Out of the shadows: pirate rentals in Russia set a new record
Major foreign releases are gradually returning to Russian cinemas. The biopic "Michael" has already collected more than 1.6 billion rubles, and the acclaimed horror films "Obsession" and "Behind the Scenes of Reality" have officially been released. However, at the same time, the fees for unofficial screenings of Hollywood novelties are growing. According to the editorial staff's calculations based on the EAEU data, in the first half of 2026, short films with which such films are shown as part of the pre—screening service earned about 1.6 billion rubles, more than in the same period of the previous three years. What is happening with shadow rental today and whether the market will be able to abandon it in the near future is in our Izvestia article.
Shadow rental fees exceeded 1.6 billion in 2026
After the withdrawal of some major studios from the Russian market in 2022 (Disney, Warner Bros. and others), the repertoire of cinemas became noticeably victorious at first. An anti—crisis scheme soon began to work - Hollywood novelties began to be shown unofficially as part of a pre-screening service, when formally the viewer buys a ticket for a short film, but in fact watches a new foreign blockbuster. So the mysterious "Three Good Deeds", "Dubak", "How Much does a Cloud Weigh?" and other "masks" films began to appear in the leaders of the box office, hiding the most anticipated world premieres.
A shot from the movie "Michael"
Four years later, the posters no longer seem scarce. High-profile Russian novelties are coming out. Big foreign films are appearing. "Michael" alone grossed more than 1.6 billion rubles at the box office. Prior to that, the premieres of the internationally acclaimed horror films "Obsession" and "Behind the Scenes of Reality" were officially held in Russian cinemas. The other day, "Night Business" with Russell Crowe and the superhero movie "Supergirl" from DC Studios were released.
Nevertheless, Russian cinemas are in no hurry to abandon shadow rental. Right now, along with the short films, the audience is unofficially shown "Toy Story 5", "Very Scary Movie 6", "The Devil wears Prada 2", "Day of Exposure" and even a repeat of the old "Spider-Man".
Such sessions are scheduled on the Kinomax, Luxor, Mori Cinema, and Prime Cinema websites. The "illegals" are hiding behind "A Bedtime Story", "Farewell", "Edge of Inspiration", "Rally ON/OFF", "Noon" and other films — Izvestia counted twenty (and there may be more) and analyzed their fees based on open data in the EAEU.
A frame from the cartoon "Toy Story 5"
In the first half of 2026, they have already brought more than 1.6 billion rubles to the box office. This is the highest figure for the last few years, if we take as a basis for comparing the fees of these titles the same period of each year. From January to June 2023, the "masks" films collected 1.3 billion rubles, in 2024 — about 950 million, in 2025 — about 1.1 billion. And this is just the recorded data. Some networks show unofficial Hollywood not as part of a pre-screening service, but ostensibly by renting out the halls.
Who can live well without Hollywood?
At the same time, the current fees look indicative. If at first the demand for pre-show services could be explained by the shortage of foreign premieres, now the situation has changed. The issue is about the quality of the content, says the producer, chairman of the Board of the Kino Foundation.&The Stanislav Ershov Theater.
A shot from the movie "The Devil wears Prada 2"
— Demand exceeds supply. Russian blockbusters do not satisfy the audience and do not fill the hall. The very modest rental of "Serf 3" is proof of this. We are in a situation where there are not enough high-quality projects. Therefore, it is absolutely obvious that the market is being filled with gray film distribution. Hollywood is gone, but some kind of gap remains. The high fees may be due to the fact that there have been a lot of "delicious" releases lately. I've heard, for example, "The Devil wears Prada 2," he said in an interview with Izvestia.
In addition, according to the expert, pre-show service is still economically motivated.
— If you legally show the same "Michael", then you should give half of it to the copyright holder. And in the case of pirated content, minus some of the costs of getting a pirated copy, you are absolutely free. It's profitable," concluded Yershov.
A shot from the movie "Mortal Kombat 2"
At the same time, there are cases when cinemas have received warnings about lawsuits in the case of films being shown as part of pre-screening services. Izvestia wrote about this situation in May, when the legal representative of Warner Bros. Pictures warned about the inadmissibility of copyright infringement and possible measures in case of violation in connection with unofficial screenings of Mortal Kombat 2.
Nevertheless, the story of the shadow rental is clearly far from the end credits. The fees show that there is a demand for major Hollywood premieres even in the context of the expansion of the official foreign repertoire and the risk to the organizers of the screenings.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
