Hollywood film studio Universal Pictures refused to distribute their films in Russian cinemas.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the decision was made against the backdrop of events in Ukraine. 

On March 24, the cartoon “Bad Boys” was supposed to premiere, filmed by DreamWorks Animation (owned by NBCUniversal) based on the eponymous book series for children.

The animated film tells about a robbery organized by a wolf, a snake, a shark, a piranha and a tarantula. 

Among other planned premieres of the film studio is Michael Bay's film ER (Transformers), the Russian release of which was scheduled for April 7th.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Matrix Resurrection).

They played brothers Will and Danny Sharp.

According to the plot, the heroes are going to rob a bank in order to save the terminally ill wife of one of them. 

Universal Pictures was the latest major Hollywood studio to make such a decision.

Shortly before this, Paramount Pictures refused to show their films in Russia. 

“We have decided to suspend the release of our films in Russia, including The Lost City‎ and Sonic 2 Movie‎.

We support all those affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, Russia and our international markets and will continue to monitor the situation as it develops,” Paramount said in a statement. 

The animated film "Sonic 2 in the Cinema" about the adventures of the hero of popular video games Sonic the Hedgehog was supposed to be released in Russian cinemas on March 31.

The film starred Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden and other actors.

The first part of "Sonic the Movie" collected about $11 million in Russian cinemas. 

The Russian premiere of the picture of the brothers Aaron and Adam Nee "The Lost City" was expected on April 7.

The roles were played by Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt.

In the center of the plot is the writer Loretta Sage (Bullock), who became famous thanks to her popular love-adventure novels about the handsome Dash.

The prototype of the hero is the model Alan (Tatum).

In the film, Loretta and Alan embark on a dangerous adventure in search of treasure.

  • Shot from the film "The Lost City"

The Walt Disney Company became the first film studio to announce the withdrawal of its films from distribution in Russia.

On the Twitter page, the company announced that, in particular, it is canceling the release of the cartoon "I'm Blushing".

Following Disney, Warner Bros. refused Russian distribution.

and Sony.

The first was going to release a new "Batman" in early March with Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright and Colin Farrell.

However, Warner Bros.' third installment of the Harry Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts: A Dumbledore Mystery, is still slated for release in April.

Sony, in turn, refused to show all their films.

Among them is Morbius with Jared Leto.

In Russia, the picture was supposed to be shown on March 24, 2022.

Against the backdrop of a boycott by Hollywood studios, the Russian film company Central Partnership decided to re-release a number of domestic films, including Movement Upward, Batyu and Kholopa.

Also, two days earlier (March 3 instead of March 5), the comedy “I Want to Get Married” with Christina Asmus, Milos Bikovich and Sergey Gilev will be released in Russian cinemas.

The company took this step to compensate for the lack of foreign films in Russian cinemas. 

Earlier it became known that the popular streaming service Netflix stopped the production of Russian original projects.

According to the Bulletin of the Movie Distributor portal‎, we are talking about the series Anna K‎, ZATO‎ and Nothing Special‎, as well as the film with Alexander Petrov. 

Anna K is a modern interpretation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

The roles in the series went to Svetlana Khodchenkova, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Yulia Alexandrova, Gosha Kutsenko and Yura Borisov.

The ZATO project is produced by directors Stanislav Libin and Daria Zhuk.

It tells about the investigation of journalist Christina and policeman Dashkin.

The action takes place in Russia shortly after the collapse of the USSR.

The main role in the drama "Nothing Special" was given to Yura Borisov - he plays a young actor.

Also, Netflix refused to broadcast 20 domestic free federal TV channels, while from March 1, 2022, Russian legislation provided for their mandatory broadcasting.