Italian Box Office Surge and New Film Releases by Eastwood, Waititi, Herzog

Italian cinema box office in 2019 reached €635,449,774 with 97,586,858 admissions, up 14.35% and 13.55% respectively from 2018, marking the fifth-best result since 2010 and since 1995 when Cinetel began tracking. This week sees the release of Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi, a satirical film set in Nazi Germany about a 10-year-old boy whose imaginary friend is Hitler, and who discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl. The film stars Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, and Scarlett Johansson, who earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Also opening is Richard Jewell by Clint Eastwood, based on the true story of a security guard who found a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was wrongly accused by media and authorities. Eastwood noted the film highlights how a common man without resources can be persecuted without evidence. Additionally, Herzog Meets Gorbachev, a documentary by Werner Herzog featuring a conversation with Mikhail Gorbachev, arrives on January 19 via I Wonder Pictures, covering Gorbachev's childhood, studies at Moscow University, and rise in the Soviet Communist Party.