April’s second long weekend brings in an extra +13% in box office revenues compared to last week’s total, but the film industry isn’t popping champagne bottles. Albeit on the first of May, the majority of Italy’s Coronavirus restrictions will come to an end, and masks will most likely remain mandatory to go to the movies. They will not be requested anymore in restaurants, shops, malls, gyms, and have already been informally dismissed in clubs, but the rules will not change for theaters – all kinds of theaters.

After two very hard years, the people working in the film business demand “equal treatment”, says  Italy National Association of film theaters operators ANEC’s president Mario Lorini. The rules and regulations have strongly impacted their economy and ANEC “will not stand any further disparity in treatment with other comparable businesses.” They demand “to relax immediately all restrictions applied to cinema theaters.”. “The film market is gradually attempting to consolidate its appeal”- Lorini continues – “but if the government line were to insist on penalizations to the sector, it would mean definitively condemning any attempt at restarting. After two years with losses of over 70% and the current year that after almost four months of activity persists with a -60%, the situation is dramatic.”

The decision on whether to lessen restrictions in movie theaters has not been taken yet, the Government will make official statements by the end of this week.

Box-office-wise the second-long weekend in a row (this week the 25th of April, Italy’s Liberation Day, happened on a Monday) brought roughly € 5 million in grossing, surpassing the Easter and day after Easter three-day weekend. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore lead the Italian box office for the second consecutive week and grossed €1.7 million which brings it to €6.2 million in total.

In second place is Sonic 2, which collected another €780,000 bringing it to a total of €3.2 million in three weeks. In third position debuts Leonardo Pieraccioni’s new film, Il sesso degli angeli, which grosses €692,000 in 473 theaters. Leonardo Pieraccioni plays Don Simone, a priest from a border city with a church that is always in trouble and far from young people, who discovers that he has inherited a start-up business in Switzerland. But once in Lugano, the priest discovers that he has inherited a brothel.

A weak debut in Italy for The Northman, grossing only €432,000 and taking fourth place. The same happened for The Lost City, a comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, with a cameo by Brad Pitt – the film is still far from great success in the USA. The adventurous film opened with a gross of €425,000  from 318 theaters and took the fifth slot.

The annual David di Donatello awards ceremony will take place on May 3, but there is already a first winner. The film Me vs. You – The Mystery of the Enchanted School won the David of the Spectator, which recognizes the film that totaled the year’s highest audience. Based on data provided by Cinetel, the film totaled 805,559 viewers.