At the end of 2022, the largest Russian cinema chains suffered billions of dollars in losses due to the departure of Western companies, and their revenue was approximately halved compared to the previous year. This dynamic can be seen in the available financial statements of several leading market players, writes RBC.
Thus, according to the publication, Cinema Park JSC, the main legal entity of the country’s largest combined cinema chain Formula Kino and Cinema Park, which operates 65 cinemas, lost 43.2% of its revenue last year. It decreased to 4.6 billion rubles. The indicator is comparable to the results of 2020 (4.3 billion rubles), when cinemas did not work for several months due to measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and later opened with restrictions on the number of viewers. The net loss of Cinema Park JSC amounted to 1.8 billion rubles. in 2022 against 861.8 million rubles. net profit in 2021. At the same time, the loss in the pandemic 2020 was greater – 7.8 billion rubles.
The cinema network has one more legal entity. We are talking about LLC “RSM”. It manages 12 cinemas in Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, as well as in the regions. Its revenue decreased by 47.3% and amounted to 1.1 billion rubles.
At the same time, the revenue of the KARO network (KARO Film Management LLC) decreased by 41.8% and amounted to 2.2 billion rubles. Net loss – 1.3 billion rubles. against 9.4 million rubles. in 2021
The legal entity that manages the Kinomax cinema chain, in turn, reduced its revenue by 46.6%, to approximately 2 billion rubles. The loss amounted to almost 1 billion rubles.
According to Alexey Vasyasin, the head of the united film network “Formula Kino” and “Cinema Park”, last year was “catastrophic” for film distribution. He expects 2023 to be slightly better, with a market turnover of around RUB 30 billion. (against 23 billion rubles in 2022). But even this is not enough. “In order for the industry to be self-sufficient, its turnover should be 35–40 billion rubles in order to recoup all costs, pay off banks, and so on,” he explained. Leading expert of InterMedia Pavel Solomatin, in turn, believes that the prospects for cinemas this year are “vague”.
After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the largest US film studios refused to release their new releases in Russia. Over the past year, cinemas and film producers have repeatedly asked the authorities for subsidies to support the industry. However, the Ministry of Finance refused to allocate the funds requested by the industry. The rental began to stabilize only at the end of 2022.
