An Italian produced comedy with an Islamic terrorism theme entitled ‘Che Bella Giornata’ or ‘What a Beautiful day’ has broken the country’s all time box office records for a locally produced film, hauling in a massive 42 million dollars and counting, in just two weeks after its release.
The film’s plot revolves around a security guard who falls in love with an Arab woman who is planing to bomb the Milan Duomo.
The movie’s success has also dethroned Roberto Benigni’s Holocaust-theme 1997 film and triple Oscar winner ‘Life Is Beautiful,’ which held the title of highest-earning local film for 13 years running.
Produced by Medusa film, for an average Italian budget of around 6.6 million dollars, Medusa CEO Giampaolo Letta said the picture has performed beyond the company’s “most optimistic expectations.”.
The film is made by a team of relative newcomers to cinema and stars popular TV comic Checco Zalone, who performs on Mediaset, the media company owned by prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, which owns Medusa film.
“There really is a new, sophisticated Italian wave of comedy under way,” Letta commented, “and this is something Medusa has been working on.”
Italy has long been famous for its comic genre, which dates to the 1950s and includes works by recognised masters the likes of Dino Risi, Pietro Germi, Mario Monicelli and many others.
Currently, Italy is experiencing a resurgence in Italian cinema, and four out of the top ten grossing films for 2010 were locally produced Italian comedies.