2018 Italian Box Office Drops to 10-Year Low

Hollywood films failed to make waves in ticket sales, although local films are on the upswing.


It hasn’t been an easy year for Italian exhibitors. On top of the country’s massive piracy problems and low summer season, they’ve now had to engage in yet another battle, as Netflix threatened to take more and more films out of the cinemas and into Italian living rooms.


The year brought in just $633 million (€555 million) in 2018, the lowest it has been in a decade. It's only 30 million euros below 2017's paltry box office, which brought in $666 million (€585 million), but fares significantly lower than 2010, when cinemas took in $837 million (€735 million).


Without a huge local hit from box office winners like Checco Zalone, the market suffered hugely this year. The Italian star whose local films consistently break box office records (with 2016’s Quo Vado? grossing $68 million) will have a new film out next year. But to hang the fate of the country’s box office on one major moneymaker just reveals the flaws in Italy’s production output.


The Italian Ministry of Culture has been stepping in with multiple efforts to keep cinemas afloat, by banning Italian Netflix films in theaters, creating nationwide discounted cinema days, and other community events, like the new Videocitta festival, aimed at promoting the country's seventh art.


The summer slump, when the average Italian would much rather be found on a beach then indoors, may also improve next year with a slew of big titles coming from Disney. Indeed, top box office spots in the past few years have gone to Disney live-action films. 2019 will see live-action versions of Aladdin, The Lion King and Dumbo, all sure to bring in families in droves.


But perhaps even more worrisome is the crash in ticket sales for 2018, coming in at $85 million, which is the first time in ten years the number has fallen to under $90 million. While 2018 didn’t benefit from the government’s two-euro Wednesday cinema day that helped boost sales in 2016 and 2017, it’s clear that short term gimmicks will not help to mend the industry on a longterm basis.


Bohemian Rhapsody was the number one film of the year ($23.8 million), followed by Avengers: Infinity War, ($21.2 million), Fifty Shades Freed, ($16.2 million), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ($14.4 million) and Hotel Transylvania 3 ($13.8 million).


While Hollywood films failed to bring in huge audiences overall, the market for local films increased, with Italian films gaining a 22% market share, up from 16% in 2017. While none made the top 10 films of the year, multiple Italian pictures helped to boost the overall box office, including Gabriele Muccino’s There Is No Place Like Home ($10.4 million), Carlo Verdone’s Benedetta Follia ($9.6 million) and Riccardo Milani’s Like a Cat on a Highway ($8.7 million).


As the industry continues to set new guidelines for streamers in the country, and introduce new events to remind the country of its cinema heritage, it remains to be seen if 2019 will see cinemas get back on track.