Russian television channel Russia 24 is appealing to the Investigative Committee after director Anton Maslov and actor Dmitry Zhuravlev received death threats over their new movie, The Last Warrior: Kolobok. TV presenter Eduard Petrov announced on his channel on Max that the network legal team would ask law enforcement to investigate anonymous calls and messages targeting the filmmakers and their families.
The threats included wishes of death and promises to burn property following the family film release on August 6. Petrov wrote that online bullying fueled by anonymity was turning into real danger for creators who invested soul and funds into cinema. Maslov also argued directly with a social media user prior to the premiere of the movie, which features comedian and actor Garik Kharlamov voicing the main fairy-tale character.
Kinopoisk Ratings and Superhero Protest
Within two days of release, the film rating on Russian review platform Kinopoisk fell to 1.7 out of 10 across 147,000 reviews. KP.RU reported that negative scores began appearing before initial theater screenings. Kinopoisk press service explained that temporary rating removal occurred because system logs recorded thousands of votes with over 90 percent negative responses, treating the activity as an organized flashmob.
Kinopoisk representatives stated that insufficient valid reviews existed to establish a final score, clarifying that negative votes are not deleted because ratings must reflect genuine post-viewing opinions. Online commentary linked the review bombing to Hollywood franchise fans angry over delays to Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which screens in Russian theaters through pre-show service arrangements. Telegram channels reported a new Spider-Man entry was supposedly scheduled for August 6, leading users to post photos of half-empty halls as evidence of a boycott.
Kinopoisk responded on its Radiotochka NSN channel on Max by converting the Kolobok score into 1.7 Spider-Mans out of 10 while keeping star ratings for other films. Social media users also shared a viral poster depicting Spider-Man with a dough head shooting pastry instead of web, labeling the Russian fairy-tale character as the main antagonist of the foreign superhero.
Box Office Performance and Industry Forecasts
Film critic Yevgeny Bazhenov told Gazeta.Ru that half-empty theaters stemmed from an abnormally high number of scheduled screenings rather than box office failure. Bazhenov explained that average attendance of 10 to 15 people in a 400-seat hall visually creates an illusion of disaster, whereas a restricted release would have guaranteed sold-out shows. He added that figures from the Unified Automated Information System of the Cinema Fund showed a record for summer premiere box office, though Russian theaters suffer as profitable foreign titles are removed and domestic films forced on audiences.
Official Cinema Fund data recorded total box office gross for The Last Warrior: Kolobok at 145,095,314 rubles at the time of writing. Roman Isaev, a board member of the Association of Cinema Owners, told NSN that media reports of weak attendance in Moscow theaters were fabricated out of thin air as an act of industry sabotage. Isaev stated that the release was not a BTS concert selling out in ten minutes and predicted positive word-of-mouth would help the family picture earn between 1.5 billion and 2 billion rubles, while Maslov told Radiotochka NSN that the film maintains the humor, traditions, and new characters of the original franchise.
