Published on: 2026-08-21
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Moscow today is not only the largest shooting location in the country but also a full-fledged production center of Russian cinema. In the first six months of 2026, more than half of the highest-grossing domestic films were produced using the infrastructure subordinate to the capital Department of Culture Moscow’s film cluster — from on-location sets to virtual production technologies.
Natural sets allow recreating historical epochs, virtual production enables filming complex scenes without traveling to remote locations, and the film commission helps organize shoots directly in the urban environment.
Box office cinema
The scale of the film cluster infrastructure can be assessed, among other things, by the films released in the first half of the year. Among them are the top three highest-grossing domestic films: Dmitry Dyachenko’s “Cheburashka-2” (box office — about six billion rubles), Sarik Andreasyan’s “Prostokvashino” and Igor Voloshin’s “Buratino” (each grossed about 2.4 billion rubles). Another film by Sarik Andreasyan — “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” based on Alexander Pushkin’s work — brought in over two billion rubles. Also in the top ten were “Domovenok Kuzya — 2” (about 900 million rubles) and “Kholop-3” (over 725 million rubles).
Both the metropolitan film infrastructure and city locations — streets and parks — were used for filming these projects, and the coordination of work on-site was handled by the Moscow Film Commission.
For example, for the film “Cheburashka-2,” one of the filming locations was the park named after Yuri Luzhkov. In “The Tale of Tsar Saltan,” part of the scenes were shot at Pushkin Square. Key fairy-tale locations — the piers of Guidon’s island and Saltan’s domain, the royal ship and the merchant’s boat — were created at the MosKino film studio using digital production. Moreover, the virtual world did not just replace the sets. In the ship scenes, the real and digital environments were combined in a single frame: about a third of the ship was built in the studio, while the rest was created in the virtual space. Thanks to the tracking system, the structure was perceived as a single object. For the filming of the film “Kholop-3,” shipyards from the time of Peter the Great were built on the outdoor set “Far Eastern City” of the film park.
The filming of the movie “Buratino” at the MosKino film park took place on the “Provincial Cities of Europe” set, featuring 19th-century Italian architecture. There were Papa Carlo’s house, a church, a school, bookstores, and bakeries. The decorations were created as an integrated cinematic world — with streets, squares, and details that allow working with close-up and wide shots without constantly searching for new filming locations.
The filming crew of the movie “Domovenok Kuzya — 2” worked in the urban environment. The film features the Borovskoye Shosse metro station, Triumfalnaya Square, Khodynskoye Pole park, the square and fountain at Kudrinskaya Square, as well as streets of the historic center. With the support of the Moscow Film Commission, filming was organized at Trubnaya Square, Tsvetnoy Boulevard, Malaya and Bolshaya Nikitskaya Streets; permissions were secured for the operator platform to travel in general traffic and for positioning the film vehicles on city locations. Thus, the city became not just a backdrop, but part of the film production. The infrastructure of the “Airport” pavilion in the MosKino film park was also used for filming.
“Today, it is important for a film producer not just to find a suitable location, but to obtain an environment in which the entire project concept can be realized — from the first shooting shift to the final frame. Moscow is consistently creating exactly such an ecosystem: urban spaces, ready natural sets, modern studios, and virtual production technologies work as a single production circuit. It is illustrative that among the box office Russian films of the first half of the year, there are projects that utilized the capabilities of Moscow’s film infrastructure,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the city’s Department of Culture.
Virtual production
Just a few years ago, virtual production was primarily perceived as a technology for executing individual complex scenes. Today, it is becoming a full-fledged production tool. According to a study by a major British consulting agency, the studio located on the Moskino film factory grounds ranks among the top 5 virtual productions in the world by the number of completed projects — they now have 65.
One of the key facilities is the XOVP virtual production studio with an LED structure covering more than 300 square meters (the “puck”). It allows combining physical sets and a digital environment in the frame and changing the background in real time. According to experts from the Moscow Film Cluster, by 2027, roughly 50 percent of all projects will be created using this technology.
It is especially in demand when filming scenes with moving cars. Instead of organizing complex shoots in a car moving through the city, the film crew works in a studio. The required location is displayed on the LED screen, and weather conditions and special effects can be added to the virtual environment in real time.
For filmmaking, this means several production advantages at once — less dependence on weather and time of day, higher safety for actors and crew, and most importantly, no need to close city streets for a single scene.
