Cinema for Everyone: A Yakutian Company Brings Film Premieres to Remote Villages
Extra Cinema, a Russian company that deploys cinema halls in remote settlements using its proprietary technology, has provided permanent access to movie screenings for more than 118,000 residents of Yakutia.
Cinemafication,Yakutia-Style
For many residents of large cities, going to the movies is a routine part of a weekend plan. Buying tickets, choosing a screening time, grabbing popcorn - it is all taken for granted. Few people stop to consider that for others, cinema has long remained out of reach. In the smallest settlements, where there are no theaters in the conventional sense, new film releases were until recently little more than a distant aspiration. Today, that gap has been closed thanks to a Russian-developed solution.
The Extra Cinema platform was created in direct response to the challenge of providing cinema access to small and remote communities across Russia. The initiative was launched by the Yakut Republican Cinema Network, a nonprofit organization focused on expanding cultural infrastructure in sparsely populated regions. Extra Cinema became the first company in Russia to offer a secure digital cinema screening technology specifically adapted to the conditions of small settlements. The system is designed to function reliably in environments where traditional cinema infrastructure is economically or technically unviable.
The solution combines a projector and server housed in a single unit, a digital distribution platform, and an open-standard film rental model. The system serves multiple stakeholders: rights holders who supply content, local organizers who run screenings, and audiences themselves. Functionally, the network resembles a streaming platform, with one crucial difference - screenings take place offline, without continuous internet connectivity. The technology fully prevents unauthorized copying and ensures strict compliance with copyright protection requirements, addressing one of the key barriers to distributing commercial film content outside conventional theaters.
Attendance Exceeded Expectations
In Yakutia, the project to equip village cultural centers with Extra Cinema projectors began in 2022. Each of the 77 cinema halls independently selected its repertoire, screening schedules, and number of showings. Ticket prices ranged from 205 to 334 rubles (approximately $2.20 to $3.60).
Audience demand exceeded expectations. In Yakutia, the share of residents actively attending film screenings turned out to be higher than the national average. The highest attendance rate in the republic - 347% - was recorded in the remote village of Chumpu-Kytyl, home to just 200 people.
According to Nikolai Egorov, head of film distribution at Extra Cinema, box office leaders included not only central and river-region districts, but also Arctic territories. Screenings in the Namsky District generated 3.6 million rubles (about $39,000), more than 2 million rubles ($22,000) in the Suntarsky District, and over 1.2 million rubles ($13,000) in both the Megino-Kangalassky and Khangalassky districts. Even in the Arctic Momsky District, box office revenues surpassed 1 million rubles ($11,000).
The Extra Cinema network is deployed exclusively in small settlements. Its core priority is to ensure access to high-quality cinematic content while enabling the use of Russia’s Pushkin Card cultural subsidy program. The project contributes to both cultural and technological sovereignty, with priority given to Russian films through a curated library of new releases.
Cinema as Infrastructure
The Extra Cinema project stands as a successful example of regional digital cinema distribution. It demonstrates that innovative technology can effectively address the challenge of cultural access in remote areas. The solution has proven viable even in Arctic regions, where classic DCI cinema systems are economically impractical.
The model combines commercial logic with social impact. A portion of ticket revenue remains with local venues and can be reinvested to improve service quality and audience comfort. This creates a self-sustaining ecosystem rather than a one-off cultural intervention.
The technology is expected to be rolled out in additional districts of Yakutia and potentially in other regions of Russia. Further integration with regional cultural programs would strengthen the model, as would the introduction of cloud-based film libraries and expanded content offerings. Over time, this approach could form a stable, nationwide framework for digital cinema halls in small settlements, aligned with national strategies for culture and education.
