Bootleg ‘Spider-Man’ swings into Russian cinemas despite Hollywood boycott

While screening the movie “violates both Russian and international law,” everyone, including Russian authorities, “turns a blind eye to it,” one film critic told NBC News.

“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.