‘NAZA’ Beats ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ to Top Italian Box Office — SkimNews
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- "NAZA" debuted at No. 1 in Italy, grossing roughly €1.1 million ($1.2 million) on Monday and Tuesday, compared with €356,000 ($404,000) for "Avengers: Endgame Encore" over the same two-day period
- Italian distributor I Wonder Pictures had planned the release as a three-day event from Sept. 28-30 but extended the run after advance ticket sales and initial screenings overwhelmed expectations, with numerous screenings selling out before premiere
- Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor filmed the documentary at night on Tel Aviv rooftops over three years, examining the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza; both previously co-directed 2025's Oscar-winning "No Other Land"
- The Guardian and French sales company MK2 are spearheading a U.S. rollout beginning Wednesday at IFC Center in New York, a distribution plan that forgoes selling the film to a studio or independent distributor; the film will reach 50+ territories and stream free on The Guardian's website in late November
- "NAZA" earned a 24.5-minute standing ovation and a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, and builds on investigative reporting published between 2023 and 2025 by +972 Magazine, Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, and The Guardian
- Filmmakers Abraham and Szor said in a joint statement that they made the film "out of a sense of obligation to use our position as Israeli filmmakers and journalists to examine the systems behind the mass killing of Palestinian civilians for which our country is responsible"; Jonathan Glazer serves as executive producer
Why it matters: A documentary about Gaza more than tripled a Marvel re-release's gross in its opening two days in Italy, and the €1.1 million haul on a deliberately limited event-style theatrical window signals unusually intense audience demand. The film's non-traditional distribution — IFC Center exclusive in the U.S., no studio sale, free Guardian streaming — gives it global reach that bypasses conventional theatrical gatekeepers entirely.
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