September 12, 2023

Not Even Russia Is Immune from "Barbenheimer"


Not Even Russia Is Immune from "Barbenheimer"
Barbie shaking hands with Oppenheimer in a Hollywood studio. Jordan, Twitter.

Against Hollywood and the Russian government's wishes, the two most viewed movies of 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer, have arrived at Moscow and St. Petersburg theaters.

To evade restrictions, a Moscow movie theater will sell tickets to the Mattel doll's movie under the name of a different film, Speed Dating, while Christopher Nolan's biopic of Oppenheimer is being sold alongside the Russian animated movie Dubak ("Extreme Cold"). 

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Hollywood studios left the Russian market, as did countless other Western businesses. As such, Barbie and Oppenheimer do not have official distribution in Russia. However, Yandex.Afisha reported that Oppenheimer had already screened in theaters in Rostov, Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Krasnoyarsk, and other cities earlier this month.

The war has forced Russian cinemas to become creative when screening Hollywood blockbusters. Many movie theaters sell tickets to short films and show a foreign picture shortly after "for free." Others rent out their screening rooms to third-party companies or subsidiaries, who then project the Hollywood movies. 

Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov has also felt the "Barbenheimer" fever. The legislator asked the Ministry of Culture to show the two American films in Russia without permission from copyright holders. The Ministry denied his request, alleging the movies were against "Russian traditional values."

Dubak premiered in Moscow theaters on September 7. Speed Dating will open in theaters on September 17.

 

 

You Might Also Like

Leave or Die
  • August 15, 2023

Leave or Die

In which we visit a "typical" Siberian town and dig into the issues and people who live there.
A Shortage of Drugs
  • August 23, 2023

A Shortage of Drugs

Nearly 200 medications could vanish from the Russian market due to sanctions and isolation.
A Video Song-Apology
  • August 16, 2023

A Video Song-Apology

Three waterpark employees in Crimea were fined and forced to sing "Vladimir Putin is Great" after dancing to a Ukrainian song.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955