11/02/2016 - The FFA has presented the very impressive German box-office results for 2015

With a market share of 27.5% in 2015, German films had their most successful year ever. Altogether, 37.1 million tickets were sold for German movies. Nine films were seen by more than one million cinemagoers: 7.7 million people went to see the comedy Suck Me Shakespeer 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Bora Dagtekin, while 6.2 million cinema attendees purchased a ticket for Til Schweiger’s tragicomedy Head Full of Honey [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2015.

But also in general, cinema attendance is clearly on the rise in Germany. While 121.7 million people in Germany visited the cinemas in 2014, the movie theatres welcomed 139.2 million viewers in 2015. The total box office at the German cinemas went up from €979.7 million to a new record high of €1.1671 billion. “An increase of 14.3% more cinemagoers and 19.1% more revenues mean a very good year for the cinema, while German film once again proved its impressive market position,” emphasises Peter Dinges, chairman of the FFA.

After seeing the huge success of German films, Bernd Neumann, president of the FFA, underlines, “The improvement in the quality of films is a constant challenge.” He therefore wishes to warn the federal state of Germany as well as the different regions against reducing film support. “The theatrical movie is both socially and content-wise an irreplaceable part of our culture,” says Neumann, who considers the current discussion about the cultural presence of German films as misguided. The quality of German films cannot be judged merely on the number of them featuring in the Berlinale competition, which is, after all, an international festival. Furthermore, the wide range of German films are also appreciated abroad, which is reflected by the various nominations, awards and honours they have racked up.

Another positive result of the annual report is that for the first time since 2005, there are more cinema screens in Germany. In 2015, the FFA registered 4,692 screens, which is an increase of 55. At the same time, the number of cinema sites increased by 18 to 1,648.