An Italian saying states: “Chi ben comincia è a metà dell’opera”, which can be translated as: those who start well, are already halfway through. And this year – at least the beginning – seems to have the right conditions for a great comeback of Italian movies. Only the first place in the weekly box office ranking is taken by a foreign production, Spider-Man, which took home last week € 1,696,309, totaling € 22,067,560 since its debut (December 15^th), which makes it the highest-grossing film of the season in Italy.

In second place comes the children’s comedy Me contro Te il film – Persi nel tempo (Me vs You – Lost in Time), produced by Warner Brothers, directed by Gianluca Leuzzi, starring Luigi Calagna and Sofia Scalia, two young Youtubers is better known as Sofì and Luì. Me contro Te il film – Persi nel tempo landed in cinemas on January 1, 2022. Since its release, the film has grossed € 2,312,650 and € 1,380,499 only in the last week.

The film is the third cinematic chapter taken from the successful web series “Me contro Te”. In this new adventure on the big screen, Luì is finally ready to graduate as a scientist with Sofì by his side to give him a hand. But on the big day for Luì, something goes wrong: the duo’s arch-enemies – Mr. S and Perfidia (Antonella Carone) with their henchmen – burst into Luì’s study, determined to steal his magic objects, in particular an hourglass, which falls to the ground, breaks into a thousand pieces and transports everyone back in time. The Me contro Te team and their enemies end up in Ancient Egypt, where they meet many new friends, but will also face a new threat, Queen Viperiana, who is also eager to get her hands on the magical objects.

Another Italian comedy duo dominates #3: Pio and Amedeo. The comic duo from Foggia has been missing for seven years from the big screen. Their new film Belli Ciao, tells the story of a couple of friends from southern Italy, inseparable since childhood, who take two different paths immediately after the end of high school. Pio leaves for Milan, graduates with honors, and becomes a successful manager. Amedeo, on the other hand, stays in Apulia (a small city in Puglia) and, after his ambition to become a doctor has faded, manages a store of sanitary ware and collaborates, as a councilman, with the mayor of his town to stop the flight of young people from the South.

But Pio and Amedeo are destined to meet again and this happens years later when the town needs a loan. The only bank willing to grant it is Pio’s bank. And the two, despite their different life choices, will find themselves fighting for a common dream. The film is directed by Gennaro Nunziante, the director who launched Checco Zalone, one of the most brilliant comedic minds on the current Italian scene. Belli Ciao takes up some of the themes of classic Italian comedy: social class differences, North-South contrast, ordinary life that suddenly undergoes an abrupt change. A mix of ingredients that the audience loves: the film has grossed € 2,347,516 since the day of its release (January 1st) and € 1,380,490 only last week.

The rest of the chart sees Matrix Resurrections in #4, House of Gucci in #5, The King’s Man in #6 and Sing 2 in #7. And again, Italian productions show up at the bottom half of the chart with Diabolik, La Befana vien di notte and 7 donne e un mistero.