This article refers to the "new" regulation that started yesterday.
I wonder if HGRM is involved in video, also? Look toward the end
of the article:
Bootleggers a 'Phantom Menace' for Filmmakers
By Kirill Koriukin
STAFF WRITER
MOSCOW - With a little luck, you will now wait less than half an
hour in line for an $8 ticket to see "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The
Phantom Menace," this year's hottest movie.
But that's in New York. In Russia, make a dash to one of the video
markets, like Mitino on Volokolamskoye Shosse just outside of
Moscow, and buy yourself a copy for 60 rubles, or $2.50. In St.
Petersburg stalls, the price can drop even lower, to just 43 rubles,
or $1.75.
The picture is blurred, the dialogue is dubbed badly into Russian,
and somebody's head will pop up in front of the video camera that
recorded the movie in an American theater - but the alternative is
waiting more than a year for the film to come here legally.
The blockbuster hit market stalls just a week ago, about when it came to theaters in
America, and it was a big hit in Moscow too. The first batches were scooped up
immediately, vendors said. But now demand has stabilized at 15 to 20 copies a day per
stall on weekdays, about half of daily sales, and twice that many on weekends.
"The Phantom Menace" repeats the bootleg success of "Titanic," illegal copies of
which surfaced at markets shortly after the film was released and which Comcon market
research group said brought in $2 million before licensed tapes caught on.
However, it is far behind the Kevin Costner 1995 science fiction epic "Waterworld,"
which was in Moscow even before it was cut in Hollywood.
"The Phantom Menace" sells about as well as Titanic did, said vendors at the Mitino
market, some of who expect demand to hold for as long as two months.
But a manager at Underground Vi deo, whose name, logo and phone number are printed
on the cassette box next to those of 20th Century Fox, said the movie, though it has
broken sales records in the States by grossing $102.7 million in five days, was no match
for Titanic.
"The Phantom Menace" is an "American cult movie" built on little but special effects
and has little appeal to Russians, especially those in provinces, whereas Titanic is "the
greatest film of all times and nations," said the manager, who only identified himself as
Igor. Igor said Underground only produced boxes, and other firms supplied the tape
copies.
Demand for the Star Wars prequel, which tells the beginning of the tale told in the three
previously released Star Wars movies, was already on the wane, he said. In fact,
Russian movies are much more popular, he said.
The reason why Underground Productions can put its name as well as its address and
phone number on the cover of "The Phantom Menace" is that there's no one out there
who would try to claim its rights to the movie.
Foreign films that haven't yet been licensed to a Russian distributor are the most
vulnerable. If a video pirate tries to market a picture already licensed to a large
distributor like Soyuz or Varus Video, then it would probably face swift legal action.
But "The Phantom Menace" is not likely to be licensed to any Russian company for a
while, and bootleggers say foreign owners are often reluctant to take the time and
expense to come over and pursue them.
"This would take [foreign companies] too much effort and expenditure," said Pyotr
Zalessky, director of research at Comcon.
American filmmakers are "very concerned about the video market and video piracy in
any corner of the world, including Russia," retorted William Shannon, deputy director
of the Motion Picture Association of America's New York office.
Igor was skeptical. "Russia is not a market for them, it's too poor," he said. "What can
they offer instead, a $30 licensed copy? We are not pirates, we are providers of
affordable videos."
Zalessky said bootlegs account for up to 80 percent of the Russian video market. The
authorities have stepped up their crusade against video piracy, but the big bucks made
in the business make the task daunting, Zalessky said.
Vendors at the Mitino market appeared to be nonchalant about Moscow Mayor Yury
Luzhkov's order to remove all stalls selling video cassettes from the streets and limit
trade to a handful of markets.
Some hadn't heard about the new regulation, effective June 1, and one said, "this will be
the same as vodka excise labels which you can buy - the tapes will just cost more."
Igor of Underground Productions said Muscovites' favorite place for video and CD
shopping, the Gorbushka market in Moscow's Fili region, was unlikely to disappear.
"It's too much of a feeding trough for authorities," he said.
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