THE GERMAN FILM SCENE 2016 An Overview CONTENTS 1. GERMAN FILMS ON THE HOME MARKET ............................................................ 2 2. GERMAN FILMS ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET .......................................... 3 3. GERMAN FILMS ON THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT ....................................................... 3 4. GERMAN FILMS BY THE NUMBERS .................................................................... 4 5. THE GERMAN FILM SCENE - PRODUCTION ........................................................ 5 6. THE GERMAN FILM SCENE – DISTRIBUTION ...................................................... 8 7. THE GERMAN FILM SCENE - FOREIGN SALES .................................................. 9 8. THE GERMAN FILM SCENE - USEFUL CONTACTS ........................................... 10 The German Film Scene 2016 1 1. GERMAN FILMS ON THE HOME MARKET 1.1 German audiences reaffirmed their support for cinema in general and local films in particular in 2016. The number of tickets sold overall was, at 121,1 million (according to the German Federal Film Board, FFA). Of those tickets, 27.7 million were bought to see German films. Finally, domestic titles garnered a 22.7% market share. 1.2 Laughter and a certain degree of familiarity seemed to be what appealed to local audiences, with most of the top 8 German films being comedies and family entertainment. At the same time, German Oscar contender TONI ERDMANN is among the most successful German films at the box office in Germany as well (835,000 admissions since release date up till March 2017). 1.3 Simon Verhoeven’s WELCOME TO GERMANY was the biggest German hit at the box office, followed by BIBI & TINA – MÄDCHEN GEGEN JUNGS. TABLE 1: TOP 10 GERMAN FILMS AT THE GERMAN BOX OFFICE, 2016 TITLE ADMISSIONS 1. WILLKOMMEN BEI DEN HARTMANNS 3,079,425 2 BIBI & TINA – MÄDCHEN GEGEN JUNGS 1,994,248 3 DER GEILSTE TAG 1,734,683 4 ICH BIN DANN MAL WEG 1,386,852 5 HEIDI 1,176,552 6 TONI ERDMANN 775,604 7 SMS FÜR DICH 738,601 8 TSCHICK 715,766 Source: FFA, EDI 1.4 The year’s top German film sold enough tickets to earn a place in the overall Top 10, WILLKOMMEN BEI DEN HARTMANNS (WELCOME TO GERMANY) is Nr. 7 among the 10 most successful films in the German cinemas 2016. TABLE 2: TOP 10 FILMS AT THE GERMAN BOX OFFICE, 2016 TITLE ADMISSIONS 1 ZOOMANIA 3,831,921 2 PETS 3,816,088 3 FINDET DORIE 3,789,985 4 STARWARS, DAS ERWACHEN DER NACHT 3,397,099 5 ROGUE ONE: A STARWARS STORY 3,362,768 6 PHANTASTISCHE TIERWELTEN 3,146,764 7 WILLKOMMEN BEI DEN HARTMANNS 3,079,425 8 ICE AGE – KOLLISION VORAUS 2,913,737 9 THE REVENANT 2,826,169 10 DEADPOOL 2,711,055 Source: FFA, EDI The German Film Scene 2016 2 2. GERMAN FILMS ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET German films continue to make their way onto the international market. For European films released around the world, Germany continues to be the third most successful exporter, some way behind the UK and France but well ahead of Italy and Spain. Best markets for German films are France as well as Spain, Italy, Brazil and Mexico. Family entertainment (including animation films) are a strong part of the German market share. TABLE 3: TOP 10 GERMAN FILMS INTERNATIONALLY, 2016 TITLE TERRITORIES BOX OFFICE 1 DIE BIENE MAJA – DER KINOFILM** 49 20,024,886 2 DER 7TE ZWERG** 42 12,508,035 3 HEIDI 25 9.058,718 4 PHOENIX** 28 6,153,430 5 TONI ERDMANN 21 5,359,835 6 IM LABYRINTH DES SCHWEIGENS** 25 4,959,629 7 PINOCCHIO 11 4,313,256 8 UNFRIEND 12 4,186,088 9 CITIZENFOUR** 22 3,902,285 10 ER IST WIEDER DA 10 3,477,960 Box Office in Euros, excluding Germany/Austria/Switzerland ** Release dates partly 2015 Source: Split Screen Data. Territories: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea (South), Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK, US. TONI ERDMANN was celebrated at its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and proved to be not only a festival but also a box office hit worldwide. It was released in the US just before Christmas and achieved over 1,300,000 USD Box Office until today. The 3 German films at the top of the international box office are all family entertainment and/or animation films, which shows the high professionality and international appeal of Germany’s family entertainment sector. In Italy (32) and Spain (28) the largest number of German majority films were released in 2016. Turkey (19), Sweden (16), France (13), UK (10) and Mexico (9) following closely. 