Disney, Warner Bros, Sony cancel all theatrical movie releases to Russia

Studios in Hollywood like Disney and Warner Bros have officially slapped Russia with a few sanctions of their own and have decided not to release any theatrical film releases because of their invasion of Ukraine.

The Walt Disney Company has been the first to announce their intentions and has also confirmed that their new Pixar film Turning Red will also be withheld from Russian cinema.

Warner Bros and Sony, Paramount Pictures, have all showcased similar intentions as of last Monday and Tuesday.

Disney’s intentions and plans for the future were featured in their official announcement and it read, “We will make future business decisions based on the evolving situation.”

“In the meantime, given the scale of the emerging refugee crises, we are working with our NGO partners to provide urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees.”

Warner Bros has even gone as far as to pause The Batman and Morbius from releasing within the country despite prior arrangements.

Paramount Pictures will be withholding The Lost City and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from the Russian masses.

For those unversed, this move is a major one on the part of these international movie houses because Russia is known to drum up nearly 3% of all global ticket sales within the world.

According to Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com, “Russia has, at times, been a very relevant piece of the international box office picture.”

“But the humanitarian crisis resulting from current developments is emerging as a clear consideration for Hollywood distributors in such a challenging and tragic geopolitical environment.”

“It’s yet another unprecedented situation for industry leadership to face with no certain road map or blueprint to follow.”

This decision has come amid an entire wave of economic, political, social and entertainment-based sanctions and bans which the world’s economy has hit Russia within the wake of their decision to invade Ukraine.

Even Netflix has rubbished Russia’s requirements of adding local news channels with their spokesperson statement.