The film 'Last Hero: Kolobok', directed by Anton Maslov, known for the series 'Vampires of the Middle Zone' and 'Last Hero: Legacy', hit Russian theaters on August 6. The cast includes blogger Dmitry Zhuravlev and actor Gosha Kutsenko, with the voice of Kolobok provided by comedian Garik Kharlamov.
Even before its premiere, the film faced sharp criticism. Users flooded the Kinoafisha website with one-star ratings, dropping the film's score to 1.1 and placing it last among 2026 releases. Commenters said they were retaliating for the postponement of 'Spider-Man'. On Kinopoisk, the film received thousands of negative ratings overnight; the service deemed the activity anomalous and did not count them, so no rating has appeared on the site yet.
The discontent stems from a decision by distributors. On July 13, the film's distributor, the film company Atmosfera Kino, together with the Association of Cinema Owners, proposed that theaters postpone the screening of 'Spider-Man: New Day' until August 20 'to avoid competition and efficiently allocate resources'. The letter mentioned the possibility of revising cooperation terms if theaters refused. On August 6, 'Spider-Man' was not released in Russia.
Advance ticket sales for 'Kolobok' have been poor. The film earned 3.6 million rubles in pre-sales, according to Ostorozhno, Novosti. The state-run Cinema Fund allocated 250 million rubles for the film. Analysts examined seating charts in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk cinemas and noticed that tickets for screenings were barely selling. By comparison, 'Spider-Man: New Day' grossed about $932 million worldwide in its opening weekend, the second-best debut in history after 'Avengers: Endgame'.
The film has also been embroiled in several scandals. Director Anton Maslov argued in comments with an electrician who criticized the film's graphics. Actor Garik Kharlamov responded to criticism on social media, saying he 'deeply doesn't give a damn about Spider-Man' and added that he loves Batman.
The industry publication Cinemaplex published a fragment of a document about the promotion of 'Kolobok'. According to it, distributors are forbidden from mentioning Disney (which was the distributor of films in the 'Last Hero' franchise before leaving Russia) and from calling 'Kolobok' part of that franchise, even though the title itself references it.
Earlier in May, cinemas, at the 'request' of Atmosfera Kino, refused to screen foreign films for ten days to support domestic cinema. As a result, attendance and box office revenues fell by a third during that period.