The restored 4k version of Martin Scorsese’s classic Raging Bull (Toro scatenato) has attracted over 5,000 moviegoers with a weekend gross of € 35,000 in just one day (Saturday, May 6). It was a special release by Lucky Red distribution. The film will show in theaters only until Wednesday, May 10. The 1980 black and white biopic masterpiece, with Robert De Niro playing boxer Jake LaMotta (De Niro won an Oscar as Best Actor for it), continues to exert a strong fascination over Italian cinephiles of all ages, especially over those who weren’t even born in 1980.

De Niro, equally fascinated by LaMotta’s plight, with its triumphs and disgraces, had convinced Scorsese – not a sports fan – to tackle this story, and asked Paul Schrader to write the script from LaMotta’s memoir. This new edition earned – over the weekend – more than Nanni Moretti’s Il sol dell’avvenire (in its second week of release), as well as outgrossing The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The top grosser for the week was, as expected, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3. The second-best debut in 2023 passed €5 million gross, performing more strongly than the franchise’s first two films.

Following the political and social film-within-a film comedy Il sol dell’avvenire and Super Mario Bros, are the American horror Evil Dead Rise (La casa – il risveglio del male) and veteran Italian writer-director Pupi Avati’s La quattordicesima domenica del tempo ordinario. The nostalgic dramedy, starring Gabriele Lavia, Edwige Fenech and Massimo Lopez (among many in the ensemble cast), is about two young friends in Bologna in the 1970s, members of a “just-one-song” music band, who at that time had sworn eternal friendship.

Rounding out the Top 10 at the Italian box office are Julius Avery’s The Pope’s Exorcist (L’esorcista del Papa), and an odd trio of films: Unplanned – The Real Story of Abby Johnson, based on the autobiographical book by the anti-abortion activist of the title; the Japanese animated Suzume by Makoto Shinkai, revered by reviewers and film purists; and the American sci-fi 65 – Escape From Earth (65 – Fuga dalla terra), in a slight rebound since the previous weeks of programming.

Following is the Italian Top 10 chart for the week ending May 7, 2023, as provided by Cinetel.it:

1 – GUARDIANI DELLA GALASSIA VOL. 3:  353,933 euros, Tot. 5,005,390

2 – TORO SCATENATO: 35,309 euros – Tot. 35,435

3 – IL SOL DELL’AVVENIRE: 29,019 euros – Tot. 3,219,327

4 – SUPER MARIO BROS. – IL FILM: 26,628 euros – Tot. 19,33,993

5 – LA CASA – IL RISVEGLIO DEL MALE: 20,843 euros – Tot. 2,637,525

6 – LA QUATTORDICESIMA DOMENICA DEL TEMPO ORDINARIO: 16,987 euros– Tot. 259,141

7 – L’ESORCISTA DEL PAPA: 8,122 euros – Tot. 2,575,613

8 – UNPLANNED – LA STORIA VERA DI ABBY JOHNSON: 7,370 euros – Tot. 216,572

9 – SUZUME: 7,109 euros – Tot. 610,296

10 – 65: FUGA DALLA TERRA: 6,843 euros – Tot. 607,160