Achievements

Despite the pandemic and fierce competition with local content on foreign markets, in 2020 Russian films grossed $19 million internationally. In total, in the course of that year, over 60 Russian projects were released in 65 territories.

☐Russian films at the international box office, $ mln

Top 10 highest grossing Russian films internationally in 2020 (according to the Cinema Fund)

№	TITLE	SALES AGENT	TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD
1	Т-34	Central Partnership Sales House	$3,239,925
2	THE BIG TRIP	Luminiscence	$2,736,484
3	SON OF A RICH	Central Partnership Sales House	$1,483,222
4	ATTRACTION 2 – INVASION	Art Pictures Studio	$1,207,123
5	JOURNEY TO CHINA: MYSTERY OF A DRAGON SEAL	RFG	$934,653
6	MAGIC ARCH 3D	Luminescence	$807,851
7	BEANPOLE	Wild Bunch	$747,759
8	COMA	Planeta Inform Film Distribution	$644,376
9	PERSIAN LESSONS	Memento Films International	$635,239
10	THE SNOW QUEEN: MIRRORLANDS	Wizart	$585,313

TITLE	T-34
SALES AGENT	Central Partnership Sales House
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$3,239,925

TITLE	THE BIG TRIP
SALES AGENT	Luminiscence
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$2,736,484

TITLE	SON OF A RICH
SALES AGENT	Central Partnership Sales House
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$1,483,222

TITLE	ATTRACTION 2 – INVASION
SALES AGENT	Art Pictures Studio
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$1,207,123

TITLE	JOURNEY TO CHINA: MYSTERY OF A DRAGON SEAL
SALES AGENT	RFG
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$934,65

TITLE	MAGIC ARCH 3D
SALES AGENT	Luminescence
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$807,85

TITLE	BEANPOLE
SALES AGENT	Wild Bunch
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$747,76

TITLE	COMA
SALES AGENT	Planeta Inform Film Distribution
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$644,38

TITLE	PERSIAN LESSONS
SALES AGENT	Memento Films International
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$635,24

#10

TITLE	THE SNOW QUEEN: MIRRORLANDS
SALES AGENT	Wizart
TOTAL FROM 01.01.20 TO 31.12.20, USD	$585,31

Top 5 sales agents working with Russian content in 2020 (according to BK)

№	Sales agent	Number of releases in 2020	Number of started projects	Number of unique territories	Total box office in 2020
1	Central Partnership Sales House	20	77	35	$7,463,110
2	Art Pictures Studio	3	39	27	$2,051,703
3	Russian World Vision	5	22	22	$329,889
4	Wizart	4	16	21	$953,759
5	Luminescence	4	12	12	$3,921,169

Sales agent	Central Partnership Sales House
Number of releases in 2020	20
Number of started projects	77
Number of unique territories	35
Total box office in 2020	$7,463,110

Sales agent	Art Pictures Studio
Number of releases in 2020	3
Number of started projects	39
Number of unique territories	27
Total box office in 2020	$2,051,703

Sales agent	Russian World Vision
Number of releases in 2020	5
Number of started projects	22
Number of unique territories	22
Total box office in 2020	$329,89

Sales agent	Wizart
Number of releases in 2020	4
Number of started projects	16
Number of unique territories	21
Total box office in 2020	$953,76

Sales agent	Luminescence
Number of releases in 2020	4
Number of started projects	12
Number of unique territories	12
Total box office in 2020	$3,921,169

Russian content is met with considerable interest from TV and online platforms too.

Russian Netflix Originals

Anna K. (in production) – the first-ever original Russian drama series commissioned by Netflix

Silver Skates – the first Russian feature film under the Netflix Originals brand

Secret Magic Control Agency – the first animation film to join Netflix Originals

To the Lake – the first Russian project to make it to the top 10 best foreign TV series on Netflix in the USA in 2020

Kresty – the first Russian documentary film to appear on Netflix

Commercial success

Feature film SPUTNIK has come at the top of the Horror category on iTunes in the USA and as No 5 in the Films category. Hollywood studios Village Roadshow and 6th & Idaho are working on an American remake of the film.

Animation THE SNOW QUEEN 3 has grossed $20.3 million internationally, while sports drama GOING VERTICAL, $15.1 million.

Dead Mountain series has entered the Topic Originals exclusive line-up of the new US streaming service Topic. The first three episodes will be available in the USA and Canada as early as 2 September 2021.

The debut feature of screenwriter and director Anastasia Palchikova, MASHA, has been bought by HBO Central Europe.

China’s major platform iQiyi has bought feature film CHERNOBYL.

Feature film NOBODY by Russian director Ilya Naishuller was released in the USA on 25 March. It grossed $26 million at the US box office and a further $20 million internationally, thus reaching total box office revenues of $46 million.

Shout! Studios, a multi-platform company forming part of Shout! Factory, has acquired all rights to the action disaster movie NO ESCAPES in North America.

The Russian Affairs series has been bought by Amazon Prime Video Originals and Walter Presents (owned by the UK’s Channel 4).

Russian films regularly take part in and win prizes at major international film festivals.

Festival attention

LOVELESS by Andrey Zvyagintsev won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017.

BEANPOLE by Kantemir Balagov won a FIPRESCI Prize and the Un Certain Regard Award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.

DEAR COMRADES! by Andrei Konchalovsky won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festrival in 2020.

KITOBOY by Philipp Yuryev won in the Venice Days competition in 2020.

Actress Polina Maksimova won the Best Performance Award at Canneseries 2020 for the lead part in the series 257 REASONS TO LIVE.

There are six Russian productions or co-productions competing in different programmes at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.

Main selection: PETROV’S FLU (directed by Kirill Serebrennikov) and COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (directed by Juho Kuosmanen)
Un Certain Regard: HOUSE ARREST (directed by Alexey German Jr) and UNCLENCHING THE FISTS (directed by Kira Kovalenko).
L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation programme: WHITE ROAD (directed by Ella Manzheeva)
Cannes XR competition: animated VR series UNDER THE PILLOW.