On May 27, the Bubble company live-streamed the trailer for the first full-length film – “Major Grom: Plague Doctor”. At the same moment, social networks flared up – comics about the most ordinary St. Petersburg policeman have a huge fan base. It’s not for nothing that the creators proudly call their brainchild “the first Russian superhero based on a comic book.”.
And the foundation is really strong. Comics about Grom have been published since 2012, being the flagship line and an absolute bestseller.
Major Igor Grom is an ordinary person who has neither super strength nor super speed. His distinctive qualities are a sharp mind, an inflamed sense of justice and a bulldog grip when investigating. Hence the brilliant chemistry with the main villain (and at the same time the main star of the entire publishing house) – the Plague Doctor.
There has been talk for a long time about a possible film adaptation. The full meter went through a complete change of concept, director, leading actor, short film and even a teaser of the previous version, which are no longer considered canon.
The short film also “blew up” the Internet at one time. The premiere was supposed to take place on the Life broadcast, but there were so many people who wanted to watch “the most ordinary day of Major Igor Grom” that the site went down. The film was urgently posted on YouTube. There he continued to break records and impress viewers. Particularly noted was the unique shooting style and combat in the style of the Kingsman movie. The young studio’s first attempt at writing turned out to be incredibly successful. Also in 2017, they presented a teaser that featured airplanes, which ironically coincided with the blocking of Telegram.
After this there was a long lull. There were alarming rumors about a change of director, and then the leading actor also changed – Tikhon Zhiznevsky took the place of Alexander Gorbatov. However, shortly before Comic Con Russia 2019, news came about blocked streets and a film set with Bubble emblems on clothes in the middle of St. Petersburg. It became obvious to the fans that the matter had moved forward. At the festival itself, the cast was presented with great pomp: the updated Thunder with the face of Tikhon Zhiznevsky, his faithful partner Dima Dubin (Alexander Seteykin), his fighting friend Yulia Pchelkina (Lyubov Aksenova) and all the other actors, including the role of Sergei Razumovsky (Sergei Goroshko). Oleg Trofim sat in the director’s chair. At the same press conference, it turned out that the project had a new partner. It became Yandex in general and Kinopoisk in particular. (When the public realized that the Thunder Film Fund would not be affected in any way, there was a collective sigh of relief in the small presentation room) .
Now, finally, after many years of waiting and almost complete fan despair, we have been presented with a trailer for the film.
Location: St. Petersburg (alternative from ours, according to the creators). The plot is based on the very first arc of the comic book, bearing the same name as the film, “The Plague Doctor.”. However, we can already say that the plot will be somewhat rewritten, as there are some changes in the timelines for the appearance of characters and especially the appearance of the Plague Doctor himself. According to Sergei Goroshko, the film creator of the social network “Together” Sergei Razumovsky will be more modest and closed than in the comic book version, and will become almost a sociopath. For him, every interaction with people will be a test – unlike Razumovsky from the comics, a famous partygoer (t.e. we replace Pavel Durov, who was originally the basis for this character, with Mark Zuckerberg). In many ways, again according to the creators, this was done to maintain intrigue, so that even the most devoted readers would be interested in watching the movie. However, the motivation of the screen Chumka is the same as that of his paper counterpart – to burn out dirt, crime and corruption from the streets of his beloved city. Punish those whom official justice cannot reach.
Just like in the comic, the conflict will be based on the confrontation between Major Thunder, a policeman who does not comply with the regulations, but is still obliged to follow the letter of the law, and the villain Plague Doctor, for whom these laws do not exist at all. All this against the backdrop of ordinary people who saw hope for deliverance in the villain and furiously rushed into the thick of riots and clashes.
Chronologically, the trailer follows the events of the entire comic arc. It begins with the burning in the car of a rich major who hit a child. Literally frame-by-frame the very first episode is transferred to the screen: Grom’s acquaintance with his partner Dima Dubin and journalist (in the film a blogger) Yulia Pchelkina, the investigation of the Plague Doctor’s cases (which we will not talk about), riots on the streets and meeting opponents face to face.
An interesting find is that the trailer was made, in fact, from the perspective of the main villain: the Plague Doctor is the locomotive of the series, the most beloved character of most readers. It was logical to make him the very force that would attract viewers. After all, he has plenty of magnetism for this. It is noticeable that the image of the villain has changed to a more “realistic” one, while acquiring some Batman-like features that were not yet in the short film.
