The curtain was lowered on the 13th edition of Ciné – Giornate estive di Cinema which ran from July 2 – 5, 2024 in Riccione, Italy. The event, organized by Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive Digitali (ANICA), set a record for the Italian cinema industry in terms of accreditations: more than 1840 delegates registered for the event held at the convention center in the heart of Riccione, a beach city on the Adriatic coast known for its animated nightlife and closeness to Rimini, hometown of the great director Federico Fellini.

Italy counted almost 3500 cinema screens in 2023 throughout the country with only two big international circuits. Given the market size, the  four-day show, produced by Cineventi, was particularly crowded; organizers were obliged to add seating rows in the main auditorium in order to allow all delegates to attend the distributors’ presentations. Exhibitors from both the Associazione Nazionale Esercenti Cinema (ANEC – National Association of Cinema Owners) and the Associazione Cattolica Esercenti Cinema (ACEC – Catholic Association of Cinema Exhibitors), were present en masse this year.

Coming only one week after CineEurope in Barcelona, Ciné is the first cinema industry event of a unique “Italian triplet.” The year continues with the Incontri Cinema d’Essai, from 30th September to 3rd October in Lucca, Tuscany, organized by La Federazione Italiana dei Cinema d’Essai (FICE – the Italian Federation of Arthouse Cinemas), as well as the Giornate Professionali del Cinema in Sorrento in December, the main institutional event held by ANEC.

Ciné opened 2 July with a trade show that hosted a handful of the best companies in the industry; from technical experts such as Cinemeccanica, Cine Project and Digima, to food and beverage purveyors like Fun Food Italia, Italian Food Quality and PCO Group Italia, to the stylish loungers of Cinearredo seating, just to name a few.  

As usual, the opening panel at Ciné was hosted by Italy’s leading cinema industry trade journal, Box Office. The focus of the session was on how to get cinema audiences to return to movie theatres more often, a common topic at such conferences these days. A large group of (mainly female) marketing managers provided case studies, detailing some excellent results and the special activities they utilize to engage new audiences and ways to preserve existing patrons. 

Then, 19 distribution companies presented their upcoming titles for the next six months available to Italian exhibitors. Taking the stage for The Walt Disney Company was the big boss in person, Mickey Mouse with Minnie, along with a few powerful titles: “Deadpool & Wolverine”, “Alien: Romulus”, “Oceania 2” (Italian for “Moana”) and “Mufasa: Il Re Leone”. One day later, Universal Pictures presented “Wicked” and “Cattivissimo Me 4” (“Despicable Me”) with a series of long clips, but the exhibitors’ attention was sparked by a few minutes preview of the film “The Wild Robot”: I can guarantee that many were moved to tears, before they went on to get a first look at “Michael”, the biopic of Michael Jackson, which received loud applause. 

On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery presented its movies for the Italian summer, “Twisters”, “Trap” and “Blink Twice”, but it was “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” which received the greatest response from cinema operators. The film was recently selected for the opening night of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere on 28th August. Warner Bros. also has the most anticipated title for the fall season, “Joker: Folie à deux”, and confirmed its local commitment with three Italian movies, including “Come far litigare mamma e papà,” which are ready for release in September, November and during the Christmas holidays.   

On Friday, the very last day of the conference, Eagle Pictures showed its lineup bringing titles to the Italian market from Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures. The audience enjoyed sneak peeks from upcoming movies such as “The Crow,” “Wolfs,” “Venom: The Last Dance,” “Megalopolis,” “Conclave” and, at the end of their presentation, a full sequence of the new surprising “Gladiator 2.”    

Italy has always been one of the European territories whose national films command a high market share (more than 25.9% of admissions in 2023), so it’s obvious that the real stars of the Ciné convention were Italian productions. Big broadcaster distribution companies like Medusa Film (part of Berlusconi’s Mediaset Group) and 01 Distribution (owned by national public television broadcaster Rai) presented their lineups of local releases showing off actors, actresses and directors well known and appreciated by the national audience (Christian De Sica, Diego Abatantuono, Riccardo Scamarcio among them). 

The comedy genre reigned supreme, but there was no shortage of dramatic titles, often inspired by true crime stories or local news events (“Familia”, “Il ragazzo dai pantaloni rosa”, “Criature”), first or second films (i.e. Cécile Allegra, Francesco Costabile, Margherita Ferri, Gianni De Blasi, directors) and titles directed by great authors such as the Oscar winners Gabriele Salvatores (“Napoli-New York”) and Paolo Sorrentino (“Parthenope”) or those well recognized in Hollywood Stefano Sollima (“Sugar Bandits”) and Gabriele Muccino (“Fino alla fine”).  

Like a fresh breath of positivity, “Inside Out 2” continues its run in Italy with an income of EUR  €47.7 million (USD $52.1 million), the country is one of the main global markets for the Pixar film): that sounded extremely good to the exhibitors in Riccione because, given the data, the spring was really weak in terms of box office and, as in the rest of the world, some films performed below expectations. Summer is not typically the best cinema season in Italy, but the country’s exhibitors are discovering that if there are strong titles to show (as there are currently), audiences will come despite the time of year. What this year’s Ciné in Riccione revealed is the prospect of a good autumn-winter season for Italian cinemas.