UnAmerican Activities
For the first quarter of 2007, indigenous films have held up to foreign competition at the Italian box office. Much of this successful resistance is down to a new brand of Italian Teen Movie. Tony Keily reports.

Growing your own
What passes for received wisdom has it that the only European country to successfully hold its own against Hollywood in terms of film production and consumption is France. But Italy has always been a big producer of films for its own market, as well as a significant importer of film from other European territories. Lately though, bigger budget mainstream Italian pictures have consistently elbowed the competition off the topspots on the BO charts, with indigenous productions accounting for over 40% of takings in the first three months of this year.

By February, year-to-date 2007 box office results already showed Italian films at positions 1, 3,  8 and 9 on the charts, with the Italian-directed The Pursuit of Happyness at 2, and Dino de Laurentiis production Hannibal Rising at Number 10. Manuale d’amore 2, a follow-up to a huge 2005 hit, had taken in excess of €19 million in its first nine weeks. Ho voglia di te took more than €6 million in its opening week alone, and soon went on to double that sum. Notte prima degli esami – Oggi, a sequel to last year’s Notte prima degli esami, also took almost €12 million in its first month on release.

Italian observers are pointing to the fact that the teen audience is behind much of the recent success, Manuale d’amore 2, Ho voglia di te, and Notte prima degli esami – Oggi all being aimed at this segment of the market. There is speculation that allegiances and habits moulded by Hollywood have been transferred in the last two years to homegrown films. Suddenly it’s cooler to go to Italian films than American movies. Others point to the waning or ageing of former Hollywood teen idols, or the involvement of the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio in more adult-oriented fare. Certainly the immensity of the explosion of Riccardo Scamarcio (star of  Ho voglia di te) as a teen mega-idol can have few precedents.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 116.