Russian drector Fyodor Bondarchuk has just stared principal photography on 'The Inhabited Island,' the most expensive Russian-filmed pic ever at $28 million for a two-pic deal, reports Variety. The film is an adaptation of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's 1971 science fiction novel about breaking free from mind-control in a totalitarian society. The shoot will take 10 months, with a planned release in October 2008. If it does well, the film is intended to launch a new series of Russian-produced science fiction films. Box-office returns have been on the rise for Russian-made films --- as have the budgets ---and the market appears to be growing steadily.

Bondarchuk said last year, "With a population of 150 million, and growth in the number of screens, to release a film on as many as 1,000 prints will become realistic over the next 12-18 months." He added, "That makes for a real chance in the near future for up to three Russian films a year to bring in as much as $100 million each at the box office."