The Italian box office is up year-on-year with admissions registering a 15.9% increase and $127m (€94.5m) box office rising 23.3% year on year with 2009. The figures were released in Rome today during the annual exhibitors convention and cover January 1- November 21.

For the period, overall box office came to $852m (€630m) with US films dominating with a 60.7% share of admissions and 63.81% of the overall box office take for $543m (€402.6m).

The Italian portion (including co-productions) of the box office is healthy this year, registering 29.61% of the total admissions for $228m (€169.6m) or 26.89% of the overall box office.

Without co-productions, the Italian quotient is still healthy and registered 27.08% of admissions and 24.73% of the box office for $138m (€102.6m).

The figures were released in advance of the annual “professional days” industry event held in Sorrentino from November 29-December 2 in which exhibitors consign the “golden ticket” to the highest grossing films of the year as well as to other categories.

This edition is being dedicated to Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian producer who died earlier this month leaving behind a legacy of more than 500 films.

This year’s top titles according to Cinetel for Jan 1-Nov 21, 2010:

Avatar - 20th Century Fox - €65.67m

Benvenuti Al Sud - Medusa - €28.5m

Alice In Wonderland - Walt Disney Italia - €30.4m

Shrek Forever After - Universal - €17m

Io, Loro E Lara - Warner Bros Italia - €15.8m

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - Eagle Pictures - €15.8m

Maschi Contro Feminine - 01 Distribution - €12.5m

Sherlock Holmes - Warner Bros Italia - €12.4m

Robin Hood - Universal - €11.1m

Toy Story 3 - Walt Disney Italia - €13.6m