gambit takings were $19 million, leaving behind Timur Bekmambetov's The Night Watch, the champion of 2004. Russian movies have been box office hits for two years now. "The Turkish Gambit and The State Councilor have proved that one can watch a Russian picture and enjoy good quality sound and image," said Sergey Sorochkin.
In experts' estimates, Russian films account for 15% of the market - a five percent increase over the last year. Yet, without large-scale advertising campaigns these movies would not have had such success. The Russian movie industry has finally started promoting its products. On average, several million dollars per picture should be spent on advertising. Vadim Ivanov, deputy director on distribution of Gemini Film International, a leading company and distributor of the 20th Century Fox, said: "In the West 20% of the expected revenues are allocated to promotion. The Russian movie industry with a good potential of international distribution should spend even more than that."
Films are shown to focus groups. "Much depends on the impressions of the audience, and on revenues," explained Vadim Ivanov. "If this is a long-term project, it makes sense to invest more money in it."
Both Luxor and Gemini have good portfolios of movies for the future. Gemini has The Ninth Platoon, a film by Fyodor Bondarchyuk, a clip maker, producer, actor, and TV presenter, and the son of Sergey Bondarchyuk, who produced the Oscar-winning War and Peace. The Ninth Platoon is based on real events which took place at the end of the Afghan campaign of 1979-1989. A Soviet platoon fights and wins in a battle against the mercenaries of the then little known Usama bin Laden.
"This movie will have a record start - 410 copies, and we have high hopes for it," said Vadim Ivanov. "But its marketing is quite difficult because it is a war drama. We don't know whether it makes sense to release such an expensive movie about a war which is still fresh in people's memories. This war affected many Russians who are now over the age of 35. But we hope for a broad audience, because young people can also identify with the main characters." Fyodor Bondarchyuk himself is a star of an entertainment channel that is popular with the younger generation, and other actors in the movie are also idols of the young.
Gemini is going to launch one more ambitious project on December 1. "We want to try something totally new - re-run our film," said Vadim Ivanov. The Night Watch will be shown again, this time in a shorter and more dynamic Western version. Its distribution in the West has just started. Then we'll shoot a sequel, The Day Watch, also based on Sergey Lukyanenko's novel."
Vadim Ivanov believes that a non-transparent market, piracy and lack of qualified professionals are the main problems today. "Russian movie industry is still very young. There are not enough good cameramen, sound engineers, and other professionals. We have to wait for the next generation to grow up."
