Italy’s box office is finally sparking back to life and starting to pull out of its post-pandemic doldrums. Exhibitors in the country grossed €221.4m in the first six months of this year, a 57.2% increase compared to the same period in 2022 according to Italian box office company Cinetel.
The success is being driven by a strong release slate, younger audiences, event screenings, more summer releases and government initiatives to support cinemagoing, experts said. Admissions in the first half of the year soared to 31.6 million, up 54% compared to the same period in 2022.
However, the Italian box office still remains down compared to the pre-pandemic era. Takings are 27.9% below the annual average that was recorded in the first six months during the 2017-2019 period, while admissions remain 35% lower.
Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the highest grossing film in the first six-months of 2023, taking €20.3 million. It was closely followed by Universal’s Fast X which grossed €18.5 million and James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water with €17.2 million.
Recovery trend
“The Italian theatrical segment is clearly recovering and we could reach the end of the year even overtaking the optimistic forecasts that expect some 65 million tickets sold in 2023,” Rai Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco told Screen. “A goal of 70 million admissions for 2023 is certainly challenging, but not unachievable.” Del Brocco said he was “optimistic about the future of the (Italian) industry.”
The resurgence of Italian cinemas has not gone unnoticed by the industry at home and abroad, exhibitors say.
“We haven’t yet reached the level of some of the most important European markets, but it has to be said some blockbusters gross more in Italy than in some of their reference markets,” Mario Lorini, president of Anec, the largest association of Italian cinemas, said to Screen in an interview. “The acceleration of the Italian market’s recovery in 2023 has been appreciated by some of the majors and some of the international distributor networks.”
Initial July data for example suggest that the recovery trend shows no sign of abating, with Warner Bros’ Barbie raking in €7.7 million on its opening weekend of July 20-23 as 992,857 spectators flooded to the cinemas to watch Greta Gerwig’s comedy.
“The signals coming from the box office are promising, and leave us hopeful for a return of the public in theatres,” Italy’s deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni told Screen. “The trend is positive and we are seeing the shaping up of a July that’s better than the equivalent months in the pre-pandemic three-year period.”
Italian cinemas were particularly hard hit in the wake of Covid, with the 2022 box office down a massive 48.2% to €306.6m on the average recorded between 2017-2019. Admissions also fell 51.6% in 2022 compared to the three-year pre-Covid 19 pandemic era.
Changing demand
“Distribution has changed massively due spectators’ attitudes becoming more demanding and selective. This means that a film just being good does not suffice to entice people to the theatres. It’s important to differentiate it in the mind of the audience from that which is available on streaming platforms,” Massimiliano Orfei, CEO of Vision Distribution told Screen.
“As distributors we need to be much more selective in ensuring the product we take to the cinema hall has, at least in the mind of the viewer, a clear theatrical DNA.”
Some of the reasons given for the current success of the Italian box office are events and meetings with film crews and directors being organised during screenings; the growth in younger audiences attending cinemas; the traditionally dead summer months for theatre halls in Italy being put to commercial use; and government initiatives in support of the industry.
“We need to work hard, to be persistent and modernise cinemas, and we need to offer something more than just the programming of a film,” Alberto Barbera, artistic director of the Venice Film Festival told Screen in an interview. “The more successful theatres are organising meetings with directors, and other events.”
Meanwhile, younger audiences are also visiting cinemas after many years when the theatres were primarily the haunts of older generations.
“In recent years, we have a new and very young audience with the age target dropping a lot. I see it from the public at the Venice Film Festival that has changed completely,” Barbera said.
However, “even as the young public has responded and returned to the cinemas, there is still much work that needs to be done on city audiences and on the promotion of auteur cinema,” Anec’s Mario Lorini said.
Release patterns have also changed in Italy and the result is mirrored in the box office results. Historically, no significant Italian films were released over the summer, with cinemas either closing or showing a smattering of day-and-date US releases, lesser known movies or sometimes reruns from past seasons. This tradition is now changing, with major US and Italian distributors starting to actively to put out films during the usually semi-closed period for releases between May and August.
Government support
The culture ministry is supporting moves to boost summer cinema-going, rolling out its second “Cinema in Festa” initiative this year. This offers discounted tickets for €3.50 and runs from June to September has led to an additional 1.2 million spectators in the June 11-15 period.
“Until a few years ago we used to have a short film season, lasting about nine months, and in complete contrast with what was going on in the rest of the world where great commercial titles would characterise summers. This problem, which would weigh quite heavily on year-end accounts, began to be addressed in 2019, and has been definitively overcome in 2023,” said RAI Cinemas’ Del Brocco said.
Other support provided to exhibitors by Italy’s culture ministry – including tax credits, support for running costs - has also contributed to the recovery of the sector, experts say.
The support has been “instrumental in keeping the theatrical segment alive in the pandemic period, considering we are the territory that lost fewer screens in Europe when there was the (post-Covid) reopening,” said Del Brocco.
Italian films
Italian productions and co-productions grossed €48.2 million and sold 7.3 million tickets in the first half of 2023, with a 23.3% market share compared to a 17.8% market share in 2022. The average annual market share of Italian films in the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 period was 22.5%.
The only Italian film to make the top 10 box office chart for the first half of the year was comedy adventure Me Contro Te Il Film - Missione Giungla, which took €4.7m and came in 10th place.
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