During the Christmas holiday season of 2024, the Italian box office experienced dramatic success, led by Disney’s 'Mufasa: Il Re Leone', which dominated the charts with impressive earnings. According to reports, the Christmas Day achieved staggering revenues of €3,439,219 ($3.7 million) across 3,045 screens, attracting 431,717 viewers, marking a 27% increase compared to the previous Christmas and soaring 458% higher than just one week prior.
The surge can also be attributed to the film 'Io e te dobbiamo parlare', which performed admirably during the holiday season. Together, these films have shown remarkable resilience and growth as the industry continues to recover from the pandemic.
'Mufasa: Il Re Leone' maintained its stronghold at the box office, generating €1,050,767 ($1.1 million) on Christmas Day alone, achieving a remarkable average of €1,711 per theater for the day. Cumulatively, it has garnered €6,756,723 ($7.2 million). This strong performance for the prequel to 'Il Re Leone' clearly set it apart as the centerpiece of the holiday box office.
Across cinema, the day after Christmas, popularly known as Santo Stefano Day, also saw solid earnings with €6,825,689 ($7.3 million), thanks to the attendance of 871,442 moviegoers distributed across 3,037 screens. This was noted as being approximately 170% greater than December 28th, 2023, and displayed remarkable recovery indicators with 392% growth compared to just one week prior.
To provide additional perspective, December 26, 2023, closed with €5,570,562 ($5.9 million) and 733,483 viewers, led by 'Wonka' with €1,297,965 ($1.4 million). When compared to the same period three years ago, Santo Stefano 2019 recorded box office earnings of €8,812,906 ($9.3 million) with 1,225,693 viewers, spurred by the success of Pinocchio, which accrued €1,928,667 ($2 million).
While the numbers from this Christmas season indicate positive growth (+25.5% from 2023), they still fall short of the pre-pandemic highs seen, particularly when matched against the 2019 figures, which were roughly 34.6% higher.
Encouragingly, 'Mufasa: Il Re Leone' recorded cumulative earnings of €2,351,332 ($2.5 million) with 293,175 viewers for the Santo Stefano holiday weekend, resulting in total earnings of €9,113,991 ($9.7 million) to date. This positions it as the second best Santo Stefano performance recorded this decade, second only to 'Avatar: La Via dell’Acqua', which grossed €3.1 million ($3.3 million) during its own holiday season.
Following closely behind at the box office, 'Io e te dobbiamo parlare' earned €1,224,594 ($1.3 million) during the same weekend, ramping its total to €3,951,175 ($4.2 million) and showing promising potential to surpass the year-end total of the previously successful film 'Succede anche nelle migliori famiglie', which earned €5.7 million ($6 million).
Further down the revenues list, 'Diamanti' directed by Ferzan Ozpetek secured €935,579 ($1 million) for the weekend, bringing its total earnings to €3,263,667 ($3.5 million), significantly outpacing the €777,648 ($874,000) gathered by 'La Dea Fortuna' back in 2019.
'Cortina Express', featuring Christian De Sica and Lillo, remains steady within the traditional holiday comedy genre ('cinepanettone'), bringing in €830,733 ($895,000), accumulating €1,728,275 ($1.9 million) so far, though the genre has been noted to see declining interest over recent years. Meanwhile, the animated feature 'Oceania 2' held strong, collecting €511,681 ($556,000) and crossing €18 million ($19.4 million) overall since its release, surpassing 'Cattivissimo Me 4'.
Additional movies like 'Conclave' and 'Una Notte a New York' also charted respectable earnings, showcasing diverse offerings still drawing audiences. 'Conclave' earned €471,556 ($505,000) to reach €1,676,484 ($1.8 million) overall, and 'Una Notte a New York' grossed €84,032 ($91,000) for approximately €300,976 ($328,000) total earnings.
The excitement surrounding these recent box office figures speaks to the revival of the cinema experience during the festive period, with forecasts indicating the potential for 2024 to close with significant revenue, nearing completion against cumulative totals from 2023.
The growth momentum set forth during Christmas could signal rejuvenated interest and investment within the Italian film industry, as new releases are already scheduled to greet audiences at year’s end with titles like 'Maria', which stars Angelina Jolie as the legendary soprano Maria Callas, among others. Anticipation is high for the new entries, which may extend the momentum beyond the holidays onto future cinematic outings.
Overall, the insights from this year’s holiday box office performances reveal underlying trends and preferences shaping both viewer attendance and ticket sales, ensuring theaters maintain vitality against competitors and streaming platforms alike. This snapshot of the film goer demographic whets public appetite for the engaging film experiences awaiting engagement.
