Perhaps not everyone has noticed, but in Italy all (or almost all) of the new films at the cinema they come out on thursday. But why? The explanation has its roots in the 70’s: at the time in fact the greats American blockbusters they usually went out on Friday. Obviously this posed a significant problem for Italian cinema which, certainly less powerful than its US counterpart, was often overwhelmed in terms of takings. To solve the problem it was decided to bring forward the release of Italian films to Thursday: by doing so they would have had a day’s head start, thus maximizing box office receipts and avoiding excessively overlapping with Hollywood cinema.
This habit of going out on Thursdays has therefore consolidated over time, so much so that it has been officially regulated in 2012 following an agreement signed between ANICA (National Association of Cinematographic, Audiovisual and Digital Industries), ANEC (National Association of Cinema Operators) And ANEM (National Association of Music Publishers). These are the words of Lionel Cerripresident of ANEC:
Unifying the release day of the films allows us to enhance the premieres and strengthen promotional activities throughout the territory for the relaunch of the sector
Furthermore, the unification of the release day at a national level aims to create a “long weekend” which allows films to bring more spectators to the theater, also thanks to word of mouth in the days preceding Saturday and Sunday.
Of course, it is good to keep in mind that this tradition of the film on Thursday is not valid for every country: in USA and in Japan for example the day of new releases is the Friday. In addition, for some event films or in case of overlap with holidays, the programming may vary slightly in Italy too.
