Schoolboy destroyed a 26-million-ruble IMAX screen with a bubble tea ball

A single bubble tea pearl cost a movie theater in Khabarovsk, Russia a sum comparable to the value of a small business. A teenager shot the pearl at an IMAX screen mid-screening, and the venue now faces damages exceeding 26 million rubles (roughly $320,000).

The screen itself runs about 6 million rubles, but installation makes up the bulk of the cost. Putting in a replacement will run another 20 million rubles or so, since the job requires tearing down part of the mall facade, hauling the new screen inside, and rebuilding everything from scratch.

IMAX screens turn out to be so sensitive to physical contact that even a tiny bubble tea pearl left a spreading stain on the surface.

Theater management tried to keep running shows on the damaged screen, but backlash from moviegoers forced them to shut the auditorium down. According to the venue, a single day of downtime costs between 80,000 and 700,000 rubles, with lost profit already estimated at around 200,000 rubles per day.

The incident happened during a screening of Christopher Nolan Odyssey. Reports say the teen took issue with something in the film and decided to use his straw as a makeshift blowgun.