For once, the winners in a bitter business struggle are likely to be the consumers -- in this case, Moscow's English-speaking moviegoers.


The Americom House of Cinema opened its doors again last Friday, and Golden Ring Entertainment, the film distribution company fired by Americom on July 20, is scheduled to sign a contract to open a second English-language cinema in the city this week, the company's president said Monday.


"I don't want the expat community to suffer in the least because of any changes," said Vyacheslav Tsaryov, director of the Americom House of Cinema. He said that the cinema had signed a contract to bring the blockbuster "Pulp Fiction" to the screen shortly, and had "several options" for the films to follow.


The Americom is now showing "By the Sword," but Tsaryov said that its run would end when "Pulp Fiction" arrives.


Golden Ring president Ray Markovich could give no details about his firm's venture, but said a contract should be signed to open an English-language cinema before the week is out.


The conflict between the American House of Cinema and Golden Ring was just the latest chapter in the ongoing battle for control of the joint venture that yokes together the Americom Business Center and the Radisson Hotel. The primary combatants were, as ever, Americom president Paul Tatum and his partners in the joint venture, Radisson Hotels Corp. and the Moscow Property Committee.


The cinema was originally part of Tatum's Americom Business Center. It was subsequently taken over by the joint venture, which decided to break off the relationship with Golden Ring.


"Americom did not want the contract with Golden Ring to be terminated," Markovich said, adding that the takeover was part of Americom's lawsuit currently being heard in a Stockholm arbitration court.


Tsaryov said that the break with Golden Ring resulted from the distribution company's failure to deliver on "promises" it had made to the joint venture "to provide movies directly from the United States -- brand new, hot movies with big names."


Instead, Golden Ring procured its films from Russian distributors, but nevertheless collected "the lion's share" of the cinema's profits, as stipulated in its contract, Tsaryov said. Markovich dismissed this claim, saying that Golden Ring's contract with the cinema required it to deliver "full-length" films without stipulating the source of those films.