They started the song: billions in film distribution and Germans dancing to "Katyusha"

Why do German bloggers dance to the Soviet "Katyusha"? Which reputable foreign publication added "The Irony of Fate" to the list of the main New Year's films? Which fairy tales became billionaires over the holiday weekend? Who of the Russian artists is nominated for the Screen Actors Guild of the USA award and how the farewell ceremony with Brigitte Bardot went: Izvestia has compiled a digest of cultural news for those who arranged a digital detox during the holidays.

Billions in film distribution

Traditionally, cinemas have become a point of attraction for families with children over the long holiday weekend, where the New Year's Eve battle for the audience unfolded. The repertoire these days indulged in a large selection of premieres. Three of them, as expected, became the leaders — the second part of Cheburashka, Pinocchio and Prostokvashino, which were released on January 1 and became billionaires on the very first weekend. To be more precise, according to the open data of the EAEU, by the evening of January 10, they had earned 8.5 billion rubles together and were confidently moving on. This significantly exceeds the cash register for the same period in 2025. With a serious gap from the top three, the Russian box office has "Three heroes and a light wedge" (premiere on December 25, total fees exceeded 500 million rubles), "Christmas Trees 12" (December 18, total fees about 730 million) and "The Good Doctor" (January 8, total fees tend to 40 millions).

Photo: NMG Film Distribution

"Irony of fate" in the list of the British The Guardian

The cult lyrical comedy by Eldar Ryazanov "The Irony of Fate, or With a light steam!" celebrated its half-century anniversary in 2026. For the first time, the two-part film, which has become an integral holiday tradition, was shown on central television on January 1, 1976. On the eve of the anniversary, the British edition of The Guardian included the picture in the top of the best films to watch on New Year's Eve. Film critic Phil Hoad called Yuri Yakovlev, who played Hippolytus, the Soviet John Cleese, and Mikael Tariverdiev's music amazing, noting the feeling of something epic and at the same time intimate as the night falls, and asked the question: did these kindred spirits meet too late? In addition to "Irony of Fate," the list includes "Dead Poets Society," "When Harry Met Sally," the horror classic "The Shining," and a number of other foreign films.

Photo: Mosfilm Film Studio

Yuri Kolokolnikov is among the nominees for the Actors Guild of America Award

Last year's season was remembered for the triumph of Russian actors at the Oscars and the series of film awards that preceded it. Then the world found out about Yura Borisov and Mark Edelstein, whose names thundered in Sean Baker's "Anor".

A shot from the TV series "White Lotus"

Photo: HBO

Now another of our compatriots is applying for a foreign award. On January 7, 2026, it became known that Yuri Kolokolnikov was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild of America Actor Awards as part of the series "White Lotus". In the third season of Mike White's satire, he played a minor role — a Russian with a criminal past named Vlad. His colleagues on the set were Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Amy Lee Wood, Sam Rockwell. The ceremony will take place on March 1. The competition in the nomination "Best Cast in a drama series" for "White Lotus" will be "Diplomacy", "Landman", "Pitt" and "Separation".

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France says goodbye to Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot, an outstanding actress and one of the most beautiful women in the history of cinema, said goodbye in France on January 7. She passed away on December 28 at the age of 91. Later, her husband Bernard D'ormal, in an interview with Paris Match, said that the cause was cancer. The family declined official honors.

The private ceremony took place at the Catholic Church of Notre-Dame de l'assompsion in the resort town of Saint-Tropez on the Mediterranean coast. Singer Mireille Mathieu also came to say goodbye. In her speech, she noted that Brigitte Bardot personified France and possessed amazing beauty— both physically and mentally. Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered on the streets of Saint-Tropez to honor the idol's memory. The actress was buried at the Naval Cemetery in the family crypt near the grave of director Roger Vadim, her first husband, whose film "And God created a Woman" once made Brigitte Bardot famous all over the world.

German ravers danced to "Katyusha"

Bloggers from Germany started the year 2026 in the rhythm of Slavic Techno. On social networks, they publish videos for remixes of the legendary Soviet "Katyusha" and the thundering "Mother".

It all started with the track Vielleicht Vielleicht by German artists MilleniumKid and JBS. Videos of dancing to this song by local blogger and model Samuel Domain were posted on social networks, which delighted the Russian female audience. The girls began to write thousands of comments under his posts. Moreover, they renamed the guy Semyon in the Russian way, and the trend for the track name was "Fillyai-fillyai".

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The young man, however, did not show his love for the fans from Russia in return — he demanded to write comments in English. Proud Russian ladies took this as a "red flag" and Samuel-Semyon was quickly "canceled." Moreover, other local ravers, Yannick and Mike, joined the trend in time, and users migrated to their blogs. The guys turned out to be more welcoming to subscribers from the Russian Federation and became Vanya and Misha for them.

"Misha, have you seen what's going on in Russia? — Yes, Vanya. It's just incredible! I've never felt such love and support before! —Yes, we have to make them happy by the New Year!" the guys say in broken Russian in one of the specially filmed videos, before going into a breakaway to the "Disco Accident."

In the comments section under each new post of the guys, where they continue to share their language learning successes and dance to other familiar songs, there is now a Russian chat with compliments and jokes about the fact that our girls have conquered the Germans. The gathering place of the participant is affectionately called Filyai.