Checco Zalone’s comedy enters the history of Italian cinema. With a haul of 68,823,069 euros achieved in just 24 days of programming (8,562,320 admissions in theaters), Buen Camino beats the record held by Avatar (68,600,000 euros) and becomes the film with the highest grossing ever at the national box office. An extraordinary result for the road comedy directed by Gennaro Nunziante, distributed by Medusa Film and co-produced with Indiana Production in collaboration with Mzl, which testifies, once again, to the very strong bond between the public and the Apulian actor, author and musician, this time in the role of the spoiled and very rich scion of a sofa industrialist forced to chase his teenage daughter, Cristal, who ran away to undertake the Camino de Santiago.
A triumphal march since its debut
The experience of the pilgrimage, among hostels, unexpected events, hospitalizations and rebirths, will make him discover a world far from superficiality and luxury and will force him to face the generational comparison with his daughter and to change his outlook on reality. Current issues addressed with irony, stimulating public debate and generating widespread media and social involvement. That of Buen Camino, released in theaters at Christmas, has been a triumphal march since its debut. On Thursday 25 December – according to data released by Medusa – it grossed 5,671,922 euros, achieving the best result ever in Italy for a film on Christmas Day and surpassing the previous record for Christmas in New York (2006). With a share of 78.8%, Buen Camino also drove the entire Italian film market above 7 million euros in total on Christmas day, a level that had not been reached since 2011. Boxing Day was also a record: on 26 December the film came close to 8 million euros, bringing the total of the first two days of programming to almost 14 million and marking one of the best results ever for Boxing Day, ahead of even international titles such as Avatar – Fire and Ash. In the first weekend of programming, Buen Camino totaled almost 27 million euros in four days, establishing the best Christmas opening ever recorded in Italy. A success confirmed on New Year’s Eve: on January 1st the film grossed over 5 million euros, bringing the total to more than 41 million and exceeding 5 million spectators, thus achieving the third best takings ever for a film on the first day of the year, preceded only by Tolo Tolo and Quo Vado?, both with Zalone.
In the second week of programming, Buen Camino exceeded 53 million euros, beating Zalone’s previous successes (Sole a Catinelle and Tolo Tolo) and becoming the third highest-grossing film ever in the history of Italian cinema, after Avatar and Quo Vado?. In less than 20 days of programming it exceeded a total of 65 million euros, becoming the highest-grossing Italian film ever at the Italian box office and beating Quo Vado?. Finally, in 24 days of programming it also surpassed Avatar’s record, becoming the highest-grossing film ever at the Italian box office. Produced by Marco Cohen, Benedetto Habib, Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, the film is an Indiana Production production with Medusa Film in collaboration with Mzl and in collaboration with Netflix produced by Indiana Production, a Vuelta company.