With a golden key: Pinocchio became the leader of the New Year's battle
According to Izvestia's calculations based on EAIS data, "Pinocchio", "Cheburashka 2" and "Prostokvashino" collected a total of 9.1 billion rubles over the New Year's weekend, and along with the rest of the films, the holiday revenue exceeded 10 billion. A new record in the modern history of Russian film distribution was achieved not only by the clearing of Western films, but also by an increase in the average ticket price. However, despite box office records, the Cinema Owners Association proposes to oblige films made with public funds to be released in the summer in order to stabilize the overall picture.
New Year's battle has updated the rental record
The winter holidays, called the New Year's Eve battle in the industry, updated the box office record in 2026. According to the EAIS, from January 1 to January 11, the collections of Russian cinemas exceeded 10 billion rubles. Almost the entire amount was provided by domestic releases: family films turned out to be in the center of the audience's attention. For comparison, last year the figure was 6.9 billion rubles.
Cheburashka 2 became the absolute rental leader. The sequel to the highest-grossing Russian film in history started on January 1 and in the first 11 days approached the mark of 5 billion rubles. Cinemas recorded consistently high occupancy of halls at morning and afternoon sessions, and the total number of viewers exceeded 9 million people. The film confidently dominated the schedule, forming a significant part of the total box office of the New Year's Eve battle. Recall that the first part became a rental record holder in 2023, earning 6.8 billion rubles in a few months.
— Cheburashka is a franchise that proved itself in the first part. Therefore, all the fans of the first film should have come to the second one a priori to compare. I am also sure that the second part of Prostokvashino or Pinocchio will shoot better than the first," Alexey Voronkov, president of the Association of Cinema Owners (AVK), told Izvestia.
However, the main surprise of the holidays was "Pinocchio". The painting has confidently gained a foothold in the top three and has collected more than 2 billion rubles over the festive period. This is an important result for the market: the project, without the support of a high-profile film franchise, but with a recognizable literary source, managed to attract about 4 million viewers. Moreover, over the first weekend, Igor Voloshin's painting earned more than 1.5 billion rubles. "Pinocchio" showed stable dynamics without sharp drawdowns, which for New Year's rental is considered a sign of a "long distance" and a good reputation among the family audience.
Another full-fledged participant in the race was the painting "Prostokvashino" by Sarik Andreasyan, which also surpassed the target of 2 billion rubles. As a result, it was these three films that formed the bulk of the festive box office and actually defined the face of the New Year's rental in 2026, displacing the cartoon "Three Heroes and a Light Wedge" (310 million rubles for the holidays) and the tape "Christmas Trees 12", which collected 260 million rubles.
There are solo outs in the afternoon, empty halls in the evening
During the holiday period, 18.8 million tickets for various shows were sold, which is also a new record. Last year, the figure was 14.6 million. The average ticket price in Russia on public holidays reached 533 rubles, which, according to Alexey Voronkov, cannot be called a sharp jump. At the same time, in the capital, in a number of cinemas throughout the holidays, tickets cost about 1 thousand rubles for each session. However, prices have returned to their usual levels since Monday.
— The average ticket price in 2025 has increased by only 58% in ten years. Considering that gasoline cost 32 rubles in 2015, and the grocery basket was one and a half times cheaper, I would not call the increase in the price of a movie ticket noticeable. Prices for January holidays rise by 10-20% every year, just as flowers rise in price by March 8th. It was like this ten years ago and it will be like this in ten years. The holidays are over, prices will roll back a little bit, and everyone who didn't have time to go to the cinema for a lot of money will go to the cinema for a lot of money," Voronkov said.
Overall cinema attendance remained high during the holidays. At the same time, the demand structure turned out to be one-sided again: family content completely dominated the box office, while there were practically no releases aimed at an adult audience on the schedule. This led to uneven loading of the halls — afternoon handouts and noticeably more free evening sessions.
— It's a pity that there were no New Year's movies for an adult audience. I am sure that then the fees would have exceeded 12 billion rubles. The night sessions, like last year, were empty due to the lack of adult content. "Christmas Trees 12" has already shot its main potential in the New Year's Eve weeks, and the family audience, as a rule, excludes late sessions. New Year's holidays were definitely better than last year in terms of attendance, including because there were more iconic films," Voronkov emphasized.
New Year's Imbalance
Traditionally, foreign paintings have remained in the shadows. For the third year in a row, the Association has been asking cinemas to remove foreign releases shown as part of the pre-screening service. However, according to experts, even their presence would not have affected either the training camp or the ranking of the leaders.
— Today we have a product that perfectly competes with any foreign film. Yes, there are not many of them yet, and it comes out mainly during the New Year's season, but any of the New Year's releases would easily beat the same "Zveropolis 2" if it appeared in the official box office now, Voronkov believes.
Nevertheless, the top foreign films included the film "The Maid" starring Sidney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, which was released on January 8 — a week later than the most active vacation period — and collected 117 million rubles. The audience also watched "The Illusion of Deception 3" (109 million rubles for the New Year holidays), as well as the horror films "It. The First Coming" (67 million rubles) and "Destination. A new attraction" (39 million rubles).
The race for records during the most "bread-and-butter" rental period, and even with government support, creates an uneven picture for the entire market, the head of AVK believes. According to him, the association has been proposing for several years to oblige films made with the involvement of public funds to be released during the summer period — from April 1 to October 1.
— Let the producers who make films with their own money work out the risks in the season. At the same time, it should be noted that the ice has broken: the "third franchises" created with the support of the state are already required to be released only in the summer. So it will be this year with the "Serf 3". If we extend this practice to all films sponsored by the Cinema Foundation, I am sure this will allow us to get as close as possible to an even distribution of releases throughout the year," Voronkov believes.
The results of the New Year's battle in 2026 showed that the Russian film distribution has finally gained a foothold in a model where large-scale national fairy tales remain the main driver of fees. Pinocchio, which confidently entered the top three, became one of the key confirmations of this trend and at the same time showed that the audience is ready to support new projects if they have a familiar story and a clear family format behind them.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
