PRESS: MTS, Bekmambetov want to release film in cinemas, online

MOSCOW, Jul 24 (PRIME) -- Major Russian mobile operator MTS and film director Timur Bekmambetov’s production company Bazelevs have shot a story about juvenile groups of death and are going to release it simultaneously as a full-length film in cinemas and as a series in MTS’ e-cinema, business daily Kommersant reported on Friday.

The film is based on stories about so-called groups of death in social networks, which push teenagers to committing suicide through challenges in a game. The topic received wide attention in Russia in 2017 after a media investigation. The film is made in the screenlife format.

Conservative cinema chains spoke against the simultaneous release.

“If a film is released on the Internet, it is already available, while a monthly online subscription costs like a cinema ticket,” film distributor Central Partnership’s General Director Vadim Vereshchyagin told the daily.

It would make sense to release the film in cinemas and only later on MTS’ platform, and cinemas would unlikely accept the simultaneous release, he said.

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