Movie digest: from new series to free subscriptions (and a little about the coronavirus, of course)
Scarlett Johansson in Black Widow
The coronavirus is killing not only people, but also movies, streaming services are giving free subscriptions, and there are several expected things in the schedule of serial premieres at once. Let’s talk about everything in order!
1 The Coronavirus Effect: Movies Are Everything (Almost)
The coronavirus pandemic hit industries that seemed to be completely safe: could it have been imagined two months ago that people would stop flying and going to cinemas en masse? However, the regime of self-isolation and the requirement of the authorities or conscience to stay at home and avoid crowds in order to avoid the spread of an extremely fast disease did their job – planes and cinemas were empty.
In some countries, cinemas have already been closed, in some countries restrictions have been introduced – they sell no more than 50 tickets per show and so that the audience sits at a decent distance from each other. In St. Petersburg, cinemas have already closed – until April 30. Apparently, Moscow is next.
The coronavirus has also hit film production hard: a huge number of projects have been frozen – shooting has been postponed for several months, or even a whole year ahead. The premiere schedule has also shifted – the new James Bond, the Disney updated version of Mulan, the sequel to A Quiet Place and a number of other major projects have been postponed indefinitely, which both moviegoers and distributors grieve about, starting to count the losses with horror (full list canceled premieres can be viewed here).
Daniel Craig in No Time to Die
Titan also fell: the Cannes Film Festival, which was supposed to be held in France from May 12 to 23, has been postponed indefinitely – so far at the end of June, but these dates are also likely to be changed. Now experts are building theories about how this whole situation will affect the industry and what will happen, for example, with the Oscars in 2021.
2 Online cinemas have become free
But there is good news: quarantine is an ideal situation for streaming services, which right now can expand their audience. Realizing this, and also, of course, expressing support for everyone in this difficult time, many online cinemas made the subscription free for this period.
The Okko service offers a free Optimum package, however, for only two weeks. To get a subscription, you need to write in the telegram to the @Okkobro_bot bot.
The Premier online cinema, where the premieres of such popular hits as "House Arrest" and "Call DiCaprio!", also opened its virtual doors for everyone for free: to watch all the content created by the Gazprom-Media holding, you need to register in the application and update it to the latest version.
You can also get an almost free month of subscription on the ivi video service – for a symbolic one ruble. The promotion is valid until April 15 – and only for new users. It will be possible to watch more than 80,000 films and series, and in maximum quality and without advertising.
The Kinopoisk HD online cinema turned out to be the most generous of all: here free access is provided to both old and new users – and until the end of April. Magic promo code – POKAVSEDOMA.
The More.tv video service also generously performed – they give a month of a free subscription, but only to new users (however, everyone understands how to get around this limitation). To watch the series "My Brilliant Friend", "The Handmaid’s Tale", "Filatov", "The Magnificent Century", "Gomorrah" as well as many films and TV programs, you need to register on the site and enter the promo code SIDIMDOMA. The promotion is valid until the end of April.
"My brilliant friend"
By the way, the Start video service has the same promotional code – sidimdoma, but only for two weeks. And this time is more than enough to look at the naked brave Daria Moroz in The Kept Women, the second season of which just ended this week.
The online cinema of the Documentary Film Center Nonfiction.film also made a gift to those who are in quarantine – iconic documentaries, films from the Oscar list and international festivals can be watched for free for a whole month. You just need to activate the promo code SYSOEVFM until March 22.
And we still do not list all the theaters and cultural institutions that gave access to their broadcasts and opened their archives!
3 ‘Call Center’ goes on the air – one of the most anticipated series of the year
The creative and romantic duo of screenwriters and directors Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chupov (whose film The Man Who Surprised Everyone with Yevgeny Tsyganov won a special section award at the Venice Film Festival 2018) is preparing to conquer television ratings with the psychological thriller Call Center.
The plot is this: a call is heard in the call center of an adult store, and an unknown person reports that a bomb has been planted in the office, which will explode in 8 hours if all employees do not begin to comply with the requirements of the mysterious Mom and Dad. The two know every last detail about the lives of the 12 hostages and plan to learn even more through psychological terror and brutal manipulation.
