Comrade Mickey

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The ultimate symbol of centuries of Russian power, the Kremlin, was taken over at the weekend by Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella and hundreds of excited Russian children as Disney came to town.

Russian guards in dark woollen coats and fur hats looked on as crowds packed the Kremlin for a "Cinderella Ball" thrown by the Walt Disney Co. as part of its campaign to expand into Russia's booming entertainment market.

"The Russians are hungry for entertainment, and that's why we're here," said Rob Jongmans, executive vice president and managing director of Walt Disney International for northern, central and eastern Europe.

"We are surprised by the popularity of the Disney brands here only 15 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain," Jongmans told Reuters. "Look at these kids and their dresses. Even the boys are in prince costumes. I've never seen anything like it."

Outside, the Kremlin's golden domes and red stars shimmering under a gentle snowfall themselves looked part of a Disney fairy tale. But inside the Kremlin ballroom hosting the party, the scene was enough to make Lenin spin in his Red Square tomb nearby.

At the ballroom of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, a concrete and marble triumph of Soviet 1960s architecture, girls accompanied by mothers in designerwear sat at Disney beauty stands, having their hair sprayed with sparkles and adorned with Cinderella tiaras.

On the parquet dance floor a colourful mix of Disney characters danced with children in prince and princess outfits.

Champagne flowed for parents while children were served from tables piled high with pink cakes and candies served on glass stands -- all for free.

Jongmans said the event, attended by some 2,000 people, cost up to $1 million (564,000 pounds).

Disney characters -- which have generated some $3 billion in worldwide consumer retail sales since 2000 -- are familiar in the West. But they are relatively new in Russia, which discouraged them under 70 years of Soviet rule.

SLEEPING GIANT

Disney has achieved massive revenues from character and brand licensing as well as lucrative merchandising to extend its brands. Now, it is seeking to make a business out of entertaining 150 million Russians.

Jongmans said Russia's entertainment market was the fastest growing in the world. "We think Russia will overtake China in the next five years," he said.

A recent report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers said Russia's entertainment and media market is the fastest growing in Europe, surging 27.4 percent last year. That compares to flat growth in most Western developed countries.

The Russian market including film, video, Internet products, print media, sporting events and theme parks hit $12.45 billion last year, PwC said in a study of global entertainment industry.

That is just a fraction of the global $1.3 trillion market but growing fast, driven by the film and advertising industries and fuelled by higher disposable incomes on booming oil prices.

Jongmans said Walt Disney saw big opportunity in local entertainment and productions with a Russian cast.

"We shall look at the retail market too," he said. "The Russians are family-oriented and have a lot of spending power. We think this market is a sleeping giant."