It has become known that the Association of Theater Owners has proposed the introduction of contract-free management of rights to Hollywood movies, which includes a mandatory payment to American film studios.
However, the government did not support the initiative, but announced that cinemas will be provided material support. The amount and timing of payments is not yet known. Most likely, the promised financial assistance will be provided to cinemas at the end of this year.
Earlier in May, exhibitors have already appealed to the government for a subsidy of 6.5 billion rubles, but were denied: The Ministry of Finance has asked for a more detailed justification.
Roman Isaev, a member of the Association of Theater Owners, stated that despite the fact that financial assistance to cinemas is "vitally necessary" at this time, and all the accounting documents have been submitted to the Ministry of Finance along with the application, the request of film distributors has not been heard.