Cosmoball

Cosmoball, also known as Goalkeeper of the Galaxy[5] (Russian: Вратарь Галактики, romanized: Vratar Galaktiki) is a 2020 Russian 3D superhero space opera film written and directed by Dzhanik Fayziev based on the animated series Galactik Football, with the participation of the television channel Russia-1[6] and tells about the film is set in the future, a post-apocalyptic city in a world inhabited by survivors of an intergalactic war that has shifted the planet's poles. Above the city towers a huge alien ship - it is a stadium, resting the planet's fate in the hands of the willing and capable Cosmoball players who are defending the Earth. The fate of the planet depends on the result of the match between earthlings and aliens.[7]

Cosmoball
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDzhanik Fayziev
Produced by
  • Sergey Selyanov (ru)
  • Dzhanik Fayziev
  • Innokentiy Malinkin
Screenplay by
  • Andrey Rubanov (ru)
  • Dzhanik Fayziev
  • Drew Row
  • Twister Murchison
Based onGalactik Football
by Frederic Dybowski
Antoine Charreyron
Starring
Music byTony Neiman
CinematographyMaksim Osadchy
Edited byRod Nikolaychuk
Production
company
Distributed byNashe Kino
Release date
  • August 27, 2020 (2020-08-27) (Russia)
Running time
118 minutes
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian
Budget
  • ₽1 billion
  • $15–22 million
Box office

Andrey Rubanov also participated in the writing of the script, and among the producers are Sergey Selyanov and Innokentiy Malinkin. It stars Yevgeny Romantsov as Anton a goalkeeper to the national team, alongside Viktoriya Agalakova, Maria Lisovaya, Ivan Ivanovich, Liza Taychenacheva, Yevgeny Mironov, and Elena Yakovleva in supporting roles.

Location filming began on June 2, 2017, and principal photography locations including at the Mosfilm Studios are produced together with a team of professional stuntmen, special effects masters and artists, promise to make the Cosmoball fans across the Galaxy as the most technologically complex work, with shots taking place at Mosfilmovskaya Street in Moscow, and lasting until mid-September 2017. The film required a wide use of computer-generated imagery to portray the rare alien races and space monsters.[8]

Cosmoball is scheduled to be released in Russia on August 27, 2020, in 2D, RealD 3D formats and Russian distributors will perform "Nashe Kino".[9][10]

The film was the first major Russian project to be released after the limitation of the number of viewers in cinemas due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The film grossed 106 million rubles with a budget of 786 million rubles, becoming a box-office failure.

Plot

What will Moscow look like if you cut off the power grid, shut down all manufacturing, and the whole world watches an interplanetary game?

In the aftermath of a galactic war, which took place in proximity to Earth, the Moon was destroyed, and the poles of the planet disappeared. Now the climate of Moscow and its population resembles the anti-Utopian cyberpunk Brazil: representatives of different races and subcultures, weirdos, exotic animals, engineering miracles coexist on sun-drenched streets.

An enormous spaceship hovers over Earth. This is a stadium where competitions are held, remotely resembling modern football, but only at incredibly high speeds. The name of the game is Cosmoball - a kind of football. When the game is on, the whole world stops in its tracks to watch it. The players are called Athletes. They want to imitate, they are envious, they are worshiped. The outcome of each match of the game determines the fate of the planet, and therefore, when the game is going on, the world freezes, and everyone's attention is focused only on what happens at the stadium.

