Italy’s government increased the tax credit available for exhibitors from 20% to 40%, in a bid to provide additional support to the struggling sector.
“The tax credit for cinema theatres has been fortified,” said a government statement. “Relevant fiscal rebates and their area of application has been changed from a current existing maximum amount of 20% of all revenue from audio-visual programming to a maximum of 40% of total cinema theatre costs.”
The law was introduced last week and is the latest measure the government has introduced to bolster the exhibition industry, which audience levels and box office takings drop around 65% in the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period in January-April 2019, according to data released earlier this month by Italy’s distributors’ association Anica - Unione Editori e Distributori Cinematografici.
Cinemas in Italy were only allowed to open at full capacity last October.
“This is a first step towards restarting, but we urgently need a framework law putting an end to the ‘wild west’ situation in existence with windows,” said Manuele Ilari, who heads Ueci, the association of Italian cinema theatres. “We need windows of over a year for Italian and international films, as it is only through this that we will be able to bring Italian cinema and our theatres back to real relevance.”
The Italian government’s introduction of a blanket 90-day theatrical window for all films (Italian and non-Italian), which overturned a relaxation of windowing rules brought in during the pandemic, is not considered enough by exhibitors and theatre owners.
Last week, Anica, Italy’s distributors’ association, also voiced concern over the government’s extension of the requirement for cinema-goers to wear anti-Covid masks through June 15.
Some 500 theatres closed for good in Italy during the pandemic and without substantial exhibitor support more could follow, which would put some 100,000 jobs in the sector at risk, according to Ueci data released last month.
The government has also increased support of film and television productions through an increase in offered tax credits to 40% of total production costs, from a previous 30% last year.
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