The Italian box office grossed €306.6m in 2022, down a massive 48.2% on the average recorded between 2017-2019, according to figures released by Italian distributors’ association Anica this week.
Admissions also fell 51.6% in 2022 compared to the three-year pre-Covid 19 pandemic era.
The figures were up 81% and 79.6% respectively on 2021, the year cinemas were closed until August 26 due to the pandemic.
“The effects of the Covid emergency were still very much felt [in 2022],” said Anica in a statement.
The organisation pointed out regulations that prevented the sale of food and drink in cinemas and required mask-wearing in cinemas until June 15, 2022, had deterred potential audiences from returning.
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water, released by Disney, was the highest grossing film of the year. It grossed €27.5m and attracted 3.1 million admissions after just two weeks on release. A re-release of the original Avatar from 2009 was the 20th highest-grossing film of the year.
Scroll down for the top 20 films of 2022
The highest-grossing Italian film was Roberto Andò’s La Stranezza, starring Toni Sevillo, a comedy about a fictional episode in the life of playwright Luigi Pirandello. It premiered at the Rome Film Festival in October and makes its international debut at Rotterdam later this month. It grossed €5.4m via Medusa and accounted for 9% of all ticket sales of Italian films in 2022.
The market share of the total gross of local films and co-productions in 2022 was slightly up on 2017-2019 at 21.2% compared to 20.6%.
Looking ahead to 2023, Mario Lorini, president of Anec, an association of Italian cinemas, struck an optimistic note.
“Even if the recovery appears slower than other European markets, we can be optimistic when we look at December,” said Lorini. “Over and above Avatar: The Way Of Water, there is also a newfound interest by the public in Italian production.”
“The phenomenon appears to be continuing into the new year and we seem to be finally attracting back those segments of the Italian public that had been missing for time now, also put off by mask-wearing obligations, including the younger age ranges,” he added.
Italy Top 20, 2022
Rank Title Origin Distributor Gross (€) Admissions
1. Avatar: The Way Of Water (US) Disney €32.4m / 3.7m
2. Minions: The Rise Of Gru (US) Universal €14.8m / 2.2m
3. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (US) Disney €13.7m / 1.9m
4. Top Gun: Maverick (US) Eagle Pictures €13.1m /1.8m
5. Thor: Love And Thunder (US) Walt Disney €10.8m / 1.5m
6. The Batman (US) Warner Bros €10.2m / 1.4m
7. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (US) Disney €8.5m / 1.1m
8. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore (US) Warner Bros €8.4m / 1.2m
9. Jurassic World Dominion (US) Universal €8.1m / 1.1m
10. Uncharted (US) Warner Bros €6.2m / 897,509
11.Death On The Nile (US) Walt Disney €5.6m / 802,056
12. La Stranezza (Italy ) Medusa €5.4m / 836,849
13 Il Grande Giorno (Italy) Medusa Film €5.4m / 761,754
14 Black Adam (US) Warner Bros €5.2m / 710,306
15 Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (US) Universal €4.5m / 681,920
16 Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (US) Eagle Pictures €4.3m / 657,245
17 Spider-Man: No Way Home (US) Warner Bros Italia €3.9m / 589,359
18 Elvis (Aus-US) Warner Bros €3.2m / 482,585
19 Morbius (US) Warner Bros €3.0m / 424,167
20 Avatar (2009) re-release (US) Walt Disney €3.0m / 425,729
Figures courtesy of Comscore.
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