Learn Hardcore Russian: В зале показывают фильмы разных жанров. - They are showing films of different genres in the hall.

cinema / auditorium:
- кино́зал – movie auditorium
- в зале показывают фильмы – they show films in the auditorium
concert / theater hall:
- концертный зал – concert hall
large room in a building (e.g. in a house, museum, gym):
- спортивный зал – gym hall
- выставочный зал – exhibition hall

In this sentence, from context it usually means a cinema auditorium / cinema hall, i.e. the room where films are shown, not the entire building.

Why is it в зале and not в зал?

Russian uses different cases after в depending on meaning:

Accusative (answering “куда? / where to?” – direction, movement into):
- в зал – into the hall
- Мы идём в зал. – We’re going into the hall.
Prepositional (answering “где? / where?” – location, no movement):
- в зале – in the hall
- Мы сидим в зале. – We’re sitting in the hall.

Your sentence describes where the films are being shown (location, not motion), so the prepositional case is used: в зале.

What case is зале, and how is it formed from зал?

Зале is prepositional case singular of зал (masculine, hard-stem noun).

Declension of зал (singular):

Nominative: зал – hall
Genitive: зала – of the hall
Dative: залу – to the hall
Accusative: зал – hall (same as nominative for inanimate)
Instrumental: залом – with/by the hall
Prepositional: о зале / в зале – about the hall / in the hall

So в зале is “in the hall” with prepositional.

Why is there no subject like “они” (they)? Who is doing the showing in показывают?

Russian often uses 3rd person plural without an explicit subject to mean “they (people in general) do X”.

В зале показывают фильмы.
Literally: They show films in the hall.
Meaning: Films are shown in the hall. / They’re showing films in the hall.

Who exactly “they” are (the cinema, the staff, the management) is not important, so Russian leaves it unspoken.

You can say Они показывают фильмы в зале, but it usually needs a clear, known “they.” The original sentence is more impersonal and general.

What tense and aspect is показывают? Does it mean “are showing” or “show”?

Показывают is:

present tense
3rd person plural
imperfective aspect of показывать (to show, be showing, show repeatedly).

Imperfective in present can express:

an action happening now:
- Сейчас в зале показывают фильм. – They are showing a film now in the hall.
a regular / habitual action:
- В этом зале показывают фильмы разных жанров. – They (generally) show films of different genres in this hall.

So depending on context, you can translate it as:

“are showing”
“show” / “show regularly”

How would I say “they will show” instead of “they are showing / they show”?

To talk about the future, you can use either:

Perfective показать – focus on the single, completed action
- Завтра в зале покажут новый фильм.
  – Tomorrow they will show a new film in the hall.
- (3rd plural future: покажут)
Future of imperfective показывать – focus on process or repeated action in the future
- В следующем месяце в зале будут показывать старые фильмы.
  – Next month they will be showing / will show (repeatedly) old films in the hall.
- (future plural: будут показывать)

Your original показывают is present imperfective.

Why is фильмы in the nominative plural if it’s the object? Shouldn’t objects be accusative?

Objects in Russian are in the accusative case. For inanimate masculine nouns, accusative plural = nominative plural in form.

For фильм:

Nominative plural: фильмы
Accusative plural: фильмы (same ending because it’s inanimate)

So in your sentence фильмы is accusative plural (direct object of показывают), it just looks the same as nominative.

Compare:

Animate masculine: Я вижу студентов. – “students” changes in accusative (студенты → студентов).
Inanimate masculine: Я вижу фильмы. – same form (фильмы → фильмы).

Why is it разных жанров and not something like разные жанры after фильмы?

Фильмы разных жанров literally means “films of different genres”.

Structure:

фильмы – films (accusative plural)
разных жанров – of different genres (genitive plural)

The genitive (разных жанров) here shows what kind of films they are in a “of X type” sense: films of different genres.

If you said:

фильмы разных жанров – films of different genres (neutral, common phrasing)
разные жанры фильмов – different genres of films (focus shifts to the genres)

Разные жанры alone would be “different genres” (subject or object), but you want to characterize the films, so Russian prefers фильмы разных жанров.

Why are both words in разных жанров in the genitive plural?

In разных жанров:

разных – genitive plural of разный (different)
жанров – genitive plural of жанр (genre)

An adjective must agree with its noun in:

gender
number
case

Here the noun жанров is genitive plural, so the adjective разный also takes genitive plural → разных.

That whole phrase разных жанров in genitive modifies фильмы, meaning “films of different genres.”

Could the word order be Фильмы разных жанров показывают в зале? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct:

В зале показывают фильмы разных жанров.
Neutral: “In the hall they show films of different genres.”
The place (в зале) is introduced first.
Фильмы разных жанров показывают в зале.
Slight emphasis on фильмы разных жанров (“Films of different genres are what they show in the hall”).
It might contrast with something else, like “not just comedies, but films of different genres.”

Russian word order is more flexible than English and is often used to highlight or contrast certain parts, but the basic meaning stays the same.

Could we say В зале показываются фильмы разных жанров with -ся to make it passive?

You can grammatically say В зале показываются фильмы разных жанров, but it sounds unnecessary and a bit bookish or awkward in everyday speech.

In modern Russian:

The 3rd person plural without subject (В зале показывают фильмы) is the most natural way to express this kind of passive/impersonal idea.
The reflexive passive (показываются) is used, but more often with certain verbs or in more formal, written styles.

So in normal conversation or neutral text, В зале показывают фильмы разных жанров is preferred.