The Italian Box Office has enjoyed a record December (December
1-26) registering a14.5% year on year increaseon 2006,
according to Italy’s box office compiler Cinetel.

The box office is nowexpected to show areturn to a healthy statenot seen for 20 years.

Total box office revenue for December 1-26 reached $95.9m(Euros 66.5m) with10.8 million tickets sold.

Projections suggest Italywillclose around 13%upon2006. Currently, the Jan 1, 2007 - December 26th period is up 12.36% on last year’s figures.

The Italian market share is also soaring and currently hovers around
30% of the total box office take.

Depending on how the year closes out, the Italian market share could
reach 31%, Cinetel’s executive director Roberto Chicchiero told
Screendaily.

Typically the local market share comes in much lower, he pointed out,
around 20%, though the 2006Italian sharewas 25%.

In any case, Italians are celebrating both an increase in admissions
and increased interest in local product.

Cinetel, which currently covers 90.67% of the Italian market, can also
accurately project year-end total admissions.

Cinetel’s base of 90.67% expects to see year-end admissions hit 103,000.

The remaining final year totals will be issued later in 2008 by SIAE, Italy’s authors and editors association but Chicchiero says total admissions for 2007 will likely be 114 million - a number that Italy has not reached since 1987 when the box office admissions registered 108 million before dropping off to a 20-year slump.

Exceptions, or ‘peak years’ were 1998 when Titanic (Italy’s top film
ever) was released and admissions soared to 118 million and 2004 when
The Passion Of The Christ topped the box office and helped over all
admissions to reach 116 million.

In 2001 and 2002 the box office generally fared well with about 110
million admissions, but now Italy, with an increase in commercial
local product, better structures an with almost certain summer
releases, is seeing a boom that is expected, by all accounts, to
continue.

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