Hollywood is joining the blockade of Moscow over its capture of Ukraine, with Paramount on Tuesday becoming the newest studio to retract its upcoming films from Russian theatres.
The West has closed ranks since Russian President Vladimir Putin commanded his troops across the border, striking a phalanx of monetory sanctions intended to increase the cost of military action and put pressure on the Russian economy.
Airspace has been closed to Russian planes, high-tech exports have been cut down and the sporting world has pulled fixtures from Russian soil, or ejected Russian teams from competition. Now the United States’ movie-making capital is climbing aboard, with major studios saying they will not release new films in Russia. Paramount’s pause, which will right away affect titles including “The Lost City” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” comes on the heels of similar announcements by Disney, Sony and Warner Bros.
We stand by all those affected by the humanitarian crisis across Ukraine, Russia, and our international markets and will continue to observe the situation as it unfolds.
Paramount Spokesperson
By global standards, Russia is not a huge market for Tinseltown, though big budget releases fare quite well there — “Spider-Man: No Way Home” took a healthy $44 million at the Russian box office, trade title Variety reported.
British singers Louis Tomlinson and Yungblud as well as the band Franz Ferdinand have canceled upcoming performances in Russia in light of the Russia-Ukraine war, following in the footsteps of other music acts to do so.
Taking to Twitter Tuesday, Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand said they were pulling Russian gigs scheduled for the summer, adding “the only reason for this is the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian state.”
The entertainment industry has been hostile to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. British actor Benedict Cumberbatch this week used the event of receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to call for action to stop Moscow’s advance.
Germany’s Munich Philharmonic fired Russian conductor and Kremlin loyalist Valery Gergiev on Tuesday after he failed to vilify the invasion. Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said they will not allow Russia to participate in this year’s edition, and punk-pop trio Green Day declared this week that they were canceling a series of shows in Moscow “in light of current events.”
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