RELEASES OF THE MONTH: NEW YEAR MARATHON

The main season of sales of our VOD industry is coming soon – New Year holidays. What is happening on the market in this busy season?

From the new platforms there is only Start.ru, but the launch of the Yandex video platform, so expected in the industrial circles, is postponed. On the other hand, the new anti-piracy amendments began to work. But somehow this process is very slow – not more than a few dozen sites are blocked weekly, although there was an expectation that it would be a block of several thousand sites.

At the same time the largest VOD platforms and Telecom operators are active in the advertising campaigns of their VOD services: IVI, OKKO, MTS, Megogo and TVZavr (from the OTT platforms) and Rostelecom and MTS (from Telekom-camp). It is interesting, what kind of VOD battle will it be this New Year time in terms of content? What online cinemas will offer to the audience these festive winter days?

The movie “Hostage” “Zalozhniki” (All Media – EST release 15 December) opens the season – drama with the elements of Thriller, the winner of the Kinotavr film festival, which received a particularly positive response from critics and a premium audience. There is no doubt that the film is made for audience of 30+ and will be in high demand due to good rumors. The question is whether people will continue to watch it with the beginning of the New Year or it will be eclipsed by the other more vibrant entertainment movies coming later. We should remember that the movie premier in cinemas was in the end of September, and it turns out that now it goes on a very long screen, which is clearly going to be against the film.

Obviously, the cartoon “My little Pony” (Central partnership – EST release on the 19th of December) will be a hit for kids and family this New Year. The cartoon is based on a series of toys “My Little Pony” of Hasbro, which are very popular among girls. Hasbro Company, apart from owning a brand, also became a producer of the film, through its subsidiary company Hasbro Studios, and, apparently, the movie is a way to restart the game franchise. Despite modest ratings and average reviews, the film has very good chances to become one of the main children’s cartoons of this winter.

The entertainment hit of the New Year holidays and a potential leader of all the movies is the second part of the Comedy-spy franchise’s “Kingsman” – “Kingsman: the Golden ring” (FOX – EST release December 28). The film made a good cashier in the movie rental by collecting 735 million rubles, but obviously had more potential. So it may have good chances in digital screen this New Year – hooligan Comedy combined with action and a rich picture can be something the viewer is looking for.

On the first day of the new year kicks off Thriller-drama “The mountain Between us” (FOX – EST release 1 January 2018), which passed almost unnoticed in the movie. However, the film has a healthy potential – this love-adventure story white girls and black men, caught accidentally on a plane that crashes in the mountains, should arouse strong interest among the fairer sex. Idris Elba and Kate Winslet, according to critics, play and complement each other on the background of the tragic but exciting events.

СA serious counterbalance for British spy Comedy can be a hit of the cinema release of this fall – “Blade Runner” (Sony – EST release 2 January). Young audience often complained that the film is very long, and they are not familiar with the plot of the original film from the 80-ies of the last century. In a digital screen where the older audience must have seen the first film, the “Running” might be has good fate. The only question is how dark and apocalyptic images of this film will fit into the New Year mood of the audience.

The last announced major release of these New Year`s holidays (at the moment) is a short film, “Goodbye, Christopher Robin” (FOX – EST release 5 January). The story is about Milne, the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, and his son, who is forced not only to appear in a blaze of glory at a very young age, but also to find himself and his path in life. The story will be interesting for a wide family audience and probably will get good reviews from critics. Since the movie only comes out in limited quantity of cinemas, its “rumors” can be restricted, and that may have negative effect at the results in a digital screen.