The Numbers of Italian Cinema and Audiovisual – 2025 Report
Perhaps the most interesting finding in the report I numeri del cinema e dell’audiovisivo italiano – Anno 2025, produced by the Research Office of the Direzione generale Cinema e audiovisivo del Ministero della Cultura, lies precisely in the combination of continuity and slowdown.
The number of feature films that completed classification stands at 403, compared with 400 in 2024 and 313 in 2021 — a 29% increase over four years — suggesting that Italian cinema’s production volume has remained essentially stable.
The overall cost of eligible films, however, fell from €837.6 million to €798.6 million (-4.6%). The industry continues to produce a great deal, but it seems to be entering a phase in which quantity alone is no longer enough to describe the health of the market.
Box office returns to 2019 levels (thanks to Zalone)
Compared with pre-pandemic levels, 2025 pushed Italian box office revenue above €180 million, essentially matching the figures from seven years earlier. The number of moviegoers, however, declined. This revenue came from 330 films released in theaters with 24.6 million admissions, whereas in 2019 there were 224 films and 28.1 million admissions.
Driving 2025 were mainly popular-genre titles. Buen Camino, directed by Gennaro Nunziante and starring Checco Zalone (pictured above in a scene from the film), earned over €26 million on its own in just four days of holiday release (eventually closing its run at €76 million).
Madly (Follemente), directed by Paolo Genovese, closed with nearly €18 million, and Diamonds (Diamanti), by Ferzan Özpetek — though released in 2024 — kept generating revenue into 2025, surpassing €16 million overall. Four Italian titles in the year’s top ten confirm what has been known for years: comedy remains the genre most capable of speaking to a mass audience.
The figure is encouraging, but achieving an economic result comparable to the pre-pandemic era today requires far more titles and far more moviegoers than the ability of a single film to generate value on its own used to demand.
Private capital confirms itself as a major resource
The financial structure of Italian cinema tells the story of a market less dependent on public funding than it might appear.
For the 317 Italian-initiative films analyzed (all 100% Italian films, plus majority and equal co-productions), representing a total cost of roughly €646 million, 45% of financing comes from private sources, 43.5% from public contributions, and 11.5% from foreign investment.
Production tax credit remains the single most important line item, with €215 million requested, accounting for 33.3% of coverage — but Italian producers, broadcasters, and OTT operators directly contribute another €208 million.
This is a significant point looking ahead as well, since the system works when public incentives manage to leverage industrial and commercial capital, not when they replace it.
Tax credit: fewer applications, but a still greater weight
In 2025, production tax credit applications for Italian-initiative films dropped to 251, down from 269 in 2024, while the credit requested fell from €234.6 million to €215 million.
This figure, however, must be read alongside the cost of the works: tax credit now represents 34% of total investment, compared with 33% in 2024 and 32% in 2023. What is growing above all is the number of companies submitting applications, up from 227 to 250.
The market therefore appears to be fragmenting on the operator side, while the incentive system continues to represent a structural component of financing plans. It is also worth noting that above the €1 million threshold, tax credit is requested for practically 100% of eligible works.
Selective funding becomes an industrial tool
Selective-contribution policy also shows a shift in approach.
In 2025, 157 classified films received selective or automatic funding, totaling €35.4 million — nearly €5 million more than in 2024. Selective production contributions alone are worth about €30 million, and €12.66 million is earmarked for films of particular artistic quality and “difficult” works.
New funding lines dedicated to figures and events of Italian cultural identity also made their debut, financing 13 works for roughly €5 million. One concrete example is Primavera, directed by Damiano Michieletto, produced by Indigo Film and Warner Bros. Italia together with Moana Films, which received €1 million in selective funding and €2.76 million in tax credit.
Another case is A year of School (Un anno di scuola), directed by Laura Samani, an Italy-France co-production supported over time by selective contributions, tax credit, Eurimages, and MEDIA. These are examples of how public funding can accompany a project across the entire pipeline, from development to production and on to its international dimension.
Between co-productions and Italian locations, the appeal is international
Co-production remains one of the strongest assets of the Italian industry.
In 2025, 92 works were made in co-production, with 134 contracts — 14 more than in 2024 — and 39 partner countries, up from 37 the previous year.
France remains the leading partner with 23 co-productions, followed by Germany with 11, and Spain and the United States with 10 each. Italy’s ability to attract international productions is also growing.
In 2025, 40 foreign productions filmed in the country, 40% of them American.
Overall, sets launched in 2025 occupied Italian territory for nearly 1,600 weeks and involved roughly 18,000 workers, plus more than 1,800 foreign professionals. This is a spillover effect that confirms how cinema functions as an industrial and territorial policy, not merely a cultural one.
2026: from expansion to selection
The overall picture suggests a possible direction for 2026 and the medium term: not necessarily less cinema, but cinema financed more selectively and subject to greater industrial pressure.
Film production remains robust, but the decline in overall costs and tax credit applications points to a possible period of consolidation; even more evident is the slowdown in TV and web audiovisual production, which fell from 262 to 226 works and from over €1 billion to €814 million in cost.
Here too, tax credit remains essential, with €234 million requested. The more interesting prospect, then, is not simply a return to pre-Covid levels, but a new phase of market maturation. Greater attention to return on investment, international co-productions, the ability to attract foreign productions, producer consolidation, and a more rigorous selection of projects.
If 2025 was the year in which theaters proved they could recover value, 2026 could be the year in which the industry has to prove it can turn that into sustainable growth.
Continue reading: The Void in the TV Market
