11/12/2015 - Box-office sales increased in the first six months of the year by 10% on 2014. The box-office champion was Fifty Shades of Grey, with Alessandro Siani in fifth place

It’s good news from SIAE (the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers), which published its entertainment figures for the first half of 2015 today. These show a clear upturn in the box office figures for cinema as well as those for theatre, concerts, shows and exhibitions in the first six months of the year. Cinema in particular can breathe a sigh of relief, with box office takings of over €339.7 million in the first half of 2015, up almost 10% (+9.26%) on the same period in 2014.

Delving deeper into the figures for the seventh art, we see that compared to last year, there was a 0.30% increase in the number of screenings, an increase of 4.46% in admissions, and an increase in public spending of 10.88%, with a rise in turnover of 10.88% and an increase in the average admission price of 4.60%. The box office champion in the first half of 2015 was Fifty Shades of Grey directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, followed by American Sniper, Fast & Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron, with Alessandro Siani and his film Si accettano miracoli [+see also:
trailer
film profile] placing fifth.

In terms of geographical distribution, excluding a few dips in the north-east and on the islands, all indicators showed an overall positive trend. Of the cities with more than 300,000 inhabitants, Bari, Florence andPalermo registered particularly positive trends. Also positive were indicators in MilanandTurin, with the exception of admissions figures. Generally-speaking, figures improved most in the North, followed by the Centre and the South.

The complete set of SIAE data for the first half of 2015 can be found here.

(Translated from Italian)