Reuters reports that Roberto Benigni's US$36 million political/romantic comedy La Tigre e la neve / The Tiger and the Snow, will probably have the biggest opening weekend ever in Italy – in terms of number of prints. It is estimated that the film will open in nearly 1,000 theaters, beating previous record holdersThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (738 prints) and Troy (703 prints). "Benigni is more important to the Italian market than even U.S. films, he is a hit, a blockbuster," explains Giancarlo Leone, head of the state-owned production company RAI Cinema, which will handle the domestic distribution of La Tigre e la neve through its 01 Distribution arm.
The Italian "blockbuster," however, failed to impress local critics, who gave Benigni's latest opus only lukewarm reviews.
In La Tigre e la neve, Benigni plays a poetry teacher who, disillusioned in love, sets out to Baghdad right before the beginning of the Iraq War. According to the actor-director, "there are wars that I find justifiable. For instance, I'm happy that we've defeated Hitler and Napoleon. This war is different." As quoted in Quotidiano Nazionale.