12/01/2012

The Cinetel final figures presented this morning by the management of ANICA - National Association of Film, Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries, confirm the predictions made at the end of the year: in 2011, the film market experienced a downturn compared to 2010 of 10.03% in box-office takings and 7.92% in admissions (€661,548,824 in takings and 101,323,854 admissions in 2011). This drop is in line with an overall drop in consumption, added to which is the disappointing performance of the comedies released in theatres at Christmas time, the so-called “cine-panettoni” – Christmas film treats – (the overall drop in admissions during the Christmas period was 14.23%).

There was confirmation of some good news too: the market share for Italian cinema reached the incredible level of 35.55% (37.51% if we also take into account co-productions). "Italian cinema is a dynamic component of the market: if there is a strong supply of Italian films, box-office takings go up. Then, if the supply disappears, as happens during the long summer period which in our country lasts from April until October, then there is a visible drop in takings," commented ANICA president Riccardo Tozzi.

The biggest drop was in US films, which went down from a 60.15% market share in 2010 to 48.46% of takings in the year just closed. European cinema accounted for 13.83% (compared to 9.74% in 2010) and combined with Italian cinema and co-productions reached 49.37%, thus outstripping the US .What a Beautiful Day [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (pictured), distributed by Medusa, was the most popular film of the year, with €43,474,380 in box-office takings, followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] (Warner), with €22,255,388.

Any anti-crisis remedies? Medusa’s managing director, Giampaolo Letta makes a plea for reducing costs "from production outlay costs to the artists’ payment, adjusting them in accordance with the film’s success”. According to Pietro Valsecchi, managing director of Taodue, "the best remedy is making our films cost very little. The cost of the film and the cost of its launch are two things which, put together, are the dead weight of our film industry. A film can’t cost more than €5-6m".

Download all the Cinetel data in PDF format.

(Translated from Italian)