Cast
  • Yevgeny Romantsov as Anton (Magli sputnik-droid), the Earthlings cosmoball player as a goalkeeper.
Growing up without a father, the guy is perhaps the only one on Earth who hates a cosmoball. Anton thinks only about how to prolong the life of his sick mother, and is forced to steal medicines from pharmacies, which have turned into strategically important and specially protected facilities. But ironically, it was he who was given the opportunity of teleportation, which he does not yet know how to use, and it is he who will become the leader of the Earth national cosmoball team and the main defender of our planet.
A girl of phenomenal beauty, a young captain of the Earth national cosmoball team, who devoted her whole life to sports. Straight, decisive and courageous, she is used to winning in everything.
  • Maria Lisovaya as Valaya / Anya
Cherno's daughter with shapeshifting abilities. Anton runs into Anya in the slums of tropical Moscow, hiding from the police. She is also as and Anton hates cosmoball. Bold and determined, she tries to push him into a strong protest.
  • Ivan Ivanovich as Pele (Susya sputnik-droid)
The Latin American is able to focus on the game during the match. Pele is a virtuoso striker from snowy Brazil. The fastest and strongest in the Earth national cosmoball team. He is used to taking care of girls - Natasha and little Fan. Pele's neck and part of her face are covered with an intricate ethnic tattoo - the pride of the makeup artist.
  • Yelizaveta Taychenacheva as Fan (Gosha sputnik-droid)
The smallest in the Earth national cosmoball team, a little girl can deftly deceive the opponent by sneaking right in front of his nose, but quickly gets tired on the field.
The Earth team is coached by an alien genius scientist with long white hair and purple eyes. Belo has his own interest on Earth and in the national team - only he fully understands what kind of evil they are opposing, and this victory in this confrontation became the meaning of his life.
The Amazonian team
  • Julia Vins as amazon U[11]
  • Khristina Blokhina as amazon Vo
  • Valeriya Bukina as amazon Bu
  • Stanislav Rogachev as amazon Kho
The Siriusian team
  • Alexey Rakhmanov as captain of the Siriusians
  • Yevgeny Kosyrev as siriusian Stan
  • Pavel Dorofeev as a siriusian
  • Alexey Pavlov as a siriusian
The North American

Production

Development
Dzhanik Fayziev, writer and director of Cosmoball, at Kinotavr in 2016.

In August 2014, Dzhanik Fayziev is planning to film a blockbuster titled Cosmoball about a Russian superhero fighting alien invaders, inspired by the comics of the Marvel Universe, and not about the new work of Russian directors who have decided to take the superhero cinema to a completely new level, Russia Today reports.

Fayziev clarified that, according to the plot, people evolved and became part of a galactic society fighting creatures that look like "super-reactive turboballs", so battles with them will look like football, hence the name of the film. The nickname of the superhero is Yashin.[12][13]

The director's chair was occupied by Dzhanik Fayziev's company Bonanza Studio, who counts at least three kinohit The Turkish Gambit (2005 film) and Furious (2017 film), the historical fantasy film. Fayziev has been nurturing the idea of this project for many years: Cosmoball is rooted in the dream of wonderful future worlds and was inspired by the world's fiction classics. He is also the co-producer and co-author of the script.[14]

We have been developing this project for about five years, applying a very detailed approach: the script, the characters and their images, locations, costumes, sets and, of course, graphics. In my opinion, the number of graphics and special effects in Cosmoball is more or less equal to what our industry created in the last five years. We have learned to create world standard computer graphics. However, I’ll say it again, Cosmoball, in terms of the quality of special effects, shall become a transition to a new coordinate system, to a whole new level.

—producer Sergey Selyanov

Producing the tape entrusted Sergey Selyanov (ru), the preliminary development of the project took almost 5 years, so the script, the appearance of the characters and the world around them, graphics and scenery were worked out especially carefully. Viewers can look forward to numerous action scenes in which the main characters will demonstrate super-speed and super-powers, created using hand animation. Selyanov, director of the STV Film Company, which was founded in 1992 in Saint Petersburg, a Russian film company founded in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, is one of Russia's most prolific and successful producers of theatrical motion pictures, has the status of the leader of Russian film production.

The operator was invited to Maksim Osadchy, known for the works Stalingrad (2013 film) and The Duelist (2016 film). The authors of the script were Twister Murchison, Drew Row and Andrey Rubanov.[15]

In August 2020, Konstantin Ernst, General Director of Channel One, noted that the holdings decided to unite and put an excellent picture forward in order to support it with all the efforts of the industry. «Often good films receive less attention, not because they do not correspond to their quality, but simply under-formatted them», said Ernst. In his opinion, on the eve of the Day of Russian Cinema, it is symbolic that the film, which is certainly a powerful domestic blockbuster for all types of audience, is presented in Russia with the support of large media holdings.

