"Russian fairy tales" and "Blood with a Bun: the return of "Twilight" and the "rebranding" of Russian fairy tales

The vampire saga "Twilight" is being shown in Russian cinemas again. Kolobok tries on the image of Batman. Alan Ritchson becomes a courier. Director Adam Wingard returns to his favorite horror genre. And a new horror film based on the podcast is coming to cinemas from Thailand. "Izvestia" found out all about the main film premieres of the upcoming weekend.

"Twilight", 18+

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Anna Kendrick

18 years after the premiere, "Twilight" returns triumphantly to the Russian box office. According to the EAIS of the Cinema Foundation, ticket pre-sales amounted to 75.4 million rubles, which provided fees of more than 80 million rubles on the day of the launch of the rental of the first part of the vampire saga. Over the years, films based on the novel series of the same name by Stephenie Meyer have gained a solid fanbase. And if earlier the fans were divided into two camps — some were rooting for the vampire Edward Cullen, others for the werewolf Jacob, now Bella's dad Charlie and Edward's foster father Carlisle are fighting for the adoration of the viewers who grew up with the film. "It"s a killer's skin, Bella," and "A lion fell in love with a sheep" were parsed into memes by fans. In 2026, Russian viewers will once again have the opportunity to see this story on the big screen.

The first film of the saga, created in 2008, will remind of the legendary vampire family and show the origin of the love of the main characters. Many fans call Catherine Hardwicke's painting the best among the other parts of the franchise. The film features a chamber-like mysterious atmosphere. This is facilitated not only by the cold palette in blue‑green tones, but also by the overall tone of the narrative, as well as the director's attention to detail in the frame. The choice of the soundtrack deserves special praise. In addition to the song Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, the film features compositions by Paramore and Linkin Park.

"How Ivan got into a fairy tale", 6+

Directed by Alexey Nuzhny. Starring: Miron Provorov, Ilya Vinogorsky, Santa Nuzhnaya, Maria Aronova, Irina Gorbacheva, Pelageya

The story of the struggle between Kolobok and Spider-Man for the attention of the Russian audience has barely been forgotten, as a new fairy tale entered the race. In the center of the plot is a boy named Ivan Dobrynin, who does not get along with his parents and neglects his studies. Among other things, the hero does not like Russian fairy tales, preferring comics to them. One day Ivan gets into a magic chest and moves into a fairy-tale world. There he will have to save the Frog Princess, Ilya Muromets, Baba Yaga and other famous heroes from oblivion. As a solution to the problem, Ivan first suggests that the characters try on the images of foreign superheroes — Spider-Man, Wolverine and Iron Man. Such a rebranding does not help, which becomes a wise life lesson for the guy.

"Courier", 16+

Director: Scott Waugh. Starring: Alan Ritchson, Owen Wilson, Rodrigo Santoro, Leila George, Kate Box

"Chase", "shootout" and hand—to-hand combat in the name of a good cause in Scott Waugh's new action thriller, the Golden Raspberry nominee for "The Expendables 4". The main character Hank Malone is an Afghan veteran who suffers from PTSD and alcohol addiction. All this deprives him of his family: his ex-wife had to fight alone for the life of her daughter, who had leukemia, while Hank drowned his personal grief at the bottom of a bottle. Years later, the man leads a lonely life, attends an alcoholics Anonymous meeting and moonlights as an elite courier.

Suddenly, he receives a curious order — he needs to promptly deliver a donor liver for an emergency transplant to a little girl. There are only three hours for this. The situation becomes more complicated when it turns out that one of the criminal gangs also knows about the valuable cargo. This circumstance instantly makes Malone remember his military past and turns him from a simple courier into a real hero.

The plot is based on a story from the annual list of the best unrealized scripts in Hollywood for 2023. Critics praised the director for the brisk action, which Scott Waugh seasoned with comedy. Some observers called "Courier" a predictable movie, but this does not deprive it of the main advantages inherent in action films.

"Onslaught", 18+

Directed by Adam Wingard. Starring: Adria Arjona, Alex Pereira, Dan Stevens, Eric Verheimes, Reginald Veljohnson

The main character Celeste is a war veteran with a shattered psyche who now lives in a trailer park and strives to return to normal life. Unfortunately, a secret military experiment gets out of control nearby - a group of super soldiers escape from the laboratory. The genetically modified ruthless fighters spare no one, and it is up to Celeste to enter into a direct confrontation with them to protect her little daughter.

The toggle switch of cruelty in the picture is turned to the maximum, which should surprise fans of the genre. """" Director Adam Wingard knows a lot about entertainment — long before "Godzilla vs Kong," he managed to introduce the slasher "You're finished!" and the thriller "The Guest" to the audience. In his new work, the director returned to his favorite genre.

"House of the Dead" 18+

Directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri. Starring: Tiradetch Metawarayut, Sarunrat Puagpipat, Viyada Umarin, Visarut Himmarat

In the movie "House of the Dead", the intensity of horror will be maximum, as the name itself hints at. The script is partly based on a Thai ghost meeting podcast. The plot of the horror film seems to clearly follow the well-known canon: at the beginning of the story, a married couple, expecting a child, moves into their dream home, but in reality everything turns out to be not so simple. The former owner of the property sets a condition — not to communicate with neighbors. The characters unwittingly break the rule, after which terrible things begin to happen. An invisible evil literally forces them to move, but after the birth of a child, the family returns to the sinister house.