NEW YORK, February 20. /TASS/. US sales of Russian military drama "T-34" surpass expectations, head of the company distributing the film on North American territory Alexander Belyakov told TASS. On Wednesday, the film will be shown in ten US cities, with some showings being sold out and some theaters offering additional showings, he added.
"On Wednesday, the film will be shown in 12 cinema theaters in 10 cities - Miami (Florida), New York, Chicago (Illinois), Seattle (Washington), Denver (Colorado), Houston (Texas), Boston (Massachusetts), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Los Angeles (California) and Washington DC. In Chicago, we had to quickly organize an additional showing due to high demand, in New York the film will be shown in two cinema theaters - one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. A sold-out showing is also expected in Seattle," he noted.
Earlier, Ukrainian officials addressed the US theaters with the request to cancel the showings of the film. However, Belyakov stressed that "no cinema theater in North America has cancelled the showing of the film, despite the corresponding request by the Ukrainian embassy." He added that the ticket sales for the film are rather high, surpassing expectations.
"It’s hard for us to understand the logic of the Ukrainian embassy, demanding to cancel the showings, because the protagonists of the film are Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. How can one speak about Russia’s aggression in this case is unclear. Moreover, the film talks about the shared pages of our history," Belyakov pointed out.
The distributor added that around 2,000 people are expected to see the film in the US - both the Russian-speaking population and the English-speaking US residents.
Earlier, Belyakov told TASS that there were attempts to scare off owners of small independent movie theaters in Boston and San Francisco through sending complaints regarding Russian propaganda, however, the film went through a special commission in Canada, and no propagandistic content was found.
"We just want as many people as possible seeing different and the best Russian films, and the rest is a matter of taste." "Every person in the US has a right to choose, and the viewers can decide for themselves whether to watch the film or not," Belyakov stressed.
The T-34 film is a Russian military drama, which is currently the second top grossing film of all time in Russia. It is shown in several US theaters in Russian with English subtitles from February 17 to February 24.