German cinemas registered 14% fewer admissions and a 15% drop in box-office takings in the third quarter of 2003, compared to the same period 12 months ago, according to figures collated by Nielsen EDI.

Cinemas reported Euros 159.8m in revenues and 28.4m tickets sold between June 30 and September 28, with Pirates Of The Caribbean emerging as the quarter's most successful release (Euros 27m/4.33m admissions) followed by Terminator 3 (Euros 17.5m/2.9m admissions) and American Pie 3 (Euros 15.5m/2.6m admissions).

German film's share of the box office stood at 8.6% (Euros 13.8m) in July, August and September, with a 9.2% share of admissions (2.6m). These figures were helped by the fourth outing in the Werner comic franchise, Werner - Gekotzt Wird Spaeter!, and the continuing success of Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin! (now over 6.3m admissions and in its 34th week of release),


This summer's heatwave has clearly had an impact on the overall figures for the box office and admissions for the first nine months of 2003: box office takings were down 10.9% from 2002's Euros 603.1m to Euros 537.4m and admissions down 11% from last year's102.7m to 91.4m.

So far, UIP is the market leader for box office and admissions, with market shares of 22% and 21.9% respectively, with Warner (18.3%/17%) and Buena Vista (15.3%/15.9%) hot on its heels.