Cinema, Italian films box office up but slowdown in summer
Box office receipts reached 68.5 million (+25%), driven by Genovese's Follemente. Overall, however, box office receipts in Italy were down.
2' min read
2' min read
With a positive first part of the year at the box office, Italian cinema arrives at the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off today. A start to the year with growing numbers, albeit accompanied by much controversy over the Tax Credit mechanism and a tense situation culminating in the resignation of Nicola Borrelli, director of the Mic's General Directorate for Cinema.
However, the data paint an improving picture. The film 'Follemente', directed by Paolo Genovese and starring, among others, Pilar Fogliati and Edoardo Leo, is the driving force. With just under 18 million box office receipts, the film is the first at the box office among Italian films (and the second overall). In total, according to Cinetel data for the period 1 January-25 August 2025, Italian films grossed Euro 68.5 million: 23.5% of the total. Ahead of them there are only US films (126.1 million takings) in which 'Lilo & Stitch' led the way with 22.4 million at the box office. Behind the Italian films are the takings of films from Great Britain (58.3 million), with the 11 million of 'Jurassic Word'.
For Italian films, box office has also grown compared to the last two years. In 2024, in fact, they had realised 54.7 million at the box office, with 'Un Mondo a parte' in first position with its 7.3 million at the box office (the film was however released in March) and in 2023 that same figure had not gone beyond 47.5 million. So, numbers in hand, the growth was 25% for the box office of Italian films in the last year alone.
Everything OK? Not really analysing the data from another perspective. In general, still considering the period between 1 January and 25 August, total box office for Italian cinemas fell by 1% compared to the previous year: 291.5 million against 293.9 million in 2024. Attendances (40.8 million) also fell by 2% compared to the figure of 41.5 million a year earlier. What is missing is mainly some 40 million from US films. But there is also a stop for Italian films in the summer that has weighed on a summer season that is among the best in recent years: only 2.9 million receipts for Italian films between 1 June and 25 August compared to 6.7 million in the summer of 2024 and 5.6 million in 2023.
