Hollywood Takes on Italy’s Vacation-Heavy Summer Season With Blockbusters

With upcoming movies such as “Toy Story 4,” “Men in Black: International” and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” Hollywood studios are finally taking the plunge this year and slotting their blockbusters in Italian cinemas during the summer, a time when residents traditionally hit the beach en masse.For decades, the studios withheld their films from Italy in the summer season for fear of a dearth of cinema-goers, throwing the country’s release patterns out of kilter with the rest of Europe.

The subsequent glut of movies during the rest of the year has turned Italy into a fast-burning market, with admissions plunging in 2018 to just shy of 86 million.

It was the first time in 10 years that the number dropped below 90 million.To help stop the hemorrhaging, the studios are changing course.

At least 10 big releases have been set for the months of May through August, including “Godzilla: King of the Monsters

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