The film production market - Italy

1.1 Definition and scope of study

The term 'film production' refers to the making of a film, which involves the following stages: 

- Development: during this phase, funds are raised to create the film, the set design is written and the cast is chosen.

- Pre-production: during this phase the individual scenes of the film are identified, the soundtrack is recorded and auditions are held to choose the future actors.

- Processing: this is where the film locations are visited and the costumes and sets are made. 

- Post-production: the sub-phases are editing, the creation of special visual and sound effects and any dubbing.

- Distribution, where agreements are made with distribution companies to bring the film to market.

As far as the global market is concerned, this was worth $234.9 billion in 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4% since 2015. The market is expected to reach a value of $318.2 billion by 2025 and $410.6 billion by 2030.

In Italy, the 2020 pandemic led to a 71.3% decrease in cinema revenues and an approximately 71% decrease in presences. In 2020, about 246 films were distributed, 277 fewer than in the previous year. Before the restrictions imposed by COVID, the market recorded a flourishing growth: +7% between the year 2019 and 2018 and +3% between the year 2018 and 2017. In 2018, Italian box office was €127,869,334 and admissions came to 19,920,776. Italian films together with US films are among the most watched films in the world. They are followed immediately by British, French and Japanese films.