`Quantum of Solace` tops German box-office stats for 2008

2008 ended with a 3.5% year on year increase in box-office takings and a year on year increase of 1.57% admissions in German cinemas, according to figures collated by Nielsen EDI.

Screen Daily reports that German cinema-goers bought 123.6m tickets in the last 12 months, up 1.57% on 2007's 121.7m.

They generated box-office takings of $ 1.03bn (Euros 770m), an increase of 3.5% on the previous year's performance of $ 1bn (Euros 743.8m).

Sony's latest James Bond extravaganza Quantum Of Solace was the year's top earner at the box office with $ 42.5m (Euros 31.5m).

However UPI's Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which was only released on December 4, attracted the most admissions with 4.7m to December 31.

The third most successful release in 2008 was Til Schweiger's Rabbit Without Ears which opened in the cinemas shortly before Christmas 2007 and had already posted over $ 14.3m (Euros 10.6m) before the new year had even begun.

The romantic comedy starring producer-director-actor Schweiger with Nora Tschirner and Matthias Schweighöfer went on to amass another $ 37.8m (Euros 28m) during 2008 with total admissions of over 6.2m.

The long running success of Rabbit Without Ears contributed to the local market share rebound from 2007's 16.8% to 22.5%.

Other local successes in 2008, which contributed to the bigger market share, included Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex; Dennis Gansel's The Wave; Ute Wieland's Cheeky Girls, and Til Schweiger's latest comedy 1½ Knights - In The Search Of The Ravishing Princess Herzelinde.

According to Nielsen EDI, Universal Pictures International led the field of distributors with a 20.2% market share in box-office revenue and 20.8% share in admissions, thanks to the successes of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Mama Mia! The Movie.

UPI was followed by Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, while Constantin Film held on to its traditional position as the leading German independent player.

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