Nicola Maccanico, a former senior executive at Warner Bros. and Sky Italia, has been spearheading an overhaul of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios since April 2021. The government-owned facility embarked on a mission to secure a multi-million dollar loan provided by the European Union. Union’s Post-Pandemic Recovery Fund.
Three years later, the studio is equipped with 20 state-of-the-art soundstages, including one of the largest LED walls in Europe, and has become a magnet for Hollywood productions such as Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series The Dying. More U.S. filming will take place soon, he vows, as production disruptions caused by Hollywood strikes ease.
Below, Maccanico says: variety What he has accomplished in terms of reviving the studio and what he still has to do.
The first phase of the Cinecittà renovation project appears to be complete. How difficult was it?
The reason I was invited to be the director of Cinecittà was because of my experience at Cinecittà. [media] has been asked to resume Cinecitta’s role as a market participant. In these three years, we were able to achieve important goals, both financially and symbolically. Financially, the company was able to achieve revenues of almost 100 million euros ($108 million) with average sales. [annual] Turnover is between 12 million euros and 15 million euros.And we brought Cinecittà back into the black. [a €1.8 million profit for fiscal 2022]. Currently, Cinecitta is a healthy and profitable company with over 70% utilization rate. Clearly a market player that hosts large-scale shoots, it has returned to the home of world-class directors and world-class productions. This symbolic value is huge, as Cinecittà is an iconic Italian brand, as evidenced by the international media attention it has received so far.
An important aspect of Cinecitta’s relaunch is that Hollywood studios will be coming together again. Then the strike hit. What is their influence?
For Cinecitta to be firing on all cylinders, two things need to happen. It’s about attracting international productions, especially major American productions. But it also needs a booming Italian market for making travel films. It’s no coincidence that Hollywood blockbusters like Ben-Hur and Cleopatra were filmed in Italy in the 1960s. At the same time, Italian masters like Fellini and Visconti were creating masterpieces all over the world. Today we are in a similar situation. Italy’s competitiveness in terms of staff, craftsmanship, and tax incentives has led to the return of large-scale American film production, but there is also a golden age of Italian cinema.It’s no coincidence that I was with Joe Wright. [who shot the Sky series “M,” about Benito Mussolini’s rise to power]Roland Emmerich and Angelina Jolie [who shot “Without Blood” with Salma Hayek] Cinecittà also welcomed Luca Guadagnino. [with Daniel Craig-starrer “Queer”] and Saverio Costanzo. Cinecittà should combine the production of world-class content by both international artists and great Italian artists.
The strike obviously had an impact, but 2023 is still a record year for us. Thanks in part to high revenues from set construction, the company grew by 10% and generated revenues of over 43 million euros ($46.7 million). In two years, he earned more than 40 million euros just from building the set. That said, we had a great semester. Therefore, despite the strike, we managed to enter another year of growth. The strike did not halt ongoing productions; it simply prevented new Hollywood productions from starting. There was a gap of about 4 months, so I tried to fill it with local films and commercials, which, understandably, did not turn out to be very profitable. The good news is that we are now seeing a quick recovery and 2024 looks very solid in terms of bookings. Due to non-disclosure agreements, I cannot go into details, but Italy retains full ability to attract foreign productions.
How important is the fact that Cinecittà has one of the largest LED walls in Europe?
We invested in a giant LED stage for Theater 18 because we strongly believe that to demonstrate innovation, we need to invest in technology and show that Cinecittà is no longer a place of the past. This worked. Smart Stage opened in June 2022 and is currently being rented for 305 days. Angelina Jolie, Joe Wright, and Emmerich, to name a few, were photographed there. This gives us a new perspective on our business. Thanks to virtual reality, Cinecittà has become a place where you can film anywhere in the world.
Let’s talk about infrastructure. How advanced are the improvements in terms of new soundstages?
we are in good condition. In the history of Cinecittà he is recorded in June 2023. We met EU deadlines and initiated nine calls to allocate contracts to expand the soundstage. Following the original project, four existing theaters will be rebuilt and five new theaters will be built, increasing the total number of theaters from 20 to 25 and increasing soundstage production capacity from 18,000 square meters (194,000 square feet) to 30,000 square meters. (323,000 square feet). ft), indicating a 60% increase. This will put us on track to reach our 2026 goals. Construction is progressing at full throttle. In the first quarter of 2024, the first soundstage, Theater 7, will open with funding from the EU Recovery Fund. In other words, the “new Cinecittà” will be born by 2026.
What about Cinecittà’s expansion plans?I think that plan has stalled..
The second phase of our plan involved purchasing land in Torre Spaccata. [a 76-acre plot of land adjacent to the studios] And that aspect was put on hold. The overall cost of the project has skyrocketed and can no longer be covered by EU recovery plan funds. [which was cut]. Therefore, for the time being we have put our plans on hold in order to focus entirely on Cinecittà’s existing parcels and facilitate its significant growth. We will then consider whether we can also invest in Torre Spaccata using private funds.
What are Cinecitta’s goals for the future?
I would like to further promote the industrial development of the studio. We were able to prove that the existing Cinecittà is competitive, can run at full capacity, host large-scale productions, and be profitable. Now we have to finish work on the new soundstages and prove that we can fill these new facilities to increase the studio’s profit margins and create more jobs. We have to take Cinecittà to the next level. We have to accelerate our growth. Another 12,000 square meters of stage space must be filled, which is no easy task. To improve occupancy rates, we will be adding two further long-term contracts to our existing five-year contract with Fremantle. We will also terminate the same transaction with Lumina Studios. [separate facilities operated by Cinecittà in Rome] Banijay and Endemol Shine. And we are negotiating a new overall agreement with a group of executive producers, our traditional partners, which will strengthen our ties with Cinecittà.
You are in the final stages of a three-year mission. what are your thoughts?
I am only focused on finishing my mission on a positive note. I feel very connected to Cinecittà, so I want to complete this work.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.