‘There is a lot we can learn from the Americans,’ says the president, as he quashes plans to limit US blockbusters at the Russian box office

Vladimir Putin has torpedoed proposals to introduce a quota system limiting the number of Hollywood films which can be shown in Russian cinemas. Representatives cancelled a parliamentary debate on a bill to introduce quotas on Thursday, after the Russian president spoke out against the idea last week. “It would be wrong to deny our consumers those goods they would like to have,” Putin told a forum of the All-Russia People’s Front last week, according to the Tass news agency. “It is applicable to the motion picture industry too. It would be unwise to turn down what is profitable.” He added: “The Americans are talented and successful people and there is a lot we can learn from them.”

The move was welcomed by the Motion Picture Association of America, the US body which represents studios and gives movies their ratings. Chris Marcich, the association’s president and managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told Variety: “We welcome the remarks by President Putin. We have long enjoyed close relations with Russian film-makers and have a shared interest in a healthy local market.”

Hollywood movies are hugely popular in Russia: this year’s list of the 20 top-grossing movies at the nation’s box office shows that only two were produced locally, with Transformers: Age of Extinction, having taken $45.2m (£28.8m), in the No 1 spot. The move to cap foreign films at 50% of current levels would have cost Hollywood studios revenue stretching into hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis.

China currently operates a quota system for foreign movies, though the number of films given permission to screen there has been expanded from 20 to 34 films in recent years. Authorities in the world’s most populous nation also routinely delay debuts for blockbuster Hollywood fare in order to give prized local features (especially those of a propaganda-tinged nature) a better chance at the box office.