Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield lead Venice-hit drama in slow Italian weekend

"After The Hunt" tops a slow weekend at the Italian box office, even if it only recovers 3.4% over last weekend’s earnings and no film surpasses €1 million across 417 theaters, CE Report quotes ANSA.

The film by Luca Guadagnino, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield, presented at the Venice Film Festival and distributed by Eagle Pictures, grossed €619,758, with an average of €1,486 per theater, according to Cinetel data.

However, the film with Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield did not achieve the highest per-theater average, which instead went to the fourth-place debut "The Black Phone 2" with €1,554 per screen across 283 cinemas (topping the U.S. box office with $26.5 million).

Holding well in its second week is "Tre ciotole", dropping just 12% and taking in another €555,000, placing it second and bringing its total to €1.4 million, making it the top Italian box office performer of the current cinema season, which began last August.

In third place is the long-running "Una battaglia dopo l’altra", still strong in its fourth week with a total of €4.4 million, making it Paul Thomas Anderson’s best-performing film in Italy.

From the ongoing Rome Film Fest, "Per te" by Alessandro Aronadio debuts in fifth place with €379,000, despite one less day of programming, released Friday after its festival premiere. It boasts a solid €1,005 per-screen average across 377 theaters.

"Le città di pianura", now in seventh place, but with the fourth-best per-screen average, is holding up well in its fourth week, having opened initially only in Northeast Italy. It drops just 12%, reaching a total of €815,000.

"Tron: Ares" is nearly at the end of its run, in sixth place with €1.1 million after two weeks.

"Eddington" by Ari Aster lands in eighth with €144,000.

Also from the festival circuit, "Amata" by Elisa Amoruso, presented at the Venice Days in September and starring Tecla Insolia, Miriam Leone, and Stefano Accorsi, opens in ninth place with only €139,000, and nearly the worst per-theater average in the rankings — just €422 across 330 cinemas.

Rounding out the Top Ten is "Il professore e il pinguino" in its second week, with €376 average per screen across 234 cinemas.