Anton Zlatopolskiy (ru), General Director of Russia-1, noted that the standard situation for the industry was the independent promotion of their products by the holdings. However, in the current situation, competition fades into the background.

According to Vyacheslav Murugov (ru), head of STS Media, the support of the holdings will provide a cumulative effect in this composition.[16]

Casting

The main roles in the film performed by the actor Yevgeny Romantsov as a Russian athlete were cast for the main characters. Romantsov graduated from the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture (majoring in theory and methodology of football and hockey), and this experience helped him enter the character of a sports player.[17] Romantsov took part in productions of the Gogol Center.

Next to him was the Russian actress Viktoriya Agalakova (née Glukhikh) studied ballet, acrobatics and choreography, which was very useful to her while filming dynamic scenes on suspensions. Agalakova works at the Saint Petersburg State Theater of Musical Comedy.

They were accompanied by аctress Maria Lisovaya, a graduate of the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute.

The fourth unknown actress who joined them was the winner of international competitions in rhythmic gymnastics Yelizaveta "Liza" Taychenacheva, an actress who previously competed in biathlon and the Children's teams of Youth Sports Schools "Youth of Moscow".[18] They were all cast because of their sporting past.

They were joined by famous actors such as Yevgeny Mironov,[19] Elena Yakovleva, Mikhail Yefremov and others.

Dzhanik Fayziev director is the most ambitious, expensive and high-tech project of all that is being shot in Russia. On the walls of the pavilion there is a blue chroma key on which backgrounds will be drawn. In one frame with live actors - virtual characters, drawn from scratch or with the help of digital capture technology acting game motion capture.

Filming

Principal photography commenced in the scenery on the territory of Mosfilm Studios in Moscow, and lasted from June 2 to mid-September 2017.

Palms, figs, creepers and crumbling facades of Moscow, dusty cars, rusty phone booth on the corner. Beside it, wrapped in colorful rags, a hairy merchant-a southerner. In a battered suitcase laid out the goods: a few seedy lanterns, the old clock, the bubbles with strange drugs.

All this can be seen in the pavilion No. 1 of "Mosfilm", where is now built the districts of Moscow. After a global catastrophe, the world's climate has changed, many of the countries went under water, thousands of settlers poured into Moscow, which was in the tropical zone. No jams, no grey down jackets or sullen individuals — the post-apocalyptic city looks nicer and modern.

On an area of over 3,500 square meters built transforming the scenery of the streets and interiors of post-apocalyptic Moscow, with thousands of props created by the artists specifically for the film. In the shooting involved up to 500 actors for crowd scenes, and for each stitched a unique costume. In the Studio, costume designers were delivered 1.5 tons of items lightweight summer clothing from India were delivered.

When working with images we use sophisticated prosthetics: the creation of one of the characters, Shaft, takes the artists on makeup for seven hours, the suit of silicone pads cover her whole body.[20][21]

Post-production

For the post-production of visual effects is engaged in the studio Main Road Post, according to the company's general director Arman Yakhin.

One of the biggest challenges of the project is an incredible number of digital characters (over 50), both completely virtual and recreated using digital capture technology for actors. For this work, the walls of the Mosfilm pavilions were covered with blue chroma key, on which the backgrounds will be painted. In the first case, the actor on the court interacts with the dimensional toy, in the second - with the actor in a blue suit with inertial sensors. Thanks to the technology of augmented reality, the director can see on his monitor immediately a full-fledged image, that is, instead of a blue person - an alien.

Complement the work on creating a unique world of the picture specialists in visual effects from the studio of visual effects Main Road Post.[22]

Music

Cosmoball: The Movie Soundtrack
Film score by
Tony Neiman
ReleasedNovember 2, 2020[23]
Recorded2020
GenreFilm score
Length1:08:49
LanguageEnglish, Russian
LabelTony Neiman

The music for this new Russian science fiction was composed by foreign composer Tony Neiman.

