Avatar The Way Of Water

Source: Disney

‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

Box-office takings of €229.9m for German cinemas in the first quarter of 2023 were only 1.9% below the same period for the first quarter of 2019, according to provisional figures collated by Comscore. 

The first quarter’s takings represented a 72.9% year-on-year increase on the first three months of 2022 when restrictions on seating capacity in cinemas still held sway in many parts of Germany.

Disney’s Avatar - The Way Of Water was the first quarter’s most successful film, grossing €65.4m and garnering 4.7m admissions - bringing the film’s cumulative takings and admissions to €137.5m and 10.1m respectively - followed in second place by Universal’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (€11.5m/1.4m admissions).

The third spot was taken by the year’s most successful local German film to date - Die Drei ??? - Erbe des Drachen - which was released by Sony Pictures at the end of January, posting €10.6m from 1.4m tickets.

James Cameron’s blockbuster’s continuing domination of box office charts in the first three months of 2023 resulted in Disney clinching an outstanding 36% market share of overall box office takings for the period and a 28.3% share of the admissions.

The second most successful distributor - Warner Bros. - only mustered a third of Disney’s market share (12%) with Creed III: Rocky’s Legacy being its most successful release, and was followed in the rankings by Universal, Leonine and Sony.

German films’ market share in the first quarter was 21.6% - up from 15.4% posted for the same period in 2022 - with three releases attracting almost 50% of the € 49,7m takings and 6m admissions between themselves.

The € 10.6m for the family film Die Drei ??? - Erbe Des Drachen was joined by Constantin Film’s Berlinale Special title Sun And Concrete (€ 8.9m), and Til Schweiger’s latest comedy Manta Manta - Zwoter Teil.