Barbie recently began showing in cinemas in Russia even though the Hollywood hit hasn't officially been released in the country due to the war in Ukraine.
The Moscow Times on Wednesday reported theaters have started screening pirated versions of the Warner Bros. blockbuster, which recently crossed the $1 billion threshold at the box office.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star in Barbie, which is based on the iconic Mattel toy of the same name, and the film has dominated ticket sales in the U.S. since its theatrical release on July 21. However, mainstream Hollywood has abandoned the Russian market due to Russian President Vladimir Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine, and the movie is not currently scheduled to be released there.
The Russian broadcaster RTVI reported a copy of Barbie that was lifted from an illegal streaming website has recently begun playing at a theater in Tyumen, a city in Siberia.
RTVI noted a film critic complained the pirated Barbie screened in Tyumen contained poor voice dubbing and pop-up gambling advertisements.
The organizer of the film's showing defended the quality of the film to RTVI.
"There are, of course, their technical nuances...I understand the reactions of other people who say that this is illegal and dishonest in relation to the copyright holders," the organizer, identified only as Vladimir, said. "But for ordinary people who want to spend the evening out, this is a completely normal alternative to the missing big films."
Newsweek reached out to Warner Bros. via email for comment.
RTVI also wrote that posters for Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer were reportedly seen recently at a cinema in the city of Yekaterinburg.
Amid the reports of pirated movies being screened, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova told the Russian state media outlet Tass that her office had not received applications from venues to host official showings of Barbie or Oppenheimer.
Tass added that Warner Bros. and Oppenheimer's distributor Universal Pictures both left the Russian market following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and neither studio has released a film in Russia since that time.
On July 26, The Moscow Times reported in a separate story how the worldwide craze around Barbie had still managed to sweep through Russia. The outlet wrote that Barbie-themed parties have become popular throughout the county and many Russian social media influencers dressed as the blonde titular character in photos they posted online.
Barbie's popularity has also hit China to the surprise of some box office analysts. After a slow start, the film developed into a "word-of-mouth hit" and took in $25.5 million in box office receipts in its first two weeks, The Hollywood Reporter wrote on July 31. Meanwhile, such American hits as Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One and The Super Mario Bros. Movie underperformed in China.
