"There's still tomorrow" in theatres across the Iberian Peninsula
di Elisabetta Brunella

In terms of admissions the markets of Spain and Portugal represent approximately 10% of the whole of Europe, considering the 37 countries for which MEDIA Salles records trends. In 2024, Spain totalled 73 million spectators with a decrease of over 30% compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic. The situation in Portugal, a smaller market, where in fact there were just under 12 million spectators in 2024, is however significantly better compared to 2019. Here, the difference comes to approximately 24%.

Spain, a country of 49 million inhabitants, has around 3,600 screens, a number that is substantially stable and has even increased slightly in the last decade, while Portugal, with just under 11 million inhabitants, has around 560 screens. While the former country offers an average of 74 screens for evey million inhabitants - placing it in eighth place in Western Europe - the latter has decidedly fewer, namely 53.

However, it should be remembered that the density of the population in Spain is significantly lower than that in Portugal (93 inhabitants per km2 compared to 115) and it is known that, where the population is sparser, a relatively greater number of screens is necessary, given, for example, that the viewer is unlikely to be willing to drive more than twenty minutes to reach a cinema.

A lot is known about the Iberian cinema exhibition scene - Spain, in particular, publishes an in-depth "Censo de Salas" every year, which offers basic data for analyzing the relationship between cinema, cinemas and the territory - but what do spectators watch on the big screen? For example, considering linguistic, cultural and historical-artistic affinities, we might imagine that the Spanish and Portuguese audiences love Italian cinema. But is this really the case?

In fact, among the films screened in 2024 and counting co-productions, there are a fair number of Italian titles (about ninety in Spain and a little more than that in Portugal). The leading trio in both countries includes co-productions, among which, in first place, appears "Ferrari", which in Italy is considered to be of American origin, but which practically all European countries consider partly Italian.

It is known that the criteria for defining a film’s nationality can differ, not to mention the perception of viewers. In this case, in addition to the Italian minority participation, several factors have most likely played a role: although directed by an American, the film is the story of an Italian who created a product - or perhaps we should say a myth - that the whole world recognizes as Italian. Furthermore, there is "a lot of Italy" on the screen, from the locations to the cast.

The exact opposite occurs in the case of "Challengers": this too is an Italian minority co-production, which moreover tells a story that is not at all Italian, but the fact that it was made by an Italian director who has managed to establish himself internationally as an exponent of Global Art Cinema is what prevails in the public "sentiment".

Behind co-productions such as "The First Omen", "Immaculate" or "Priscilla", the first "Italian from all points of view" title is "C’è ancora domani/There’s still tomorrow", which in Spain came in fourth position and in Portugal in sixth. The top twenty also includes - in different positions in the two countries - films by Italian directors, albeit of different generations, who have acquired international fame in the "arthouse" sector. Indeed, we find Rohrwacher with "La chimera", Garrone with "Io capitano" and Bellocchio with "Rapito/Kidnapped".

In Portugal, ninth place was taken by "L’ombra di Caravaggio/Caravaggio’s shadow", which in Spain comes twenty-fourth, a title that confirms the interest in fiction or documentary films referring to Italian artistic history.

If further proof were needed, it would be enough to take a look at the list of releases in Spain to realize the important presence of what is defined as "added content". The films range from "Borromini e Bernini. Sfida alla perfezione/Borromini and Bernini: the challenge for perfection" to "Botticelli e Firenze. La nascita della bellezza/Botticelli, Florence and the Medici", from "Pompei. Eros e mito/Pompeii. Eros and Myth" to "Tintoretto. Un ribelle a Venezia/Tintoretto. A Rebel in Venice", just to name a few.

Equally interesting is the fact that these productions - which are usually programmed by movie theaters as events and have a much longer run than fiction films ("Caravaggio - l’anima e il sangue/Caravaggio: The soul and the blood" dates back to 2018) - are distributed by practically one company only on each market. In Spain, it is A Contracorriente Films, but this is still not unusual in such a specific field, which relies on the loyalty of movie theaters and audiences.

More generally, looking at who distributes Italian films - unless they are large international co-productions, especially those with US participation, handled by large companies such as Warner for "Challengers" - it can be seen that the names of a handful of "specialty" distributors often recur. In Spain, Elastica has the rights for "La chimera" and "Queer", Bteam for "C’è ancora domani", "Parthenope" and "Et la fête continue/And the party goes on", Caramel Films for "Io capitano" and "Il sol dell’avvenire/A Brighter Tomorrow".

This is also evident over the course of the years: in Spain Caramel Films distributed "Caro diario/Dear diary", in Portugal Cinemundo distributed not only the three Italian films that made the podium in 2024, but also "Bones and all", second in 2022. Risi Film distributed the film directed by Cortellesi in 2024, but in 2023 it had "Ennio", which came third, and in 2020 "La Strada", also in third place. And this leads us to remark that Italian classics are an evergreen on many markets, but especially in Portugal where in 2024 we find "Il gattopardo/The Leopard" and "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso/Cinema Paradiso", "Ladri di biciclette/Bicycle Thieves" and "Miracolo a Milano/Miracle in Milan", "Mamma Roma" and "Otto e mezzo" …

The Iberian Region would therefore seem to show an all-round interest in Italian cinema. All good, then? Yes and no, given that, where available, the admission data, at least for films that cannot count on world-class production and distribution partners, point to a substantially niche position.

This is an updated version of the article printed in the Venice special issue of Cinema & Video Int'l, the MEDIA Salles media partner.

The cinema market in Spain

* admissions of all domestic titles screened during the year
Source: FECE - Federación de Cines de España
Source for data on cinemas/screens: AIMC Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación
Source for data on population: Eurostat

The cinema market in Portugal

* admissions of all domestic titles screened during the year
Source: ICA - Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual
Source for data on population: Eurostat

The top ten Italian films (including co-productions) by admissions in 2024