There are only eight episodes in the series – each for one hour of the time allotted before the explosion. Each episode is a personal story of fear, each in its own genre: thriller, drama, horror.
The creators say that the project reflects “the sum of all the fears of modern society", and meanwhile, in the telegram channels, they are discussing the scene with the naked Pavel Tabakov (no, not the same as Christina Asmus), who played one of the main roles in the series.. Among other artists, Vladimir Yaglych, Yulia Khlynina, Sabina Akhmedova are busy here.
The premiere is March 23 on TNT and on PREMIER (it’s time to get a "quarantine" subscription!).
4 New shots of Scarlett Johansson in the movie "Black Widow"
New footage from the movie "Black Widow" with Scarlett Johansson in the title role has appeared on the network – an exclusive report was published in Empire. In the pictures – Johansson herself, as well as her partners in a fantastic action movie: Florence Pugh, David Harbor and others.
Recall that, according to the plot, the heroine of Scarlett, Natasha Romanoff, will have to face her past and remember what happened to her before she joined the Avengers team. Of course, there were continuous problems there – they will have to be solved.
When we see all this on the screen, it’s hard to even imagine: due to the coronavirus pandemic, the premiere of the tape has been postponed indefinitely.
5 The trailer for the series "Run", which is produced by Phoebe "Flea" Waller-Bridge, has been released.
What could be better in quarantine than a new series from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who came up with the super-hit "Fleabag"? We know that only the absence of quarantine can be better, but until the battle with the coronavirus is over, we have to look for other types of leisure in self-isolation (read our poster). And Run seems to be a great choice.
The plot revolves around Ruby and Billy, who were once in love with each other. In those distant times, they entered into an agreement: if one of them sends the message “Run” to the other, then the second will leave everything: an established life, work, partner, and go along with the first on a journey across America. And no matter how much time passes and how they will feel for each other. After 17 years, Ruby receives such a message – and decides to take a chance. But it seems that far from sentimental feelings for her ex-boyfriend are pushing her to this …
The series was produced by the already mentioned Waller-Bridge, along with colleague Vicki Jones, with whom Phoebe, among other things, worked on another popular show, Killing Eve. Directed by Natalie Bailey and Kate Dennis, it stars Merrit Weaver and Domhnall Gleason.
Premiere – 12 April. Are looking forward to!
6 Mikhail Zygar and Natella Krapivina are filming a series about Yeltsin and the 90s
Journalist, writer and author of our favorite online projects “1917. Free history”, “1968. Digital" and "Mobile Art Theatre" Mikhail Zygar is filming the series based on his book and together with Natella Krapivina, producer and close friend of Svetlana Loboda.
The non-fiction book Heart Attack, based on which the project is being filmed, will be released in the fall of 2020, and the series itself will be released in mid-2021.
The plot focuses on the dashing 90s and their climax – the 1996 presidential election. It will be difficult for the younger generation to believe in this, but then they chose not Vladimir Putin, but Boris Yeltsin – he will turn out to be one of the main characters of the story.
In order to control everything themselves, Zygar and Krapivina opened the Wake Up Production film company specifically for the production of the series. Both will act as producers of the series, who is the director is still unknown.
The team of the Kinopoisk HD online cinema will also help in the production, where the exclusive premiere of the project will subsequently take place.
7 New platform for bloggers
Youtube, move up! "Yandex. Efir" opens its platform for posting professional video content. Previously, the platform mainly showed content traditional for television (TV shows, films, series, cartoons, sports broadcasts, music videos, etc.), but recently, yielding to the trends of the 21st century, it has also attracted top bloggers – Nastya Ivleeva, Yulia Vysotskaya and others.
Further – more: now everyone who creates high-quality video content will be able to offer their video on Efir. The best content will be shown in thematic channels and, perhaps, even on the main page of Yandex: show authors and bloggers will have access to the service’s multi-million audience. Of course, all videos will be moderated.
The innovation will also affect Yandex. Zen": the best videos from there will automatically go to the "Air".