I am providing the following info as a result of searching for resources, looking up some reviews of Russian users and browsing the online cinema websites. Personally, I regularly use KinopoiskHD, Premier, IVI and torrents.
While making this selection I took into account the following criteria and information:
- Website language
- Subtitles availability
- Content origin
- Content type
- Searching tools
- Free content availability
- Paid content
- Available interfaces
*I am based in Russia. Part of the content of these websites might be not available in your country. So please, let me know if the websites work properly in your country and about the availability of the content (inna.buge@yandex.ru)
WITH SUBTITLES. Free Content Available
Best free online cinema with various subtitles with a wide collection of mostly classic Russian films.
Website language
English
Subtitles availability
English and others.
Content
Large catalogue of Soviet and Russian movies, animation, series and documentaries. Mostly classics. No hot and latest movies and series.
Searching tools
Convenient search by categories: genre, decade, country and subtitles. Search bar. Rating system.
Free content availability
Vast majority of the movies are embedded YouTube content from big Russian film studios that are free. No registration needed.
Paid content
There are movies to rent or buy.
Available interfaces
Web browser
Best online cinema for those who prefer mass immersion watching content without subs or with Russian subs yet having a navigation in English. Plus it's a wide choice among both Russian and foreign content and a large variety of content types.
Website language
English, Russian and other languages.
Subtitles availability
A lot of movies in Russian (native or dubbed) with Russian subs. There is a number of movies with audio descriptions.
Content
Big collection of titles including Soviet movies and modern Russian and foreign movies, series, TV-shows, TV-channels, documentaries and even popular bloggers. No hot-hot-latest titles though.
Collections potentially useful for Russian learners:
Movies of Soviet film studio Mosfilm
Collection "Year of Russian cinema"
Collection "New Russian Movies"
Collection "Russian Comedies of the New Millennium"
Searching tools
Search only by selections and in the search bar. No catalogue or categories. No search by language, countries or subs. Reviews.
Free content availability
Part of content is free. No registration needed. No ads (verification needed)
Paid content
Some movies are available only for subscribers (397 RUB per month = around 5$). Some movies are to buy forever. No adds.
Available interfaces
Web browser, iOS, Android, Media players, Apple TV, Android TV
WITH SUBTITLES. No Free Content
Best online cinema for a reasonable price with high-quality translations in English and many other languages, good video quality and good yet not very large selection of classic and trending Russian movies and series.
Website language
English
Subtitles availability
English (and more) subtitles
Content
Mostly Soviet classics and modern Russian movies and series highly rated in the West.
Searching tools
Search by genres, categories. Search bar.
Free content availability
You can watch one movie for free.
Paid content
Subscription is around 5$ per month. (verification needed)
Available interfaces
Web browser (+ ??? Verification needed)
*I can not access this website for months for some reason. But my students can. So I wrote everything I remember about this website. Please, have a look at this one to verify my info and write your observations in the comments.
NO SUBTITLES. Free Content Available
Website language
Russian
Subtitles availability
Russian subtitles are only in some foreign movies only for subscribers.
Content
Soviet, Russian and foreign movies, series, animation, TV-channels, TV-shows and documentaries.
Searching tools
Search by genres, countries, other categories, selections. Search bar. Rating system, reviews.
Free content availability
There is a number of free movies with long ads in the beginning.
Paid content
Movies for subscribers (399 RUB per month = around 5$) have no ads, are downloadable and some of them have a possibility to change the language of the audio and the language of subtitles. Brand new movies are available only after a purchase. The subscription provides a discount for those.
Available interfaces
Web browser, iOS, Android, Apple TV
Website language
Only Russian
Subtitles availability
No subtitles as far as I know
Content
Soviet, Russian and foreign movies, series, animation, TV-channels, TV-shows and documentaries.
Free content availability
The majority of free content is TV shows and series from popular entertaining TV channels. Mostly of comedies.
Shortcut link to the free content: https://premier.one/video/all/frее
Free collection of classic Soviet cartoons from SousMultFilm (Союзмультфильм) studio (the biggest and legendary Soviet animation studio) https://premier.one/video/cartoons/besplatno-sojuzmultfilm The studio has removed almost all their cartoons from Youtube in 2020. For the current moment (October, 2020) this page is the only place where the studio has officially placed their cartoons.
No ads (verification needed)
Paid content
One subscription for 129 RUB per month (around 1.7$) gives access to the entire collection of Premier.
Searching tools
Search by genres, countries, other categories, selections. Search bar. Rating system, reviews.
Available interfaces
Web browser, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV
Not bad online cinema to have in your bookmarks for those who are not picky on movies or when you are out of free resources.
Website language
English and Russian
Subtitles availability
English and Russian subtitles in some movies.
Content
Large collection of Russian and foreign movies, series and cartoons. Though even the collection of Soviet movies contains only unpopular and rare movies.
Searching tools
Convenient search by genre, year, country, language of the audio, language of subtitles, selections. Search bar.
Free content availability
Part of the content is free with ads.
Paid content
To get rid of the ads you'd need to pay 99 RUB per month (around 1.3$). To get access for a wider catalogue with no ads for 249 RUB per month (3.3$).
Available interfaces
Web browser, iOS, Android, Smart TV, media players
NO SUBTITLES. No Free Content
Kinopoisk.ru is an old huge tried and trusted movie database (like IMDb) in Russian that created its own online cinema in partnership with Yandex (Russian Google that is actually more popular in Russia than Google).
Website language
Only Russian
Subtitles availability
Choice of audio tracks and subtitles where it's possible.
Content
Russian, Soviet and foreign movies, series and cartoons.
Free content availability
No free content.
Paid content
Subscriptions: "Plus" for 199 RUB a month (around 2.5$) and "Plus Multi with Amediateka" 649 RUB (around 8.5$) contains series of HBO and Showtime (for example "Game of Thrones" dubbed in Russian). There are also titles to rent or buy (discounts for subscribers).
Both subscriptions include unlimited listening to music on Yandex.Music + downloading (may be biggest online collection of music in Runet). 10 Gb on Yandex.Disk (same thing like Google.Disk).
Searching tools
Search by genres, countries, other categories, selections. Search bar. Rating system, reviews.
Available interfaces
Web browser, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Playstation 4
Cool features like checking out the name of the character and the actor's name on the screen in the pause mode, or skipping the titles.