Release

The film's original premiere date was previously scheduled to January 24, 2019. It was delayed, because on this date the creative group had some difficulties.[24][25]

In September 2018, it was announced that the release date was postponed to October 17, 2019. [26] As previously assumed, the picture would be presented to viewers on August 27, 2020. On its previous scheduled release date, its former slot was taken by Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.[27]

The film's premiere screening was held on August 25, 2020 at the cinema "Karo 11 October" in Moscow. Followed by its release on the big screen the following weekend. This was the first major Russian film release after the quarantine,[28] and it was scheduled to be released in the Russian Federation by Nashe Kino in RealD 3D format on August 27, 2020.[29]

Marketing

The first teaser for the film was shown on September 30, 2017 during the IgroMir / Comic-Con Russia festival, when the director presented the film to the audience.[30][31]

Reception

Box office and VOD

The film became the first major national blockbuster in Russia to be released after the effects of the outbreak of the corona virus in Russia that forced a restriction on the amount of viewers in cinemas,[32] and put in the amount of 106.6 million Russian rubles (about $1.4 million) compared to a budget of 786,4 million rubles.

The film was released on digital rental in Russia on October 9, 2020 in the KinoPoisk HD online cinema.

Critical response

The film received mostly low to average ratings from Russian critics, who noted the weak storyline and expressionless dialogues of the characters.[33]

Nikolai Kornatsky from "Film Art" wrote that with the visual part, everything is also not cosmic. The graphics themselves - unprecedented for our cinema - are in no way inferior to either Valerian (2017) or Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). But this whole huge, loud and populous world all too often evokes a sense of déjà vu.[34]

Anton Dolin (ru) noted that the film lacks a clearly invented world, the laws and background of which the authors begin to explain to the audience from the first seconds, but they continue to swim until the very end. An interesting plot, since three stories - about Dr. Frankenstein and the monster he spawned, about a naive boy who will eventually grow into a messiah, and about a sports competition - do not fit well with each other.[35]

