Hollywood cinema is returning to Russia. Ukrainians organize a virtual protest

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The Ukrainian professional film community called to support the flash mob and draw the world’s attention to the inadmissibility of the return of international film companies to the market of the aggressor Russia. Read UP.Culture in Telegram In particular, images of the box office of the film “John Wick 4” for the first week of release in the Russian Federation are being distributed on the Internet. The picture also shows how many armored personnel carriers and kamikaze drones can be bought with the money that the Russians earned from the rental of the tape during this time. “Russia is a war economy. Thank you for supporting the war!” – says the inscription on the image. Ukrainians are urged to support the flash mob It became known in February this year that the action movie “John Wick 4” with Keanu Reeves in the lead role will be officially released in Russia. At that time, it was reported that the Lionsgate company sold the rights to rent the film to the Russian Atmosfera Kino. The film was released in Russian cinemas on March 23 – and now the Russian mass media is full of headlines about box-office success. Screenshot from Russian mass media UP.Kultura spoke with film producer, founder of the Arthouse Traffic company Denys Ivanov. He also posted a picture on his Facebook about the distribution of the film “John Wick 4” in Russia. “Greetings, Lionsgate!” – he signed his post. Ivanov says that until February 24, 2022, the Russian film market was the third largest in the world. So when big companies left it last year – majors like Disney, Warner Bros, etc. – the smaller ones hid and decided not to lose income. “Lionsgate is such a mini-major. They released The Hunger Games, John Wick. And now they have started working with Russia again. They are fully aware that when a film is released, most of the proceeds remain in the country. That is, they are not go to Keanu Reeves. They go to cinemas, distributors, advertisers. And taxes are paid on all of this,” he says. According to the producer, French, German, British, and American companies have returned to cooperation with the aggressor country – Ivanov was convinced of this at the film market of the Berlinale festival. Moreover, in order to circumvent both possible sanctions and accusations of cooperation with the aggressor, front companies are used. “For example, Deadline has material that Lionsgate sold [“Джона Уіка”] not to Russia, but to some Maltese company. And this is a “laying” of the same people,” Ivanov declares. He is sure that Western film companies know for sure that they are selling their films for screening in Russia. And Russian distributors are also showing them in the occupied territories: “The film “Operation” “Fortuna” with Statham was also released in Crimea. I am sure that “John Wick” is also shown in occupied Crimea. That is, “John Wick” earns money in the occupied territories.” Screenings of “John Wick” in one of the cinemas of occupied Sevastopol “It’s just interesting what real actors who are trying to be moral authorities think about it,” Ivanov muses. In order to combat such a situation, he says, it is necessary to inform Western societies. “So that this trend does not become business as usual, so that we do not return to this rut, we must inform, apply at the level of official bodies. We must also communicate with the Western film business in order to stop it. With the French, with the British, with the American Because it turns out that the taxpayers of these countries are spending money on the purchase of weapons for Ukraine, and business is helping Russia rearm,” explains the head of Arthouse Traffic. According to him, the idea of ​​the flash mob is very simple – to show that the Russian wartime economy will spend the taxes earned from movie rentals on weapons. “For example, for five “shaheeds” and two armored personnel carriers,” Ivanov adds and warns: “Now they are testing the water: whether it will work or not. If it works, they will release films every week.” To join the flash mob, you need to publish a picture in your social networks with a link to the pages of the company (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) and the film (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) or leave your comment under their posts. MKIP against “John Wick” Earlier, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine condemned the decision of the American studio Lionsgate Motion Picture to release the film “John Wick 4” for official distribution in the aggressor country of the Russian Federation. MKIP recalled that a year ago, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the world’s largest film companies Disney, Sony, Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate canceled all their premieres in the Russian Federation. “However, a week ago, despite the armed conflict and a general world boycott, the film “John Wick 4” with Keanu Reeves in the lead role overcame the “cultural veil” and officially appeared in Russian cinemas,” the message read. “Lionsgate and all those who plan to repeat a similar decision in the future before Russia stops the barbaric killings of peaceful Ukrainians and bears fair responsibility for actions in Ukraine should realize: all funds received from official premiers in Russia will almost certainly go to missile attacks peaceful Ukrainian cities and the continuation of Russian terror against Ukrainians,” the ministry emphasized at the time. Read also: Sean Penn’s mission is either success or “we all f*** off”!

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