Film production of post-Soviet Russia is a territory of formidable investment risk intimidating for private business. A significant role in determining the risk is played by social factors. As a result of the post-Soviet restructuration of the theatrical audience the overwhelming majority of Russians found themselves outside cinema’s social orbit. The potential spectator who still supports cinema with the rouble is extremely inert. The level of confidence for the quality of Russian films is low. The audience is formed and reproduced largely under the dictate of Hollywood which, through a chain of intermediations, leads to its naturalization in the content and esthetics of Russian films. Due to the expensiveness of cinema tickets, competition from the internet and other modes of promoting films for spectators, the rating of the movie theater is falling. Under these circumstances, the production of national films is a super-risk business. The financial costs thus incurred, the state is compelled to impose on itself. In the market they are not recompensated, and the sociocultural return on cinema does not satisfy the society. Initiated by the production of Russian films, the cinema process finds itself in the condition of a profound social and cultural trauma. To correct this state of affairs is in the purview of a transition from the inertial to an innovational scenario for the functioning of Russian film production and its state guardianship.