«Buen Camino», a highly politically incorrect comedy, makes a splash: 5.6 million takings on debut (78.8% of the total). And over 680,000 people in theaters at Christmas. The Apulian comedian burns the colossal «Avatar»: hypocrisy has broken, Italians want to laugh.
«There’s no point in being hypocritical, we expect to make money. This James, what’s his name, Cameroon, should wake up on the 26th and ask himself “who the fuck is this Zalone””. We don’t know if James Cameron actually asked himself the question on December 26th, but the fact is that Checco Zalone was once again right: his Buen Camino, in theaters from December 25th, smashed the box office with a taking of 5,672,000 euros, and beat Avatar: Fire and Ashes, the latest episode of the Canadian director’s science fiction saga, which stopped, on the same day, at 868,290 euros. Expectations were high but the result exceeded all rosy predictions: with this comedy directed by Gennaro Nunziante and distributed by Medusa, Zalone surpassed itself by conquering 78.8% of the overall audience (680,000 people in theaters): in 2016 Here I goreleased on January 1st, had reached 65.6%, while in 2020, with Tolo Toloalso released on January 1st, had secured 75.7%. The success of Good Camino it was homogeneous throughout the national territory and drove the entire sector: for 14 years, on Christmas day, the cinema market had not exceeded 7 million euros in grosses.
Funny, light comedy, produced by Indiana production with Medusa, in collaboration with Mzl and Netflix, Good Camino it is the story of a very rude and ignorant billionaire, a sofa manufacturer from Brianza, who just as he is preparing the party for his 50th birthday discovers that his only daughter, named Cristal in honor of the famous champagne, has disappeared. The rebellion against the unbridled luxury in which the father lives takes shape in the Camino de Santiago de Compostela: Zalone he discovers it and sets out in pursuit of his teenage daughter, among spartan hostels and dusty paths. In the room there was thunderous laughter at the rapid-fire gags and jokes, even politically incorrect ones, like the one about the ex-wife’s new partner, a Palestinian director, “the only one who occupies territories in Gaza, my gaza”, and the one about the hostel: “I feel like I’m in a film, Schindler’s List». Jokes that outraged the usual right-thinking people, but Zalone he doesn’t get upset: «Instead of complaining about political correctness», he said in a press conference a few days before the film’s release, «we need to be intelligently incorrect, I don’t see this problem».
In just one day, Good Camino has already reached seventh position in the box office rankings of Italian films released over the last year: in first place is Madlycomedy directed by Paolo Genovese released last February, which after ten months in theaters reached 18 million in takings; they follow Diamonds Of Ferzan Özpetek in theaters for a year already; I am the end of the world Of Hard Angel also released a year ago and directed by the same Nunziante; You and I need to talkwritten, directed and starring Alessandro Sianireleased in December 2024; Oh my life Of Pious And Amedeoreleased last November, and Life goes like thisdirected by Riccardo Milanireleased in October 2025.
By doing some simple calculations on the takings of the comedy Zalone will be able to achieve between now and the beginning of January, it is easy to predict that Good Camino will rocket to the top of the charts after less than two weeks of programming. In any case, this ranking makes it crystal clear that Italians at the cinema want to have fun and relax: Checco Zalone, Hard Angel, Pious And Amedeo And Alessandro Siani they are pure comedians, each with their own style but all very far from the cinema that intellectuals and right-thinking people like, essentially the one based on indigestible dramatic bricks studded with political-cultural messages. We cannot help but think of the legendary, heroic rebellion of the accountant Ugo Fantozzi when, forced with his colleagues to participate in yet another screening of Battleship Potemkin at Professor Guidobaldo Maria Riccardelli’s film club, while England-Italy in the World Cup is on TV, she goes on stage and exclaims: «The Battleship Potemkin it’s crazy… crazy!”, receiving the famous 92 minutes of applause.
After all, until a few years ago, cinemas at Christmas were packed with spectators who couldn’t wait to attend the annual cinepanettone produced by Aurelione’s Filmauro De Laurentiismostly directed by Black Relatives and played by the couple Massimo Boldi–Christian De Sicawith very “politically incorrect” jokes, which perhaps couldn’t be included today, but which made and still make people laugh out loud.
