On Monday, Disney became the first major Hollywood studio to announce they were pausing releasing movies in Russia in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming Turning Red from Pixar," a Walt Disney Co. spokesperson said in a statement.
Turning Red was scheduled to open March 10 in Russia. Other upcoming releases from Disney that were to open in Russia include Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 5 and Lightyear on June 16. Disney added, “We will make future business decisions based on the evolving situation. In the meantime, given the scale of the emerging refugee crisis, we are working with our NGO partners to provide urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance to refugees.”
Later that day, Sony pulled the March 24th Russian release of Morbius starring Jared Leto. Also on Monday, Warner Bros. announced they were pausing the release of The Batman in Russia. On Tuesday, Paramount issued a statement to say their March and April releases, including Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum would not release in Russia. The same day, Universal pulled their March/April releases, including the animated movie The Bad Guys and Michael Bay’s new thriller Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
A finally, on March 1, the European Film Academy joined the Ukrainian Film Academy in a global boycott of Russian film, excluding Russian films from this year’s European Film Awards. They released a statement that read: "The Academy strongly condemns the war started by Russia — Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory must be respected. Putin’s actions are atrocious and totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them." ~Alexandra Heilbron
Update: On Thursday morning, Netflix announced they would ban all content from Russia on their streaming service.
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