The West, Europe, and Italy are trembling. As a result, fewer Italians went to the movies last week. After a period of continuous growth, the box office incomes from February 21 to 27  saw a decrease.  A pity, given that on February 23rd Prime Minister Draghi announced the end of the state of emergency in Italy from the 31^st of March. But the fear of imminent war and the consequent increase in the price of consumer goods dragged people away from the film theaters. The total takings for the week, in fact, have been €4,495,321. Definitely lower than the digits (€6,008,626) of the previous week.

This week’s top ten saw Uncharted once again in the lead (€1,810,133 for a total of €4,222,393), Death on the Nile in second place with €885,388 for a total of €4,458,009, and the Ennio Morricone documentary  Ennio in third (€662,083 for a total of €1,640,674). In fourth position comes the first international new entry: the film Belfast directed by Kenneth Branagh. This time the Irish artist is trying to win the hearts of Italians with what he defined as his most personal film of his career (€448,295).

The rom-com Marry Me stays steady in fifth place (€167,304 for a total of €993,784) while an Italian new entry conquers number six: L’ombra del giorno (€140.539). Set against the backdrop of a 1930s Ascoli Piceno, in the middle of the Fascist era, Giuseppe Piccioni’s new drama tells the story of the meeting and love affair between Luciano (Riccardo Scamarcio), the owner of a restaurant in the beautiful square of the town, and Anna (played by the star of the Netflix TV series Baby, Benedetta Porcaioli).

The chart concludes with Spider-Man: No Way Home (€115,535 for a total of €24,519,396) in seventh place followed by another Italian production: Occhiali Neri by Dario Argento (€110,535). Ten years after his last film (Dracula 3D), the famous Italian horror film director is back with a crime thriller set in Rome and starring Ilenia Pastorella, Xinyu Zhang, and his daughter Asia Argento. The film was presented at the Berlinale 2022. The Wolf and the Lion (€93,647 for a total of €2,197,808) manages to stay in the top-ten chart, followed by Nightmare Alley (€61,991 for a total of €1,784,923) in tenth place.

Matt Reves’ The Batman will be released on March 3rd. A new film adaptation of the DC comic book superhero, this time starring Robert Pattinson. The film is eagerly awaited all over the world. It should therefore be able to give a boost to next week’s box office, encouraging many people to return to enjoy films in theatres. When it comes to streaming and Tv, the last two episodes of the third season of L’amica Geniale (My Brilliant Friend) have been broadcasted on February 27th. The Italian-American TV series, an adaptation of the well-known novels by Elena Ferrante (available in streaming on the free platform Rai Play) has been a great success in Italy this season and with great expectations for the airing of the first two episodes in the USA.