At the same time, virtual production allows the creation of worlds that are practically impossible to build in reality. For example, in the work on the series “Noon”, the first adaptation of the Strugatsky brothers Arkady and Boris’s sci-fi detective “Beetle in the Anthill,” the technology was used to create the planet Nadezhda.
The production simultaneously utilized real sets, computer graphics, and virtual space. This made it possible to create large-scale landscapes and architecture without limiting the film crew by the physical constraints of the studio.
Another example is the second season of the series “Lily of the Valley. The Second Spring.” Using virtual production, they filmed the musical scene “The Last Waltz,” where the characters dance against the backdrop of a meteor shower. The shooting involved SFX effects, and smoke machines and lighting devices were used to create depth in the frame. They highlighted the trajectories of comets flying through the virtual space of LED screens.
This year, virtual production went beyond the studio. A section with a library of backgrounds for shooting moving scenes appeared on the film platform. Producers, directors, and digital location artists have the opportunity to choose the city, season, time of day, and even the era.
Realistic sets
Virtual technologies solve only part of the problem, but for historical films, real sets and props remain critically important. The “Moskino” film studio park allows projects to be created that take place in various historical eras — from Ancient Rus to the 20th century.
Currently, the historical drama “Eastern Road” is being filmed here. The series tells about the events of the 9th century and the formation of the Russian statehood. The main roles are played by Aleksei Serebryakov, Darya Vereshchagina, Mikhail Yevlanov, and Polina Aug.
Filming takes place on the sets of the “Chamber of Russian Princes” and the “Ancient Russian Town.” For producers, the value of such infrastructure lies primarily in reducing production logistics. Instead of creating a historical environment from scratch or searching for dozens of scattered locations, the film crew receives a ready-made space adapted for film production.
“For the ‘Eastern Road’ we needed a world that lives and breathes — the 9th century, Ladoga, river routes, people who carry their own truth and strength on their shoulders. The Moskino film park offers what is difficult to create from scratch: scale, texture, decorations where the crew can work without losing time and effort on logistics. This is a serious production base that allows focusing on the main thing — the story and the actors,” noted producer Ivan Samokhvalov.
Another project is the historical film by Konstantin Buslov “The Battle of Molodin”, which takes place in 1572. The sets used include the “Chambers of Russian Princes”, “Russian Medieval Town”, and “Cathedral Square”. The decorations recreate the royal chambers, the house of the oprichniks, and prison casemates. The film will be released on November 4, 2027. It features Mikhail Porechenkov, Nikita Kologrivyy, Petr Rykov, Alexander Ustyugov, Diana Ogay, Leonela Manturova, and other actors.
The historical action film “Storm,” dedicated to the capture of the palace of the Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin in 1979, was also filmed at the MosKino film park. An exact replica of this palace was built in the film park for the movie. The film starred Konstantin Lavronenko, Lolita Taborko, Marianna Shultz, Alexander Averin, Dmitry Zhuravlev, and others.
According to the plot, the operation itself takes 43 minutes — that is exactly how much time is allocated for the assault. The filmmakers reconstruct the events almost in real time, using the continuous shooting technique.
Complete production cycle
The main change taking place today in Moscow film production is the integration of previously disparate processes into a unified infrastructure system. City shooting, on-location sets, studios, virtual production, technical services, and coordination of film crews are becoming part of a single production cycle.
The Moscow Film Commission is responsible for liaising between filmmakers and the city and organizing shoots at Moscow locations. The MosKino Film Park provides ready-made historical and modern sets. The Film Factory allows shooting in studios, including using virtual production. The Film Platform combines services and tools for producers.
As a result, Moscow competes with other cities not only as an attractive location for on-site filming. The capital offers filmmakers a full production cycle — from location scouting and shoot coordination to the creation of the film’s physical and virtual worlds.
This is exactly what is gradually changing the requirements for the modern film environment: it is no longer just the accessibility of the location that matters, but the ability of the infrastructure to optimize production logistics, expand visual capabilities, and allow the team to focus on the creative process.
The Moscow film cluster consists of infrastructure facilities, services, and amenities for filmmakers that Government of Moscow is developing as part of the “Moscow — City of Cinema” project. Its structure includes the “Moskino” film park, the Gorky Film Studio (locations on Sergei Eisenstein Street and Valdai Passage), the “Moskino” film factory, the “Moskino” cinema network, the Moscow Film Commission, and the Moscow Film Platform.
The program of events in the film cluster contributes to the implementation of the goals and objectives of national projects in Moscow “Family”, “An efficient and competitive economy”. More details about Russia’s national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
Get the main news quickly through the official Moscow city channels in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.