How many admissions did German feature films have abroad last year? Which countries had the most German theatrical releases and where were the strongest markets? And which films were particularly well received?
German Films undertook a comprehensive analysis of the box office and admission figures for 2016:
• German films posted a total of 405m Euros international* box office in 2016.
• They were seen by around 62.3 million cinema-goers.
The survey covered 84 countries. Countries taken into consideration in the distribution results of Rentrak: Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curacao, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain & Ireland, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iraq, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Libanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, USA, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam
Results for films with majority German production share:
• In 2016, 130 films with a majority German share were released in international cinemas.
• They were seen by around 13.5 million cinema-goers and generated box office of around 89m Euros.
• In Germany, majority German films had around 27m cinema-goers in 2016, meaning that, outside of Germany, they reached around 50 % of the admission figures in Germany.
• If one then also takes into account that majority German films are additionally exploited abroad in other formats (VoD, SVoD, DVD/Blu-ray, pay TV and free TV), they will have been seen by approx. 80 to 100 million cinema-goers abroad.
• Eleven films were theatrically released in more than 10 territories in 2016, with five of these in more than 15 territories.
Top-selling markets for majority German films in 2016
• The
European market had a 52.5 % share of the overall international box office in 2016 – as in previous years, this is the most important market for majority German feature films.
• The top-selling territories in 2016 for majority German films were (excluding Austria and Switzerland): France (21m U$), Italy (6m U$), UK & Ireland (3.2m U$) and Sweden (2m U$).
Followed by the USA & Canada and Russia with 1.3m U$ box office apiece.
• Mention should also be made of Japan outside of the surveyed key territories, with a box office of around 22 million $US, although 21 million were generated by RESIDENT EVIL which was released in the cinemas there at the end of 2016.
The most theatrical releases for majority German films in 2016*
• The most theatrical releases for majority German films (excluding Austria and Switzerland) were in Spain (26), followed by France as well as the USA & Canada with 15 apiece.
The highest market shares for majority German films in 2016*
• Majority German films had their highest market shares in the key territories in France (1.36 %), Denmark (1.09 %) and Sweden (0.88 %).
• The largest increase in box office year-on-year - between 2016 and 2015 - was to be found in Denmark (+540 %) and Sweden (+250 %), followed by Italy (+ 60 %).
*15 Key Territories were analysed: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK & Ireland, USA & Canada.
Analysis of the strongest Key Territories
• In
France, the 1.36 % market share for majority German films was the highest value reached since records began in 2000. TONI ERDMANN posted very strong figures with 336,000 admissions.
• Along with France,
Italy was the top-selling territory (outside of Switzerland and Germany) for the family entertainment film HEIDI with 2.97m Euros and around 500,000 admissions. It was therefore the most successful majority German film there during 2016, with the horror thriller UNFRIEND and LABYRINTH OF LIES both attracting over 100,000 cinema-goers to the Italian cinemas.
• The English-language feature film A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING by Tom Tykwer with Tom Hanks in the lead was the most successful majority German production in the
USA during 2016 with a box office of over 3.7m Euros. TONI ERDMANN had only opened on 25 December 2016, but posted a box office of around 1.4m Euros by 31 March 2017.
• The horror thriller FRIEND REQUEST by Simon Verhoeven reported the best result for a majority German film in the
UK & Ireland with a very good box office of 1.8m Euros. FRIEND REQUEST also had the highest admission figures - 101,200 - reached by any of the German films released in Malaysia during 2016. In addition to its releases in Malaysia and Singapore, the film also screened in Thailand where it reported a good result of 48,703 Euros from 70 prints on its opening weekend.
•
German genre cinema was in demand in Russia: the most popular majority German films in 2016 were A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING (362,000 Euros), FRIEND REQUEST (263,000 Euros) and FACK JU GOEHTE 2 (237,000 Euros).
Australia
•
Historical subjects are popular in Australia: the top-selling German film in 2016 was LABYRINTH OF LIES (118,000 Euros). However, if one then considers the distribution of PHOENIX (release date: 03.12.2015), this film reported an even better result with a total box office of 464,000 Euros (as of 31 December 2016).
Conclusion: What was well received?
Foreign audiences are interested in a wide range of German films. German animated films and family entertainment formats were well received, but the same goes for genre films, arthouse as well as English-language produced films from Germany and films based on German history.
source: German Films
image: TONI ERDMANN poster
