Cinema

Multi-programming, side services and Italian titles reward single-screen cinemas

Growth in 2025 for takings and attendance. Positive trend also for summer arenas. Young audiences and the return of the over-60s among the strengths

by Camilla Colombo and Camilla Curcio

19 January 2026

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Italian productions, confirmation of the presence of young people, the return of over-60s audiences (+22% on 2024) and a good trend for monsoon and summer arenas. The picture of the 2025 cinema market is "very positive", says Davide Novelli, managing director of Cinetel. "We closed in substantial stability, with a slight growth in thebox office (+0.5% on 2024) and a slight decrease in admissions (-2%), a difficult year in all countries due to the weakness of Anglo-Saxon production caused by the 2023-2024 US strikes".

In this context, the domestic market returned to important numbers: "Italian cinema reached a very high percentage with the end of December (33.3 per cent of total admissions), but even without Checco Zalone's Buen Camino (the Italian film with the highest ever box office in our country, see Il Sole 24Ore of 14 January) the share was 29 per cent. This is the best result since 2016 in both absolute value and percentage terms,' Novelli recalls. The outlook for this year is, in fact, positive 'because 2026, unlike 2025, sees a much stronger supply of US products and American blockbusters. If the domestic industry is able to keep up, in 2026 we should return to growth after two stable years and get very close to the ticket sales we had before the three-year pandemic,' Novelli hopes.

Single room photography

The backbone of the Italian cinema segment are the single-screen cinemas, which represent 50% of cinemas and 19.1% of total screens and closed 2025 with +5.6% in box office and +4.6% in admissions over 2024. This is confirmed by the experience of the Modernissimo cinema in Bologna, which won, for the second year in a row and in its first two years of activity (it opened in November 2023), the Golden Ticket as the single-screen cinema that sold the most tickets in Italy, marking an increase of 8 thousand tickets sold in its second season (from 146 thousand in 2024 to 154 thousand in 2025).

There was also a positive trend for summer arenas, which recorded +6.7% in takings and +5.3% in admissions. And it is again in Bologna that the greatest success is to be found. The Puccini Summer Arena is in fact the most frequented in Italy: 90 evenings with an average of 340 spectators per screening, for a total of over 30,000 users.

"The resilience and liveliness of these structures can be explained by the ability of those who manage them, by good multi-programming and by the courage shown by some entrepreneurs in having supported, net of public subsidies, the renovation of the theatres, both the single-screen theatres that have reactivated their management and the large circuits that have reopened numerous multiplexes. For the most part, the theatres that have invested in technology and services have benefited", explains Novelli, who adds: "In 2025 theatres with 4-7 screens have also grown, while structures with more than 8 screens have suffered more, this is because here the big blockbusters make the difference and in a year where they weigh less, the structures with more screens pay the price more".

He is echoed by Paolo Orlando, president of Anica's Union of Film Publishers and Distributors, analysing the data of active cinemas in Italy: "Being more than half of the entire national theatres, single-screen cinemas have grown so significantly in terms of box office/attendance thanks to a good product trend, but also thanks to the so-called multi-programming, i.e. the possibility of programming several popular titles at the same time so as to go and compose a richer, more heterogeneous and attractive offer for their catchment area".

Multiprogramming and Distribution

The evolution of the market and the way viewers enjoy films has meant that multi-programming has become the norm in almost all cinemas. "We stopped reporting the number of so-called copies and switched to reporting the number of cinemas because the copy referred to a film that was in a theatre, a concept that has become obsolete," explains the Cinetel CEO, commenting on the annual box office report. "The number of films screened is much higher in each cinema than the number of screens available: 3 screens make 10, 11, 12 films per week by adding events".

Regarding the controversy about the imposition of commercial films for a long period of time in small village cinemas, Novelli clarifies that flexibility is partly regulated by the market, it is not always a dynamic between exhibitor and distributor, but also between only exhibitors within the same square. Then there are market logics, as in any merchandise sector, which follow volume, duration and loyalty agreements. "Generally speaking, compared to many years ago, net of commercial dynamics to be analysed case by case, access to the product is much wider. This is demonstrated if you divide the number of products screened by the number of screens,' says Cinetel's CEO.

The possibility of programming several titles at the same time and guaranteeing a cross-genre programme starts with a good synergy with distribution. "While respecting the commercial and entrepreneurial logic of each, collaboration and dialogue between exhibitors and distributors are essential. All the more so after the lockdown that has seen increased competitiveness in entertainment, thanks to the streaming boom,' points out Paolo Orlando. "In such a competitive market and with less time to reach the set goals, distribution logics must necessarily take into account the typology of the structures according to the type of product offered, but also the ability to give the public the best possible fruition in terms of quality of experience, of services".

The long wave produced by the success of certain films often generates a virtuous reverberation even for realities that tend to produce less mainstream programming such as monosas. "This, in my opinion, can be traced mainly to two reasons: the first is that the so-called popular audience, the one that does not usually attend the theatres, on the occasion of highly successful films savours once again the experience of sharing and enjoying them at the cinema. This experience is still unique and inimitable, and is, in my opinion, one of our greatest competitive strengths together with the quality and attractiveness of the offer", concluded the president of Anica's Union of Film Publishers and Distributors. "The second is that thanks to these successful films it is possible to reach simultaneously very diversified audiences in terms of age, genre, culture, by proposing to them before thefilm itself a selection of the "coming soon" through presentations and trailers".