Country Focus: Italy

Avatar breaks records, Verdone and Virzì going strong

by  Camillo de Marco

18/01/2010 - No film has ever grossed so much in its opening weekend in Italy: after Friday's release, with figures at over €2m, Avatar [trailer] earned almost €4m on Saturday to reach just over €9.6m in three days (according to Cinetel data from 848 screens, for a press screen average of €11,382).

The global success of James Cameron's blockbuster did not, however, do too much damage to two Italian films already out. Released on January 5, Io, loro e Lara [trailer] by Carlo Verdone grossed another €2,631,567 this weekend, bringing its total so far to over €12m, while Paolo Virzì's La Prima Cosa Bella [trailer], launched January 15 on 400 screens, is in third place with €1,336,360 from the weekend.

Muriel Barbery's The Hedgehog [trailer] ended the weekend with €407,281 (and a total so far of nearly €1.8m), and Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen [trailer] grossed an additional €302.238 (out of €838,960).