Externally the trailer is very tasty. It’s nice to see that the guys from Bubble have gotten the hang of creating promotional materials. They managed to show exactly what was needed without spoiling the rest. At the same time, the atmosphere is much darker and more mundane compared to the same short film. You can even see elements of Bond here. The color scheme is ideally chosen to highlight the fiery madness on the streets and is perfect for the Plague Doctor.
The musical theme is also catchy, although a cover of “Kino” is against the rules (no one can remain calm after hearing Tsoi). Unfortunately, Bubble editor-in-chief Roman Kotkov said that they will not publish the soundtrack in the near future, only closer to the release of the film. The composer was Roman Seliverstov.
Kotkov and producer Artem Gabrelyanov had to “explain” for the low age rating – they had to stop at 12+ in order to attract the largest possible audience. They cannot yet risk the possible success of the film for the sake of a high rating. Everything will depend on how the audience receives the first film. Among other things, the creators would like to premiere for foreign audiences at the most famous fan event – San Diego Comic Con.
We are expecting a release in 2021.
Best comments
I was also waiting for the https://spins-heaven-casino.uk/ broadcast on the 27th. It was terrible. They were late, then the video barely loaded, I had to watch it through YouTube on Kisimäki’s channel. The site went down, VK was stupid like a thousand devils!
I didn’t follow the ups and downs on the set; there were fears that changing the main actor to Tikhon Zhiznevsky would ruin everything. Thankfully I was wrong. The new actor fits the image of Thunder even better. I associated Alexander Gorbatov more with Thor than with an unsung hero. But the voice of the Plague Doctor upset. Some kind of parody of the Scarecrow from the DC universe. In the previous Trailer, if I’m not mistaken, he was voiced by Vsevolod Kuznetsov – it was better there, but that’s subjective.
We are waiting for 2021, I hope they will also show it on big screens in Ukraine.
First of all, thank you for raising this topic, it was interesting to know your opinion on the “Thunder” that has once again emerged from the fog of oblivion. You are full of optimism and believe, obviously as a lover of domestic comics, that the guys from Bubble will still be able to adequately film the original source. The problem is that people like me… are full of skepticism)
Seriously, it seems strange to me, as a simple man in the street, to go to the cinema to see a superhero “cop” who confronts some crazy dude in a “plague doctor” costume from the 17th century, who also commits lynching of officials and their children in a film with a rating of 12+. And not because I may not be interested in it, but because in general I can’t imagine it well within the given framework, and the trailer didn’t personally appeal to me.
In addition, the general long-term construction of the project also plays a role here. The Thunder teaser came out three years ago, and it looks better now than this entire new trailer, which is very strange. Plus, the production hell of the film itself, the departure of the director and the actor playing the main role, reshoots, long-term freezing of filming… all this personally raises many doubts in me that the first full-length film will turn out to be at least watchable, and I don’t yet see myself in the forefront of the audience that will run to the cinema on the day of the premiere. And yes, I will be glad if a film with all these “buts” suddenly works out, but to be honest it’s hard to believe.
I actually agree with you a lot. from a continuous series of tasteless war films aimed at “jingoism”, ugly cartoons with a terrible script created under the motto “Children are stupid and eat it up” and trashy soulless comedies from TNT, I also long ago lost hope in Russian cinema.
But there is one “but” here.
Major Thunder is created with the money and efforts of the creators of the original comic, they put all their efforts and, especially, all their resources in the hope that the film will “take off”. Bubble literally goes all in and they have no room for error.
Can you imagine?? They are truly responsible for the quality of their project. They don’t give a damn
When was the last time such a project was released in the Russian Federation??
Yeah, okay. That is, the main character of the work will not have a sworn enemy who will come to take revenge on him many years later? There will be no cultists who believe in some crap? There will be no problems with the psyche of the main character? They won’t kill his beloved?
Answer honestly and under the spoiler, how many plot twists did I guess?? I think I got everything right. Well, maybe sectarians have no place here.
I’ll read the article someday. I have bookmarked it.
