Alluring Pandora: Tickets for Avatar 3 are available starting December 25th
The main Hollywood Christmas release in Russia, Avatar: Flame and Ashes, may not be so successful. Most of the cinemas planning to show the film postponed the release of the film until the end of the holidays, but some venues still expect to start showing before the end of the year. Avatar 3 is being released worldwide this weekend, and our cinemas say that "they already have the film," but no screenings are scheduled before December 25. But as a marketing ploy, there will be sessions of the first two "Avatars" before that, so that the public gets a taste and remembers what is happening on the planet Pandora. Izvestia tells us where the new James Cameron blockbuster will be shown in the near future.
Moscow is waiting for "Avatar"
Tickets for Avatar: Flame and Ashes are not on sale anywhere in Moscow yet, but it is known that the first screenings will start on December 25. At the same time, at the Kolibri cinema in the capital, an employee of the site informed the Izvestia correspondent that a digital copy of the painting was already at the disposal of the cinema. And it remains to wait for the go-ahead to start the screenings.
In most countries of the world, Avatar will be released this week, in some countries on December 17th, but for some reason, even in Kolibri, screenings are not expected before December 25th. When asked why, they laugh it off.
There is an announcement of Avatar on the official website of the Luxor network, but so far there is no start date for the screenings. In the Moscow cinema of the Izvestia network, they found a small poster of Avatar, which says that tickets are already on sale. It turned out that they were being sold for the first two installments of the franchise, which will be shown on December 20 and 21. Screenings of the third part are tentatively scheduled for December 25th.
— It's still all preliminary anyway, because the schedule is updated every Thursday. Even more so with this "Avatar"," one of the employees shared.
The staff recommended coming to the sessions in advance, taking into account past experience.
"When the second part was coming out, there was a queue all the way to the elevator," they say.
As employees of the Pushka cinema on Dubravnaya Street told Izvestia, they plan to rent the third part of the saga after the New Year holidays, starting on January 12. Tickets are not on sale yet, but the sessions will most likely take place in 3D format. The Mirage Cinema on Dekabristov Street is also planning a premiere after the January ones. According to the staff, the screenings will start on January 12th, or even January 16-17. So far, on the official website of the network, you can only buy tickets for the screenings of the first and second parts — they will begin on December 18.
The Kinokvartal network told Izvestia that they still do not know whether there will be screenings from December 25. We may have to wait for the end of the holidays, but there is a chance that Avatar will be seen there before the New Year.
You can buy an Avatar ticket in Yekaterinburg
In the regions, they also talk about December 25 as the nearest likely date, but there are few places where you can buy tickets. Among such venues is the Greenwich Cinema in Yekaterinburg. Tickets cost 500-700 rubles, including in 3D. Residents of the capital have never dreamed of such a democratic pricing policy. There are still plenty of empty seats for evening sessions. However, they will start showing in 3D only from Saturday, December 27, the staff could not name the reason.
The Atlas cinema in Novosibirsk told Izvestia that their screenings could begin even earlier than December 25, possibly on the 20th, but the staff does not yet know the exact date. Currently, at this date, only "Avatar: The Way of Water" is in the cinema.
There are no announcements of the film yet on the website of the Cinema Center in Yakutsk, but Izvestia was informed there that the first screenings are expected on December 25.
But in the Moscow suburb of Kinograd, where the second Avatar began to be shown very early, they said that perhaps they would not have this release in their schedule at all. This is strange: "Zootopia 2" is successfully underway there, and "Avatar" could safely join it.
On most websites of regional cinemas that show unofficial Hollywood, there is no poster of the third "Avatar" at all.
Is Avatar a failure?
"Avatar: Flame and Ashes" does not have a rental certificate in Russia, so the demonstration of this picture will be conducted as part of the pre-screening service. Not all networks take such films, the largest ones usually do not take risks: for this, the cinema can be fined and even temporarily closed.
Last Thursday, the professional publication Cinemaplex reported that the networks belonging to the Association of Cinema Owners had agreed not to show the third Avatar before January 15th. Izvestia sent a request to Alexey Voronkov, Chairman of the AVC.
This practice is not new, it is not the first year that Russian cinemas have refused to show big Hollywood novelties so that domestic releases can earn more during the holidays. Moreover, most likely, even those sites that will start showing Avatar on December 25 will also freeze these sessions for the holidays, and then return them on the tenth when the holidays are over. And considering that big releases are starting to come out on New Year's Eve, the decision to stick with Avatar looks like a working business strategy.
"The main thing is that pirated content will not conflict with legal content during the holidays and that the market has consolidated in this direction again," commented Olga Zinyakova, president of the KARO cinema chain.
This network never uses the "pre-show service" format.
"There is indeed an unspoken practice within the cinema community: during the release of major Russian potential box office releases, networks deliberately restrict the screening of foreign content, including alternative schemes," confirms Nina Romodanovskaya, editor—in—chief of ProfiSinema professional film publishing. — The situation this week confirms this: last Thursday, "The Incredible Adventures of Shurik" from the Central School of Economics was released, and Cheburashka 2 is coming, and cinemas do not want to come into conflict with the distributor, so they deliberately hold back the launch of alternative foreign content. Last weekend, the short films in cinemas were mostly Zootopia 2.
Romodanovskaya also notes that the fees of the third Avatar in Russia will be lower than those of the second. According to ProfiSinema estimates, he earned about 1 billion rubles. The new release has a lower potential.
— Interest in the franchise is gradually fading: the lack of a full—fledged marketing campaign, limited advertising tools and a long gap between films reduce the recognition and motivation of viewers, - says Romodanovskaya. Even taking into account the extended screenings after the holiday weeks, the forecast for the total box office looks significantly more modest than that of Avatar 2. Fees will depend on the number of screens, the frequency of sessions, and the availability of competing Russian releases, but market expectations are rather moderate: without marketing, the franchise no longer acts as a driver of large numbers.
The unofficial release of Avatar will rely not on broad advertising, but on word of mouth in a narrow but dedicated community and on a clear understanding by the viewer of why he is going to this particular film, Maria Shcherbal, CEO of Wanta Group — Consulting in Cinema, said in a conversation with Izvestia.
— The expectations of the public will be formed around the points nostalgia for a large—scale franchise and, above all, a request for a visual spectacle "only in the cinema" - the very type of blockbuster that has not been at the box office for a long time. Those who are already buying tickets are most likely the same audience of 25-35+ who grew up on the first Avatars and are ready to follow the continuation of the saga, as well as a younger audience looking for a high—quality visual experience. This is a generation for whom going to the cinema is primarily an event around a large—scale spectacle. Most likely, this will not be a massive family outing, but a purposeful campaign by franchise fans and moviegoers who miss the Hollywood scale. Their key motive is not just to "watch a movie," but to "return to Pandora" and get the immersive experience that Avatar was once created for.
The fact that cinemas around the world are actively preparing for its release may work against Avatar, but its critics are lukewarm. Reviewers who saw the film before it was released gave it average scores, and they talk about the secondary nature of the plot, its length, and uninteresting characters. And most importantly, if in the case of the second Avatar there was a technological breakthrough in comparison with the first, now this is not felt. The rating was 68% on Rotten Tomatoes and 59 out of 100 on Metacritic. These are the lowest scores in the franchise's history so far. This means that after the New Year holidays, many people may not want to go to the cinema, even if the film is there, but will limit themselves to "pirates", which usually appear on the Internet a day or two after the international release.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
