Cinecittà Dossier

dossier

14/12/2004

Cinema Day

[by Cristiana Paternò]

The 2004 edition of the Autumn Screenings between cinema operators and distributors was held in a concentrated form, with all the business being packed into just one day. The event in Rome today offered an opportunity to present the catalogues of films for the coming year and even though there was a packed programme, the event was certainly more low key than it has been in the past. The association of distributors, UNIDIM, provided a compilation of all the upcoming releases in a booklet given to participants. Then in the afternoon there was a round table debate tackling some of the hottest topics in the industry at the moment: from the time between a films release in cinema and in other markets, like DVD rental and sales; to the threat of piracy, which was also the central theme of the press conference held together with ANICA. The overview of the season appears to be basically positive, with a 13% rise in audiences (for figures going up to November 30) , standing at a total of 84,670,865 and a 12.40% increase in box office returns. The share of Italian production has remained more or less stable: 21.5% in 2004, compared with 22.9% in 2003. There are only two national titles in the overall top ten: Il Paradiso all'improvviso (an audience of 4m) and Natale in India (3m). The third grossing Italian film of the year (though it doesnt make it into the top ten) is Dont Move (1,472,000). The distributors with the best results are Buena Vista, Medusa and Warner and in fact Paolo Ferrari from Warner was given the Golden Ticket prize for the best results of summer 2004: 5,606,666 cinemagoers with 7 films between May and August. During the meeting there was concern expressed about cuts to the state entertainment fund (known as the FUS), and action is expected soon as part of the AGIS call for measures to tackle the entertainment crisis.

 

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