“There’s Still Tomorrow,” the Italian dramedy that last year became a box office sensation on home soil, is to be released in the U.K. and Ireland by exhibition giant Vue.
Popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi’s directorial debut, the black-and-white film – titled “C’é Ancora Domani” in Italian — follows the plight of an abused housewife in post-war Rome. It became the most watched release in Italy in 2023 with 5.4 market admissions to date, outperforming both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” With a box office north of $36 million, “There’s Still Tomorrow” is now the country’s 8th highest grossing film of all time, the third-largest Italian film in the last decade and the most successful Italian film directed by a woman. For comparison, its Italian B.O. was almost three times larger that the U.K. and Ireland grosses for “Belfast” (the most successful black-and-white film in the U.K.).
The film is now set to go on wide release in the U.K. on April 26, following a sell-out screening at London’s Cinema Made in Italy festival — organized by Cinecittà — this weekend.
“I am so happy to know that my film ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’ will also be distributed in the U.K. and Ireland,” said Cortellesi. “I would like to thank everyone who supported my film in Italy and now in Europe: production partners Wildside and Vision Distribution, and Vue for choosing my directorial debut! I really hope the audience will love it.”
The move marks a rare foray into traditional feature distribution for Vue, which operates 92 cinemas in the U.K. and is the largest privately owned cinema operator in Europe. Up until now, the company had mostly released pre-school titles and big screen sports events across its locations but Variety understands that, if “There’s Still Tomorrow” is successful it could open the doors for the exhibitor to pick up further films for distribution.
“Paola Cortellesi’s extraordinary new film ‘C’é Ancora Domani’ has been breaking records in Italy, where it is still being played widely in cinemas five months after the release thanks to the exceptional word of mouth it has garnered over time,” said Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards. “We are honoured that Paola has trusted us with distributing and playing her movie in the UK so British audiences will also be able to watch this amazing and hugely important movie on the big screen.”
Added Johnny Carr, Vue’s group event cinema manager: “We’re delighted to act as distributor to bring this amazing directorial debut by Paola Cortellesi to Vue cinemas nationwide, where 46% of all titles screened in our cinemas are foreign language. We also hope that by acting as distributor we can enable it to be seen by as wide an audience as possible and will soon be reaching out to U.K. and Ireland exhibitors directly.”
“There’s Still Tomorrow” is a produced by Wildside, a Fremantle company, and Vision Distribution, jointly-operated by Sky Italia.