References
  1. "Вратарь Галактики / Cosmoball (2020)". Film distributor's Bulletin (in Russian). Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. Box Office, Russian Cinema Fund`s Analytics (RCFA)
  3. "Cosmoball (2020)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  4. "Вратарь Галактики (2020) - кассовые сборы" [Cosmoball (2020) - Box Office Gross]. KinoPoisk (in Russian). Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  5. Golden, Lee B., III (5 July 2020). "COSMOBALL: Well Go USA Picks Up Russian Sci-Fi Action Sports Thriller For January 2021". Film Combat Syndicate. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  6. "Вратарь галактики. Художественный фильм" [Cosmoball. Feature film]. Russia-1 (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  7. Stevens, Michael (April 13, 2018). "Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek Goalkeeper of the Galaxy". Sneakpeek.ca.
  8. "Джаник Файзиев приступил к съемкам фантастического фильма "Вратарь галактики"" [Dzhanik Fayziev began to shoot sci-fi film Cosmoball]. TASS (in Russian). June 2, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  9. "Российская фантастика "Вратарь Галактики" выйдет в прокат 27 августа" [Russian science fiction Cosmoball will be released on August 27] (in Russian). SE7EN.ws. July 23, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  10. Alperina, Susanna (July 23, 2020). "Вышел трейлер семейного фантастического фильма "Вратарь Галактики"" [The trailer for the fantastic film Cosmoball has been released]. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  11. "'Barbie with Hulk muscles': Meet Julia Vins, the Russian powerlifting sensation who can lift more than 200kg". Russia Today. August 26, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  12. Zabaluev, Yaroslav (August 6, 2014). "Кино с претензией на кассу" [Cinema with a claim to the box office]. Gazeta.Ru (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  13. "Director Dzhanik Fayziev Plans to Make Film about Russian Superhero". Russian World Foundation. August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  14. Balueva, Anna (October 23, 2019). "Мединский опозорит Файзиева?" [Will Vladimir Medinsky disgrace Fayziev?]. Sobesednik.Ru (in Russian). Retrieved August 2, 2020.
  15. "Cosmoball". Luminescence Kft.
  16. "Первый канал, "Россия-1" и СТС впервые объединились для продвижения фильма" [Channel One, Russia-1 and STS have teamed up for the first time to promote the film]. TASS (in Russian). August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  17. "Yevgeny Romantsov is a Russian actor and sports was chosen for the main role". Instagram. 2017.
  18. "In life, the youngest actress of the Goalkeeper of the Galaxy project, Yelizaveta Taychenacheva, is engaged in artistic gymnastics and is fond of biathlon". Instagram (in Russian). November 2016.
  19. Rogova, Anastasia. "Евгений Миронов стал инопланетянином" [Yevgeny Mironov became an alien]. Izvestia (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  20. "How to shoot modern fiction: excursion to the Goalkeeper of the Galaxy". Russia news today. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  21. Ruzmanov, Mikhail (October 14, 2017). "Экспедиция: "Вратарь Галактики" Джаника Файзиева" [Expedition: Cosmoball by Dzhanik Fayziev]. The Hollywood Reporter Russia (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  22. "Cosmoball". Main Road Post.
  23. "Cosmoball". Amazon. November 2, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020. (in English)
  24. ""Вратарь Галактики" Джаника Файзиева выйдет в прокат в январе 2019 года" [Cosmoball by Dzhanik Fayziev will be released in January 2019]. TASS (in Russian). November 29, 2017.
  25. Yentyakova, Anna (November 30, 2017). "Стала известна дата выхода "Вратаря Галактики" с Евгением Мироновым" [The release date of Cosmoball with Yevgeny Mironov has become known]. Around TV (in Russian).
  26. ""Вратарь галактики" получил новую дату выхода" [Cosmoball received a new release date]. The Hollywood Reporter Russia (in Russian). September 5, 2018.
  27. "«Кино Экспо» 2019: Презентация компании «Наше кино»" ["Kino Expo" 2019: Presentation of the company, "Nashe Kino"]. Film business today (in Russian). September 18, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  28. Eshurin, Rostislav (August 26, 2020). ""Вратарь галактики" - первая российская премьера после карантина" [The first Russian premiere after the quarantine of Dzhanik Fayziev's fantastic blockbuster took place in Moscow with the participation of the stars]. MainStyles (in Russian). Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  29. Kuzmin, Fedor (July 23, 2020). "Космобол, телепортация и спасение мира в трейлере российской фантастики "Вратарь Галактики"" [Cosmoball, teleportation and saving the world in the trailer of the Russian science fiction Goalkeeper of the Galaxy]. Afisha (in Russian). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  30. Markov, Maksim (October 4, 2017). "На Comic Con Russia рассказали о новом российском кино" [At Comic-Con Russia talked about the new Russian cinema]. Ridus News (in Russian).
  31. "На Comic Con Russian представили "Вратаря Галактики"" [At Comic-Con Russian presented Cosmoball]. Film business today (in Russian). October 7, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  32. Polezhaev, Mikhail (2020-09-01). "Касса в России растет, «Вратарь Галактики» побеждает без фурора" [The box office in Russia is growing, Cosmoball wins without a furore]. Film business today (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  33. Voronkov, Pavel (2020-08-27). "«Вратарь Галактики»: блокбастер, от которого хочется обратно на карантин" [Goalkeeper of the Galaxy: a blockbuster that makes you want to go back to quarantine]. Gazeta.Ru (in Russian).
  34. Kornatsky, Nikolai (2020-08-27). "Святые стебли: как «Вратарь галактики» свел вместе «Ералаш» и космогонический миф" [Holy stems: how the Goalkeeper of the Galaxy brought together Yeralash and the cosmogonic myth]. Film Art (in Russian).
  35. Dolin, Anton (2020-08-27). "«Вратарь Галактики» Джаника Файзиева: фильм, в котором есть все, кроме интересного сюжета, выразительных героев и правдоподобных диалогов" [Goalkeeper of the Galaxy by Dzhanik Fayziev: a film that has everything except an interesting plot, expressive characters and believable dialogues]. Meduza (in Russian).
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