Italy’s cinema industry is set to receive a boost thanks to cut-price tickets, according to the country’s Culture Minister Gennaro Sanguiliano.
As seen by the demise of major cinema chains in the UK and US, cinemas suffered significantly due to long periods of closure during the pandemic.
According to a report from news outlet Il Globo, Sanguiliano said: “There’ll be a decree on tax credits for cinema that will try to give the industry a hand, above all Italian cinema, this is a decree for Italian films.”
The measure recently passed and was set up by the previous Government, with €10m (£8.7m/$10.4m) designated for cinema ticket discounts.
He added: “It’s a measure set up by my predecessor, and if we hadn’t done it, we would have lost the funds.
“I think that with this discount we can incentivise people to return to the cinema, to appreciate the value of the big screen.”
Earlier this month, research from Italy’s copyright agency SIAE revealed that the number of cinema-goers in Italy dropped by 72% between 2019 and 2021. The total number of viewers fell from 306 million in 2019 to 84 million in 2021, and box office spending decreased from €2.7bn in 2019 to €870m in 2021.
According to Il Globo, Italy’s newly elected Government will offer a cinema ticket subsidy of €3.40 per person via the Government ID app, Spid.