The divine comedies are raking it in

by Camillo de Marco

24/01/2011 - With Avatar a faraway memory, this year’s battle for the top box office spot is a local one. Among comedies that are making audiences laugh a lot and even think some; films that reflect a reality that in and of itself is far from hilarious.

Grossing €5,400,000, Giulio Manfredonia’s Whateverly [trailer] is the most seen title of the weekend (see article). The per-screen average of the film starring Antonio Albanese was nearly €10,000, from over 800,000 admissions. The numbers, according to distributor 01, were spread out evenly in urban and rural areas, across the entire country.

Producer Domenico Procacci (Fandango), who this Saturday received the Bif&st di Bari il Premio Fellini 8 ½ for his career, said: "Whatelverly smartly depicts that which our country is sometimes, and which is must stop being. Giulio Manfredonia had made a high quality comedy and I’m happy that audiences’ appreciation comes just a few days after the film was invited to the Berlinale, which is considered one of the most prestigious festivals in the world".

In the meantime, the race for the box office record continues for comedian Checco Zalone. Over the weekend, Gennaro Nunziante’s Che bella giornata [trailer], (see news), took in over €4.3m, or 38.6% of the overall box office (according to Cinetel data), to overtake Welcome to the South [trailer] and draw ever closer to Italy’s best ever box office champion, Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful (see news).

Che bella giornata leads a handful of Italian titles that this year have outperformed the Hollywood competition, as can be seen by the Cinetel charts of 2010-11:

1. Che bella giornata - €38.6m
2. Benvenuti al sud - €29.8m
3. La Banda dei Babbi Natale [trailer] - €21.4m
4. Natale in Sudafrica [trailer] –18.6m
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 [trailer] -17.6m
6. Shrek Forever After - 17m
7. Maschi contro femmine [trailer] - €13.6m
8. Despicable Me - €12.5
9. The Tourist [trailer] - €11.1m
10. Inception - €10.7m

Italian arthouse films are also giving Hollywood titles a run for their money, and some have done so well in theatres as to make local distributors a little braver in their releasing strategies. The best performing Italian films at the 2010-11 Cinentel box office are so far:

1. Che bella giornata - €38.6m
2. Benvenuti al sud - €29.8m
3. La Banda dei Babbi Natale - €21.4m
4. Natale in Sud Africa - €18.6m
5. Maschi contro femmine - €13.6m
6. A Natale mi sposo [trailer] - €8.2m
7. Whateverly - €5.3m
8. The Solitude of Prime Numbers [trailer] - €3.4m
9. Immaturi [trailer] - €3.3m
10. La bellezza del somaro [trailer] - €3.3m
11. The Woman of My Dreams [trailer] - €2.8m
12. Another World [trailer] - €2.5m
13. Figli delle stelle [trailer] - €1.4m
14. A Quiet Life [trailer, film focus] - €1.3m
15. We Believed [trailer, film focus] - €1.3m
16. Vallanzasca [trailer] - €986,000.
17. Gorbaciof [trailer, film focus] - €608,000.

(Translated from Italian)