12/03/2007

Torn apart by critics and adored by adolescent girls, Ho voglia di te [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. “I Want You”, see article) broke the box office bank on its first day of release.

The film, directed by Luis Prieto and starring teenage idol Riccardo Scamarcio and the alluring Laura Chiatti, recorded the highest ever gross for an Italian title on its first day of distribution (€1.5m) and over the weekend took in €6.26m, a record bested only by Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio.

Exhibitors said that this weekend numerous adolescent girls lined up to see the film again immediately upon having seen a first screening. The formula Scamarcio/Step (the name of the main character of the story, based on the eponymous novel by Federico Moccia) seems to be so effective that that producer Riccardo Tozzi of Cattleya is already thinking of a third instalment with the young, southern Italian actor.

"These initial results," Tozzi told Cineuropa, "show that today in Italy there exists a genre capable of drawing in huge audiences. This means there will be greater resources for making arthouse films".

(Translated from Italian)