Highlighting the power of local stories, Italy’s box office has been taken by storm by “The Boy With Pink Pants,” Margherita Ferri’s intimate film telling the harrowing true tale of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after enduring bullying at school and online.
Produced and fully financed by Tarak Ben Ammar‘s Eagle Pictures, “The Boy With Pink Pants” has conquered Italian audiences en masse, grossing more than €8.5 million ($9 million) from 1.3 million admissions since its Nov. 7 release. In terms of ticket sales, it’s even beat Hollywood heavyweights such as “Wicked,” “Dune 2,” “Gladiator 2” and “Venom 3.”
Without resorting to splashy special effects, a massive cast or a famed IP, “The Boy With Pink Pants” struck an emotional chord across the country and became a cultural phenomenon. Traditionally, European movies that reach that level of mainstream popularity are either comedies or family-friendly animated fare. “The Boy With Pink Pants,” however, is a drama exploring the real story behind Italy’s first publicized case of online bullying that led to the suicide of a minor.
Rising Italian actor Samuele Carrino stars as Andrea Spezzacatena, who took his life in 2012 at the age of 15. His mother, Teresa Manes, who is played by acclaimed Italian actor Claudia Pandolfi (“Siccità”), has since become an advocate for anti-bullying initiative. She was involved in the development and production of the movie whose script, penned by Roberto Proia, is loosely based on the book she wrote about her son’s experience.
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Touching on teenage angst, bullying and rampant homophobia at a Rome-set high school, the movie follows Andrea, a bright and preppy adolescent with straight A’s and a talent for singing, who enrolls in a new school and struggles to cope with his parents’ divorce while trying to make friends.
Longing to fit in, Andrea attempts by every mean to impress a handsome and popular classmate, Christian (Andrea Arru), with whom he eventually forms an ambiguous bond that turns out to be treacherous. A laundry incident that causes his red pants to become pink becomes the catalyst for the school bullying to intensify and the creation of a Facebook page filled with mockery and homophobic insults which he’ll discover soon before killing himself. The movie, narrated by Andrea, manages to have an uplifting dimension even though it tackles dark topics.
“We wanted the film to celebrate life,” Ben Ammar tells Variety. Eagle initially released the movie on 380 screens and increased to 550 screens on the following week after receiving calls from enthused exhibitors. “We quickly realized something special was happening and we increased our release plans. We’ve had it on as many screens as ‘Gladiator 2.”
“Teenagers and families have showed up in hordes to witness the story of Andrea and the repeated business has been insane as teens have seen it already four or five times,” he says.
The movie world premiered at the Rome Film Festival and Manes, along with Pandolfi and the filmmaker, Ferri, have played a crucial role in highlighting the film in mainstream media, talking to younger audiences and raising awareness on school and online bullying at public screenings across Italy. Ben Ammar says social media has also contributed to boosting the profile of the movie which has become a viral sensation.
“The film is so emotionally involving, featuring a finale so heartfelt that teens have independently started a challenge on TikTok where they make a ‘before/after the screening’ video. Needless to say it went viral and still is,” says the producer-distributor, adding that “The Boy With Pink Pants” will play until the end of May through schools screenings.
Pandolfi has been so moved by the impact that the film has had in Italy and all the messages that she received that she posted to a tearful video on her Instagram account on Nov. 10.
Ben Ammar, whose banner Eagle Pictures has ranked as Italy’s top independent distribution company through deals with U.S. studios, pointed out “The Boy With Pink Pants” has not only beat Hollywood movies but also strong Italian competitors like Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope.” It’s also doubled the box office score of Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama “Io Capitano” which represented Italy in the Oscar race and was nominated for best international feature film.
Bolstered by the performance of “The Boy With Pink Pants,” Eagle currently ranks as the year’s best independent distributor in Italy. Overall, it’s second to Disney and before Warner and Universal.
“The success of ‘The Boy With Pink Pants’ makes us so happy because it contributes to changing society. We may have saved one or more teenage lives because adolescents realize how important it is to ask for help and report harassement, but also to have empathy towards others,” he says. “If you only knew the emotions in theaters of young teenagers coming up to us, to the actor, and hugging him in tears, and Andrea’s mother, Teresa, is there consoling them. It’s heartening,” says Ben Ammar, who revealed that he just hired Andrea’s younger brother, who is now 21, to work at Eagle.
Ben Ammar has been so inspired by the success of the film that he says he wants to launch a division at Eagle to produce and distribute movie skewing young audiences.
“People think that young people are only interested in TikTok and Netflix, but we’re seen that it’s not true, when there’s a film that speaks to them they run to theaters,” he says, citing the recent successes of Gilles Lellouche’s romance “L’Amour Ouf” (“Beating Hearts”) and “A Little Something Extra,” a social comedy featuring protagonists with disabilities which is this year’s unexpected box office champion in France. Eagle has acquired Italian remake rights to “A Little Something Extra.”
“The Boy With Pink Pants” also stars Sara Ciocca, who plays Andrea’s best friend, and Corrado Fortuna (“My Name is Tanino”) who stars as his father.
