Fyodor Bondarchuk learned to masterfully combine the roles of director, fundraiser and entrepreneur. Otherwise, large-scale films cannot be made in Russia.

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Photo: Kommersant / Konstantin Salomatin

Text: Anastasia Yakoreva

To make Fyodor Bondarchuk lose his temper, it is enough to point out the mistakes in the film "Stalingrad". “Why aren’t the windows in the house around which the battle is going on broken?! Fuck them, everything there is broken!” - Bondarchuk is seething. The film received mixed reviews from critics. But it seems that for most viewers, a high-quality picture is much more important than the opinion of professionals. At the time the issue was released, "Stalingrad" had already collected more than $51 million with a budget of about $30 million, overtaking the highest-grossing Russian film until recently, "The Irony of Fate. Continuation" with $49.9 million. Now "Stalingrad" has been released internationally, in China, the plans include European countries, the USA and others.

How is “Stalingrad” doing at the Chinese box office?

Breaks all records. In China, we appeared at the box office together with "Wolverine" (the Hollywood film "Wolverine. The Immortal" collected more than $18 million in the first weekend of release. - SF ) and in the first weekend we collected $8.3 million. Now we have reached $12 million. At the end of November The film is released in Poland, then in Germany.

Overall, does the film meet your financial expectations?

He broke all the records. It entered the top three highest-grossing films in the history of film distribution in Russia. We expected that if we collected 1 billion rubles. together with Ukraine, we will be happy. Now the film has collected almost 1.7 billion rubles. only in Russia, and another more than 100 million rubles in Ukraine. This has not yet begun European distribution. Although I don't know how things will go in Europe. This is my first time entering this territory.

Do you attribute the popularity of the film to the use of IMAX technology or is it something else?

What does technology have to do with it? Let me give you a lot of examples of technological films that failed at the box office. I attribute success to the quality of the film itself, to the emotional connection. After the first weekend we had a 24% drop. By our cinematic standards, this is not a fall at all. This means people recommend the film to each other. Technology is just packaging.

As a director, you are constantly taking on large, expensive projects and at the same time choosing topics that are not the most popular. Why is this so?

Producing and production management are inseparable from directing, although many directors do not want to be distracted by this. This is a strong misconception: give me a big budget, I’ll shoot it. You won't take off a damn thing.

How much do you plan to earn from Stalingrad?

So far the profit is small. In the Russian box office, we recouped our investments in production thanks to the fact that we have $10 million from the Cinema Fund - this money does not need to be returned. International rentals are profitable. By the way, the conditions for cinemas abroad are more lenient: there they take less than 50% of the fees. In general, we will be in the black, as we were after “Heat” and “Duhless”.

Is 50% of the proceeds taken by Russian cinemas a lot?

For responsible cinemas this is true, for unscrupulous ones it is an opportunity for easy money. Large networks are investing in modernization, while many owners of small networks and individual cinemas simply turn on the electricity and take 50%. If they could at least change the lamp or install new equipment for that money... If we don’t update the equipment, then we will lose the viewer in the fight against the gaming industry and the Internet.

What was your most challenging project?

"Inhabited Island" was the most risky. Then Alexander Rodnyansky and I took out a private loan secured by personal real estate. As a result, I could very well lose the property. Somehow we paid with our money. And the formula that we used in Stalingrad is an investment loan secured by rights. We didn't risk real estate, we only risked our reputation. In principle, this is a European system for financing large projects. But we don’t do that. Banks do not perceive intellectual property as collateral. We were able to get an investment loan for Stalingrad only thanks to the president. Now all big projects in Russia are supported in one way or another by the president. Our market scheme has not yet started working.

That is, it is impossible to make large-scale films in Russia without the personal support of Vladimir Putin?

No. Not yet. But it will soon be possible. You see, “Stalingrad” became a landmark film for filmmakers. The film showed that it was possible to compete on equal terms with all the big American releases. This is a watershed. “Gorko” (a film released after “Stalingrad”, with a budget of $1.5 million, grossed more than $21 million —SF ) entered the soil heated by “Stalingrad.” We entered the soil heated by "Legend N17". Only big cinema can retain the share of national cinema.

The loans for "Stalingrad" were returned. Will banks want to repeat this experience?

VTB Bank is very pleased with the rental results - this is proof that the Western model works. But the distribution platform for English-language products is the whole world. If the industry goes further in this direction, funds, private companies, and investors will come to the cinema. But I will name only two or three professional producers whom investors can trust today.

In 2007, you said that your film company Art Pictures would inevitably absorb someone or become part of some media holding. Have your plans changed since then?

Since then, we have organized a studio that produces television content. We are currently uniting several partner companies. The series “Molodezhka” was also released on STS, which also became a hit (the series’ share among the channel’s target audience is about 14%.— SF ). But the most important thing for me in 2013 was Stalingrad. And of course, granddaughter Margosha.

What about the Glavkino film and television complex, which you opened in 2012 on Novorizhskoe Highway? Other market participants say it is only 60% occupied due to the distance from the city. How will this affect the return on investment?

Glavkino is 90% loaded. The payback will be affected differently. The fact that we only have equipment installed in 30% of our pavilions. We rent out the remaining pavilions as walls. It's ineffective and doesn't work with our business plan. Funding for the project was divided into two stages. We still have not received the second tranche from VTB. Now, perhaps, another partner will come to us, we will change the ideology of the studio, my shares with Ilya Bachurin will become smaller.

At the end of 2011, VEB approved a loan of 2.5 billion rubles. you and your partner Eduard Pichugin at Kinoshiti - the construction of cinemas in small and medium-sized cities. What's going on with this project?

Eduard Pichugin and I have a company called Kinoshiti, which takes over the management of cinemas. There is a cinema "Giant", which we built in St. Petersburg and which opened this fall, I presented "Stalingrad" there. We spent 1.2 billion rubles on it—personal and credit funds. We went to Sberbank on a common basis and took out a loan. We ended up with a fantastic building in Alexander Park. I delved into everything, every screw. And it turned out great.

What about that program of cinemas in small towns?

It has not yet been implemented. There is not a single penny from the state in it. We have developed a broad targeted program for 250 cities, 50 of them with high economic efficiency. Land plots were obtained and architectural documentation was developed. Using our own and borrowed funds, we opened cinemas in Novosibirsk, Tula and Orenburg. We have been trying to work with VEB for several years now, but nothing has worked out yet. For example, we were offered 135 million rubles. at 12.5% per annum for the construction of a cinema in Maykop. But first, we must invest personal funds in the amount of 82.5 million rubles in the construction of the cinema, and VEB categorically forbade attracting co-investors to the project! Can I please not take out a loan on such terms for socially significant projects?

What else do you invest your money in?

To film startups, to TV pilots. We are investing in "Dukhless-2", filming will begin in winter. In the film "Rating". We do a lot of things for TV. I was a co-investor in Lera’s film (Valeria Gai Germanika’s film “Yes and Yes.” - SF ). Lera is terribly talented, although complicated, of course. Compared to her, I'm a boy from the church choir.

What is more important to you in projects: potential income or creativity?

The main and most important thing for me is directing. Everything else is secondary.

“Give me a big budget, I’ll shoot it.” You won’t take off a damn thing.”