Yes you are right. I’ve been reading comics from this publisher since 2014, and although I can’t call myself a full fan of everything they do (in general, I’m willing to put money into just one line), I’m sincerely happy when they manage to do something cool that previously seemed impossible. and in this case I want to think in the style of “but who if not them?» naively? Maybe. but why not.
a matter of perception I think. you see the struggle of a “cop” with a “fucked up dude”, and I have two ideologies, when both are trying to achieve mythical justice and both fail and the opponents turn out to be more alike than they both would like. and all against the background of ordinary people who are tired of, again, “injustice” and therefore ready to choose the bloodiest of two evils. but I read the comic and base my opinion for the most part on it, because unfortunately I’m not trained to see the future.
As far as I know, that last teaser can be considered a completely different project, a completely different film that we will never see again, for better or for worse, I don’t know. but I had the opportunity to communicate with the cast and creators and it’s clear how much everyone is excited about this new project. and there was no production hell as such, because they didn’t start filming the previous version.
in general, it all comes down to personal opinion. will I run to the premiere? damn, I’ll try to get to the preview if there is one. Will I “vote with my ruble”? yes, I’ll send my friends to the cinema. I sincerely hope that the guys will succeed and shoot. and as long as I see their efforts and the fruits of this effort, as long as I see that the actors can play and the money can be filmed, as long as both the fans and the creators are passionate about their “dream project,” I will support them.
but this is all again IMHO.
and from my bell tower I advise you to read the first arc of the comic. she’s cool. IMHO)
in terms of the confrontation between Thunder and Chumka, the Game arc (next?) the most powerful and intense. I advise. and then comes the crossover time of the crow and second wind. Personally, I really got a second wind, but this is purely a matter of taste. I highly recommend
however, burying the project in advance just because the rest of the cinema is incapable of anything is at least strange
There’s somehow too much skepticism on this topic, so I’ll just say that I’ve also been looking forward to the film since the teaser! Yes, Bubble ran into problems, but it’s cool that they still decided to bring it to the end and I really hope for a good film, because I personally liked the trailer) And in general, there will definitely not be a better time for a film about the Plague Doctor to appear in the cinema after the epidemic))
I haven’t read. I have no idea who Major Thunder is and I don’t really care about this movie. I was just throwing my two cents in in the comments.
What will happen if Ilya Kuryakina from Agents A.N.TO.L.» put it in Kingsman? The result will be a bomb short film about Major Thunder 😀
I’m not a fan of comics myself, but I’ve heard about Bubble from friends. It’s nice that we are releasing a decent superhero movie – that’s why there is even more hope for the success of the film. It’s too early to judge the quality of the product from the trailer, but it’s already clear that they can do the filming, costumes, acting and atmosphere. By the way, I have the most questions about the last one. If the general mood of the short film evoked associations with the notorious Kingsman, then the new trailer clearly gives off the signature of DC with its gloom and seriousness. Not that this is a drawback, it’s just that, as a person unfamiliar with the original source, I still can’t grasp the spirit of the universe 🙂
Of course, thank you very much for the blog! It was very interesting to read about the behind the scenes of filming. And, of course, a big plus for the links to the main materials, very convenient 🙂
No thanks. I’m not a fan of this kind of literature. And there are two reasons for this:
First, I’m sick of stories about brave heroes facing off against terrible villains. Boredom. And it’s so clear that everything will be fine. In addition, scenario 99.97% of such works were written at the beginning of the 20th century.
By the way, only the lazy one didn’t joke about Uncle agents at one time xD. It’s just nice to know that Thunder appeared earlier. I’m even curious if the creators of the agents took a peek)))
In fact, the bubble guys are great in that they are not afraid to take risks and change the atmosphere. I can even say that the life of Igor Grom was as fun and energetic as in the short film, just before meeting the Plague Doctor, and then everything went wrong… So you can even say that it’s canon. But as someone who has read it, I can say that the atmosphere suits this particular plot well. so no objections.
Thank you) I always try to add something interesting and insider, so maybe you should read my other articles, mmm? 😀
So yesterday I put a plus sign on my profile and came across several interesting articles on the blog. When I have more time, I’ll definitely read it 😉
) If I have time, I’ll read it) And about the film adaptation… from my point of view, it’s better not to expect anything and then be surprised, than to wait and hope, and then be disappointed. There was already one film adaptation with Idris Elba, who forgot the face of his father) But in that one there was no sign of trouble at all)
