FEATURE ITALY
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Medusa’s What A Beautiful Day is Italy’s highest-grossing local film ever
Laughter therapy T
his year was barely underway when the Italian film industry stood back in awe to watch returns for local come- dies skyrocket. The trend had picked
up steam through 2010, when nine of the top 10 films independently distributed were Italian, of which eight were either comedies or comedy-dramas. But when Medusa’s What A Beautiful Day became the highest-grossing local film of all time after just two weeks on release this January, it was clear the trend was far from over.
ITALY TOP 10 FILMS, JAN 1 - FEB 28, 2011 TITLE (ORIGIN)
1. WhatABeautiful Day (It) 2. Whatsoeverly (It) 3. Immaturi (It)
4. Women VsMen (It)
5.LaBanda DeiBabbiNatale (It) 6. Hereafter (US)
7.The King’sSpeech (UK)
8.Tron:Legacy (US)
9.LittleFockers (US)
10.Natale InSudAfrica (It) *Released in 2010. Chart reflects only 2011 gross. n 42 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 12, 2011
contingent of local films, mostly comedies, took an unprecedented 63.4% bite out of the box office pie. Six Italian films took the top slot over nine straight weekends. Italians need some light relief. Faced with
the largest public debt in Europe, recent statis- tics also reveal Italian youths to be the “most inactive” on the continent, while lurid scandals featuring the embattled premier Silvio Berlus- coni and an underage Moroccan belly dancer have hit overdrive and dominated the head-
DISTRIBUTOR Medusa
01 Distribution Medusa Medusa Medusa
Warner Bros Italia Eagle Pictures
Walt Disney SMPI
Universal Pictures International Filmauro
BOX OFFICE GROSS ($)
$60.4m $22m
$20.5m $15.2m $11.5m* $10.7m $7.1m $7m
$6.8m $6.3m*
‘These are high- concept films and reflect what is happening
in Italy’ RudolphGentile, M2 Pictures
How can international films make an impression at the Italian box office in 2011 when local films tackling timely subjects are dominating so convincingly? Sheri Jennings reports In fact, in the first eight weekends of 2011, a
lines, dragging political debate in the country down to a new low. But the box office success is not simply down to national low morale. The films themselves are well-crafted releases. “These are high-concept films and reflect
what is happening in Italy,” says Rudolph Gen- tile, co-founder of Moviemax and CEO of M2 Pictures, a newly launched independent distrib- utor with an eye on the 14-24 demographic. “It’s always a matter of quality. Movies are great if they are commercial and have a message inside and keep your attention 100%.” Two of 2011’s biggest successes to date have
storylines reflective of the Berlusconi scenario. Rai Cinema-Fandango’s Whatsoeverly is about a rogue politician with a tagline that loosely translates as: “Without a dream but hot for some tail.” Released on January 21, it has grossed $22m (¤15.7m) to date and is Rai’s best local performer ever. Medusa’s What A Beautiful Day follows a security guard who falls for a Moroccan woman plotting to blow up a statue on Milan’s Duomo. It has earned a massive $60.4m since opening on January 5. The Italian box office grew 17% year on year
in 2010. In the first two months of 2011, local titles helped the overall box office hold its own for the same period year on year, dipping only 7% from $269m to $250m, with admissions dropping only 0.02%. That is not too bad. After all, Avatar was on release in the same period in 2010.
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