Batman: Tragedy or no, Russia profits are expected to be high.
Batman Shootings Elicit
No Fear from Russian Film Executives and Analysts (Izvestia, Russia)
“America is a
peculiar country, in which shootings happen in all sorts of places. In our
country, movie theaters are the calmest of places to spend time … Video pirates
are more of a concern than terrorists for us.”
-- Alexei Ryazantzev,
president of Russia film distributor Karo Premiere
By Anna Akhmadieva
Translated By Anastassia
Tapsieva
July 20, 2012
Russia - Izvestia
- Original Article (Russian)
The turmoil surrounding the shooting at a movie theater
during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises promises profits to the film’s
Russian distributor.
Early in the morning on Friday, during the premiere of the new
Batman film in Aurora, Colorado, a sinister individual opened fire on the audience.
People didn’t immediately understand what was happening: the shooting in the
theater coincided with those on screen. It is thought that a smoke bomb was set
off: witnesses report that the theater was filled with smoke. Twelve are
confirmed dead, 39 injured.
The film comes to Russian theaters on July 26. Alexei Ryazantzev, president of Karo
Premiere (the film’s distributor in our country) told Izvestia
that perhaps the film’s plot served as an impetus of sorts for the shooting.
However, he feels certain that similar unfortunate incidents in Russia would be
impossible. The film, The Dark Knight, released in 2008, became the
highest grossing film adaptation of a comic in U.S. history. In Russia, the
film grossed $8.5 million at the box office.
“America is a peculiar country, in which shootings happen in
all sorts of places. In our country, movie theaters are the calmest of places to
spend time,” said Alexei Ryazantzev. “Video pirates
are more of a concern than terrorists for us.”
And Ryazantzev says he won’t use
this incident for publicity purposes. Although after the release of The Dark
Knight, starring Heath Ledger - posthumously awarded a Best Supporting Actor
Oscar for the role of the Joker - there were suggestions that the tragic event be
used to promote the film.
“Several years ago, when we released Batman with Heath
Ledger, who died by that point, we were offered the idea of playing up that
theme, but neither we nor the studio played up the macabre for the sake of
advertising,” he said.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
Karo Premiere’s president forecasts
that the box office for the new Batman film will meet expected projections. The
film will be screened in every cinema in Russia.
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Kseniya Leontieva,
a leading analyst with Russian film company Nevafilm,
is confident that the attention the film is receiving in the press will do
nothing to affect the film’s distribution.
“Of course, a lot of people learned of the film because of
the tragedy in the United States. So it is now more well-known. And it is possible
that the distributors will take some sort of action to commemorate the dead,
which will draw even more attention from the press. Perhaps that will
impact the box office, although there isn’t always a direct correlation between
how well-known a film is and its box office returns,” Leontieva
explained.
Roman Korneev, editor in chief of the
Internet publication Kinokadr.ru, also believes that the movie may evoke
added interest in Russian audiences.
“It may gross more, but not significantly more,” says Korneev. “The film is opening at a time when there are no
other major movies in theaters. But the shootings may have a negative effect on
the box office in the U.S., even if the film was projected to open to record
numbers.”
[Editor's Note: According to the Associated Press, as of July 25, The Dark Knight Rises has taken in $268,276,424, $88 million of which is from foreign markets. It opens in Russia tomorrow.]
Managing partner of independent research company Movie
Research, Oleg Ivanov, says that making the decision
to see a film is a complex mechanism. “The audience reaction is unpredictable,”
Ivanov concludes.
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