Russia plans box office tax and screening fee on foreign films to raise money for domestic cinema, Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov says
Russia plans to take a percentage of revenue from foreign films shown in theaters and direct the proceeds to support domestic cinema, director Nikita Mikhalkov told the state news agency TASS on June 30.
It is not yet clear what percentage is involved. Mikhalkov said that would be left to “experts in the economic sphere.” Authorities also want to charge a fee simply for a foreign film’s theatrical release, which Mikhalkov defended as a form of support for domestic cinema, common in other countries:
On top of that, an “entry ticket” will be charged — simply for a specific foreign film to be considered, for it to make it onto the screen. This practice was not invented by us; it exists, for example, in France and China. And this absolutely does not mean that we won’t see foreign films.
This is just one of several planned measures aimed at supporting Russian cinema, Mikhalkov said.
In March 2026, at a meeting of the Council on Culture, Mikhalkov complained to Putin that the Culture Ministry was delaying adoption of a document that would enable quotas on foreign films. In response, the president urged Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova to speed up the process.
Putin, like Mikhalkov, pointed to France and China, where such processes are “rigidly structured.” Later, in June, Konstantin Ernst, general director of Channel One and a film producer, voiced support for introducing quotas on foreign films. He, too, cited France as an example.
France does in fact levy an 11% tax on every movie ticket sold, the Telegram channel Plot wrote. The proceeds support domestic film production. But the tax applies to all films, foreign and French alike.
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