Story: Viking (Викинг) is a 2016 historical action film by director Andrei Kravchuk, based on the historical document Primary Chronicle and Icelandic Kings' sagas. Screen International has called it Russia's Game of Thrones. The films stars Danila Kozlovsky (Vampire Academy, Hardcore Henry) and Svetlana Khodchenkova (The Wolverine, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).
Kievan Rus, late 10th century. After the death of his father, Svyatoslav I, ruler of Kievan Rus, the young Viking prince Vladimir (Danila Kozlovsky) is forced into exile across the frozen sea in Sweden to escape his treacherous half-brother Yaropolk (Aleksandr Ustyugov), who has murdered his other brother Oleg (Kirill Pletnyov) and conquered the Viking territory of Kievan Rus. The old warrior Sveneld (Maksim Sukhanov) convinces Vladimir to assemble a Varangian armada, hoping to reconquer Kiev from Yaropolk and ultimately face the mighty Byzantine forces.
The film was produced by Konstantin Ernst and Anatoly Maksimov, best known for the Russian urban fantasy/supernatural thrillers Night Watch and Day Watch.
A few scenes were filmed in 2013 to secure funding (see External Links), a common way to secure finances for large movie productions in Russia. The majority of the film was filmed from early March to the last week of July 2015. The budget was on par with the Russian WWII epic Stalingrad, 1 250 million rubles. The film was shot on several locations including the city of Bakhchisarai, the Belogorsky District and the Genoese fortress in Sudak.
The cast is mostly Russian; however the film does features Swedish actor Joakim Nätterqvist and Canada's John DeSantis.
The first official teaser trailer was shown during a closed pitch event with the management of the Russian Ministry of Culture and chairmen of Cinema Foundation of Russia.
In September 2015 Central Partnership distribution studios announced the release date for the film as 22 December 2016. On November 19, 2015, Film Direction and Channel One Russia released the official trailer to the public.
Producer: Sarik Andreasyan, Gevond Andreasyan, Vladimir Polyakov, Max Oleinikov, Nikita Argunov
Writter: Andrei Gavrilov
Star: Sanzhar Madiyev, Anton Pampushnyy, Sebastian Sisak-Grigoryan, Alina Lanina, Valeria Shkirando, Stanislav Shirin, Vyacheslav Razbegaev
Genre: Science fiction
Release date: February 23, 2017
Country: Russia
Language: Russian
Story: Zaschitniki (In Russian: «Защитники»; The Guardians) is a Russian neo-noir superhero film directed by Armenian director Sarik Andreasyan and starring Anton Pampuchniy, Sanzhar Madiev, Sebastian Sisak-Grigoryan, Alina Lanina, Valeria Shkirando and Stanislav Shirin. It is set to be released in February 2017.
The film is set in an alternate history at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as a group of Soviet superheroes were created during the Cold War. The group includes representatives of the different nationalities of the USSR, superpowers protagonists reflect strengths and traditions of the people of the USSR.
Set during the Cold War, a secret organization named "Patriot" gathered a group of Soviet superheroes, altering and augmenting the DNA of four individuals, in order to defend the homeland from supernatural threats.
The group includes representatives of the different nationalities of the Soviet Union, which each one of them have long been hiding their true identity. In hard times, they settled down to business and gather to defend their homeland.
Anton Pampushniy as Arsus
Wildman, Arsus is a werebear, and has the ability to transform himself into a large bear, though he can control how much of his body is transformed and can transform partially if he wills it. This transformation ability can allow him to seamlessly alter his size, bulk and musculature and transform himself into a burly humanoid, as well as use his transformations to physically augment himself. He has multiple phases of transformation due to his ability to partially transform. He is armed with minigun in battle, which he carries on his back when fully transformed. He can also use his inhuman physicality to fight, especially when he is full bear form. Desperate, loyal and determined, he is known for his drive to "break the enemy into small pieces".
Sanzhar Madiev as Khan
Windman. Masterfully skilled with all kinds of blades, as well as with many kinds of martial arts. Along with other blades, he is primarily armed with twin, crescent like blades, which resemble a scimitar, scythe or sickle and can be joined at the hilts to form a double bladed weapon. He is also physically augmented, possessing a degree of superhuman strength that allows him to smash through brick walls with a single punch and send men flying through the air with his attacks, as well as superhuman mobility that gives him acrobatic and gymnastic capabilities and the ability to effortlessly dodge and evade attacks, even gunfire at point blank range. He also possess inhuman speed, to such a degree that it appears he almost appears to teleport.
Sebastian Sisak-Grigoryan as Ler.
Landman. He is armed with all forms of earth manipulation abilities, and is able to control stone and soil, collect dust from boulders, stop falling rocks, and move mountains. He can cause the ground to break apart under his enemies feet with great precision in what parts break and what shape the subsequent depression makes. This allows him to form instant craters, canyons, ravines, and sink holes to fight his opponents, though these formations are usually small in scale. Being able to cause quakes and tremor like events in the ground beneath his opponents, such as making the ground under them erupt and explode with the force of a hand grenade. Along with his abilities, he is armed with a small chain with a large rock cemented on its end, which he can use as a type of flail.
