Russian movies to rival Hollywood blockbusters

Russian movies can rival Hollywood blockbusters in their box office takings, said Mikhail Shvydkoi, head of the federal culture and cinematography agency.

According to him, Night Watch has already collected over $10 million.

Night Watch is both an artistic and industrial-economic phenomenon, Mr. Shvydkoi noted.

He sees several reasons of its success. "On the one hand, the film was made with account of the audience's interest in fantasy. On the other hand, it has a good PR campaign. It lead to the movie's success and record box office takings," Mikhail Shvydkoi said.

In his opinion, Russian cinema needs promotion, which does not get enough financing today. Formerly mainly film festivals promoted movies and now we need "aggressive" PR campaigns, he stressed.

"I don't think that Russian cinematography will be developing in one direction. Eighty pictures, which will be released soon, have different genres and themes.