With De Laurentiis, location becomes sponsor
At nearly 115,000 tonnes and 290 metres long, the location for Neri Parenti’s Natale in Crociera [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Christmas Cruise”) – the yearly comedy appointment with Christian De Sica and company – is also its sponsor. The film was shot entirely on a cruise ship belonging to the leading Italian fleet of cruise liners.
This product placement agreement with Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis’ Filmauro came about from the latter’s enormous instinct for seizing new cultural trends. Aurelio De Laurentiis is, in fact, the only Italian producer and distributor to have a series of Christmas holiday films to top the box office charts for the past 30 years.
Made for €15m (of which €3m were for P&A), the film comes out on 800 screens tomorrow and is divided into two parallel but separate stories. Alongside De Sica, the cast features the talented Fabio De Luigi (who says his acting models are Peter Sellers and Tex Avery cartoons), Michelle Hunziker (a television personality whose only previous film experience has been dubbing the hippo Gloria in Madagascar), Aida Yespica, Alessandro Siani and Nancy Brilli.
The last four films by Parenti, all produced by Filmauro, grossed more than any other Italian film of the year, trouncing all competition. Once again, Aurelio De Laurentiis fears no rivals: "We believe that Natale in Crociera has all the elements to please a vast and varied audience. So may the best film win.”
He is furthermore displeased by current cinema figures – Italian titles have snagged only 30% of a growing market. "It’s useless to rejoice over a few percentage points,” he said, “when we lack an industry capable of also exporting domestic product. Cinema must be supported not by laws or funding but through the desire to be competitive in an international market."
(Translated from Italian)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