Alina Lanina as Xenia
Waterwoman. Flexible and agile, to a superhuman degree. She has the ability to move on water as if it were solid ground, as well as to seamlessly floating through it. This gives her higher mobility in water than the fastest, or most maneuverable sea creature. She cannot feel temperature differences and can survive in an airless vacuum, which allows her to survive underwater without any negative effects. She can also transform her body into liquid and use it defensively or offensively.
Valeria Shkirando as Head of "Patriot" Secret organization.
Vyacheslav Razbegaev as Major-general Nikolai Dolgov
Stanislav Shirin as August Kuratov.
Main antagonist. Owns a machine named "Modul-1" which allows him to control any technical equipment. He decides to build his own army of clones in order to capture Moscow, in preparation to control the whole world.
Filming began on April 27, 2015 in Moscow while the casting process was concluded earlier in this year. Filming was continued in Moscow Oblast and in the Crimean peninsula, and was wrapped on July 14, 2015.
A sequel, Guardians 2, is planned, with Turbo Films, the Chinese distributor of the first film, as a co-production company.
Story: Hardcore Henry (also known as simply Hardcore) is a 2015 Russian-American science fiction action film written and directed by Ilya Naishuller. The film stars Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, and Haley Bennett. The film is scheduled to be released theatrically on April 8, 2016, by STX Entertainment.
Hardcore Henry is a first-person perspective action film, in which the audience sees everything through the eyes of Henry, who's resurrected from the brink of death, made into a cybernetic super soldier and remembers nothing about his past. He is trying to save his wife Estelle, who has been kidnapped by Akan, a powerful warlord with a plan for bio-engineering soldiers. In the unfamiliar city of Moscow, Henry tries to avoid being killed while discovering the truth behind his identity.
The film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2015. The film became one of the highest-profile at the festival, and led to a bidding war between Lionsgate, Universal, and STX Entertainment. Ultimately, STX acquired worldwide rights to Hardcore, including a wide release commitment, for $10 million, becoming the studio's first festival acquisition. It was retitled Hardcore Henry for its domestic release.
At the Festival, the film won the Grolsch People's Choice Midnight Madness Award. The film is scheduled to be released on April 8, 2016, by STX Entertainment.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 89%, based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. Metacritic gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Producer: Nikita Mikhalkov, Leonid Vereshchagin, Anton Zlatopolskiy
Writter: Tikhon Kornev, Nikolai Kulikov
Star: Vladimir Mashkov, Danila Kozlovsky, Agne Grudita, Katerina Shpitza
Genre: Disaster
Release date: 20 Feb 2016 (Berlinale), 14 Apr 2016 (Moscow)
Country: Russia
Language: Russian
Story: Flight Crew (Russian: Экипаж, translit. Ekipazh) is an upcoming Russian disaster film produced by Russia-1 Channel set for release in 2016. Inspired by the 1979 Soviet film Air Crew, it was the second catastrophe film shot in the Russian Federation.
The film was shot in digital 3D IMAX camera and become the first Russian film shot using this equipment.
Talented young pilot Alexey Guchshin does not accept authority and acts in accordance with a personal code of honor. For failure to comply with an absurd order, he is prevented from flying military aircraft and only by a miracle does he get a chance to fly a passenger airliner. He has to start his flying career again: Alexey becomes the second pilot-trainee on the Tu-204SM under the guidance of an experienced crew commander, the pilot Leonid Zinchenko. Their work relationship was not easy.
During the flight to Southeast Asia, the crew receives a message about an earthquake on an island and decides to go to the epicenter of the disaster to give aid. On the brink of life and death, when the ground is slipping from under their feet, and around the fire and rescue just in the sky, Gushchin shows everything what he can do. But only by working together can the crew to perform the feat, and save the passengers.
Director Nikolai Lebedev wanted to make a film-catastrophe, but did not negotiated with potential producers, until Leonid Vereshchagin and Nikita Mikhalkov suggest to work on a remake for "Air Crew". The director started work by support from Alexander Mitta, who directed the soviet film of the same name in 1979. The movie received a support from Russian Government which funding the movie through the National Cinema Foundation.
Filming started on September 18, 2014 and wrapped on 10 February 2015. The filmings took place in Moscow, Moscow region and in the Crimean peninsula. In the peninsula they filmed on as the earthquake-prone island volcano in the Indian Ocean. The crew has shot the flight scences in two planes: The Tupolev Tu-204SM (RA-64151 board) and decommissioned Tupolev Tu-154 of Kosmos Airlines (RA-85796 board).
Danila Kozlovsky, Vladimir Mashkov and Agne Grudite who playing the pilots started to work long before filmings had begun, after receiving training in flight school at the helm ultramodern flight simulator.
The film was shot in digital 3D IMAX camera and become the second Russian film shot using this equipment after Stalingrad (2013) by Fedor Bondarchuk.
