Kommersant quoted the general director of Russia's lead film studio, Mosfilm, as saying that the production of 20-25% of a total of 89 movies had been suspended at the studio in the past two months. He said more than 80% of all of the country's films are made at Mosfilm.
"It is the first time many projects have been simultaneously frozen since the 1998 crisis," Karen Shakhnazarov told the paper.
"Private investors have suspended funding for the projects due to the crisis, and getting bank loans has become much more difficult," he told the paper.
Banks have cut lending considerably, and Russia's stock markets have dropped 70% from their May peaks over declining oil prices and continued economic turmoil in the United States and Europe.
Shakhnazarov added that the Russian film industry had been experiencing problems since the summer over state funding delays caused by the Culture Ministry's restructuring, the paper said.
About 70 feature films of a total of 250 movies under production in the country have been suspended, according to Movie Research general director Oleg Ivanov.
Investors were reluctant to comment on their plans for the film industry, the paper said, but market players suggested the number of new films would decline by 70% in 2010.
Billionaire Alexander Lebedev, a National Reserve Corporation co-owner, told the paper he would continue investing in movie production if "interesting projects" were proposed.
Three hundred and seventy movies, including 85 produced domestically, premiered in Russia last year. Russian films accounted for 25-30% of the $548 million overall box office receipts, experts told the daily.
