Major movie studios continue their exit from Russian movie theatres with Sony becoming the latest company to follow the trend, in protest of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
The company shared the news in a statement today explaining that the postponed releases will include the latest Marvel movie in Sony’s roster, Morbius.
“Given the ongoing military action in Ukraine and the resulting uncertainty and humanitarian crisis unfolding in that region, we will be pausing our planned theatrical releases in Russia, including the upcoming release of Morbius.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been impacted and hope this crisis will be resolved quickly.”
Via Sony
Sony’s move comes shortly after Disney and Warner Bros announced their decisions to pull upcoming releases from Russian theaters. The films include The Batman, which is set to launch later this week, and Pixar’s latest animated movie Turning Red.
Russia has proved to be a profitable country for Sony movies, with the latest success being Spider-Man: No Way Home earning more than $44 million at the box office in the market.
It isn’t clear when Morbius and other Sony films will make their debuts in Russian theaters but it likely won’t be anytime soon.
Morbius was initially set to launch on Jan. 28 but was pushed back to April 1, the date the movie will roll out to theatres around the globe outside of Russia.