“Spider-Man” fans dressed up as their favorite web-slinger have swung into cinemas across Russia to see the latest installment of the franchise, despite Sony Pictures ending all of its theatrical releases in the country at the start of the war with Ukraine.Wearing a homemade costume with the iconic spider symbol drawn onto a red shirt, Almir, 27, was among the hundreds who flocked to the cinema to watch “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in the city of Kazan, which sits around 500 miles east of the capital, Moscow.“I did it myself, since I didn’t have money for a full suit,” he told NBC News in a Zoom interview last week, adding that demand for tickets was so great that he had to book three weeks in advance.NBC News agreed not to use Almir’s last name and those of other moviegoers because they were nervous about potentially landing themselves in trouble with authorities for speaking to a foreign media organization.But while screening the movie “violates both Russian and international law,” everyone, including moviegoers, owners and even Russian authorities, “turns a blind eye to it,” according to the film critic Timur Aliev.“Formally, a cinema has no right to screen a film without a distribution certificate,” Aliev said.But these were impossible to obtain, as most of the major Hollywood studios had closed down their distribution offices in Russia after the start of the war, he said.Fans of the franchise at a St.
Petersburg screening Friday of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which began its unofficial theatrical release in Russia.Andrei Bok / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesSo cinemas illegally obtain digital cinema packages — the standard industry format used to screen films — through third-party distributors and copy them, Aliev said, adding that the owners coordinate a release date among themselves.Moviegoers buy a ticket to see what is known as a short film under what is known as a “prescreening service,” he said.But while this...