Italian films make a strong start, boosting the local box office in the first ten weeks of the year.

Italian films have made a strong start at the local box office during the first ten weeks of 2010, according to Agis, the country’s general entertainment organisation.

Local films sold 10.3 million tickets between January 1 and March 7 leading to a robust marketshare of 33.5% (Cinetel). It compares with sales ticket sales of just 7 million on 2009 for Italian fare, accounting for a 29% share.

The rise has been fuelled by five local titles – Io, Loro E Lara, Kiss Me Again (Baciami Ancora), Sorry I Want To Marry You (Scusa Ma Ti Voglio Sposare) (pictured), La Prima Cosa Bella and Genitori & Figli: Agitare Bene Prima Dell’Uso – which have taken more than $6.8m (€5m) to date.

Riccardo Tozzi, producer and president of motion picture organisation Anica, said: “If, as has been seen in the first months of 2010 the filmmakers that count are all making films, we can surpass 30 percent [of the market] in spite of strong competition like Avatar or Alice In Wonderland.”

In 2009, the Italian market share was just 24.4%.

The top five Italian films for the first ten weeks of 2010:

Io, Loro E Lara (Warner Bros), Carlo Verdone - $21.37m (€15.7m)
Kiss Me Again (Medusa), Gabriele Muccino $12.4m (€9.1m)
Sorry I Want To Marry You (Medusa) Federico Moccia $9.1m (€6.7m)
La Prima Cosa Bella (Medusa), Paolo Virzi - $8.6 mil (€6.3m)
Genitori & Figli: Agitare Bene Prima Dell’Uso (Filmauro), Giovanni Veronesi - $ 7.9 mil (€5.8m)

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