3. GERMAN FILMS ON THE (INTERNATIONAL) FESTIVAL CIRCUIT 3.1 The year got off to a good start with the German film WILD by Nicolette Krebitz in competition in Sundance. 24 WEEKS by Anne Zhora Berrached could be seen in competition in Berlin, in Cannes Maren Ade’s competition entry TONI ERDMANN mesmerized the audience, in Karlovy Vary ORIGINAL BLISS by Sven Taddicken was invited to the competiton, in Moscow THE CENTER OF MY WORLD by Jacob Erwa was the German competition entry. in Locarno THE DREAMED PATH by Angela Schanelec and MARIJA by Michael Koch could be seen in competition and PAULA by Christian The German Film Scene 2016 3 Schwochow and VOR DER MORGENRÖTE by Maria Schrader on the Piazza Grande. Chris Krauss’ THE BLOOMS OF YESTERDAY won the main award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. 3.2 Documentary films were strong 2016. GAZA SURF CLUB by Philip Gnadt & Mickey Yamine surfs around the world (and started in Toronto), Corinna Belz’ film on Peter Handke (I’M IN THE WOODS, COULD BE LATE) was presented in Locarno, SONITA was presented in Sundance and TRANSIT HAVANA premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. 3.3 Short films were successful at many festivals, most prominently know was ALLES WIRD GUT (EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY) by Patrick Vollrath, which premiered in Cannes 2015 and received the Student Oscar in July 2016. 4. GERMAN FILMS BY THE NUMBERS 4.1 The following tables provide a snapshot of the three key sectors of the German film industry over the past five years: production, exhibition and distribution, with Table 6 including the international context. TABLE 4: PRODUCTION* - GERMAN FILMS IN GERMANY 2011-2015 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Fiction features 132 149 150 143 147 161 Documentary features 80 71 73 86 79 83 Total German films 212 220 223 229 226 244 - of which co-productions 80 82 88 82 89 97 *based on number of films released Source: FFA TABLE 5: EXHIBITION - BASIC GERMAN CINEMA STATISTICS 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Screens 4640 4617 4610 4637 4692 4739 Admissions (millions) 129.6 135.1 129.7 121.7 139.2 121.1 Admissions German films 27.9 24.0 33.6 32.1 37.1 27.7 Box office (EUR millions) 958.1 1033.0 1023.0 979.7 1167.1 1023.0 Average ticket price (EUR) 7.39 7.65 7.89 8.05 8.39 8.45 German films market share* 21.8% 18.1% 26.2% 26.7% 27.5% 22.7 *calculated on the basis of admissions Source: FFA The German Film Scene 2016 4 TABLE 6: DISTRIBUTION – MAJORITY GERMAN FILMS RELEASED IN KEY TERRITORIES 2016 2016 Argentina 7 Australia 8 Brazil 8 France 13 Italy 34 Japan 3 Korea (South) 8 Mexico 9 Netherlands 5 Poland 0 Spain 28 Sweden 16 Turkey 19 UK 14 US 8 Source: Rentrak 5. THE GERMAN FILM SCENE - PRODUCTION 5.1 According to figures released by the German Federal Film Board (FFA), which are based on films premiering in one or more German cinemas, Germany produced an average of 222 films a year between 2011 and 2015 (2016: 244) German films and co-productions were released in the cinema. 5.2 German films vary in budget size from $100-million-plus titles like the English-language co- production CLOUD ATLAS, whose cast was headed by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry, to micro-budget documentaries made for EUR 100,000 or less. Most, however, have budgets of between EUR 1 and 3 million. And almost all receive some kind of public money. 5.3 Germany is a very decentralised country – a legacy both of its long-term history and of its more recent divided past – and the film business reflects this. The country is a federal republic made up of 16 Länder – or Regions – most of which offer some kind of filmmaking support. 5.4 The larger funding bodies are based in Düsseldorf (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Munich (Bavaria), Berlin (Berlin-Brandenburg) and Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg), with three other significant organisations pooling the resources of several regions: Filmförderung Hamburg-Schleswig Holstein, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (in Leipzig, bringing together Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen) and Nordmedia (in Hanover, combining Niedersachsen and Bremen). HessenFilm und Medien in Frankfurt, restructured in 2015, also offers production support with a more limited budget. The German Film Scene 2016 5 TABLE 7: REGIONAL FILM FUNDS IN 2016 FUND ANNUAL BUDGET FOR PRODUCTION FUNDING EFFEKT* (EUR MILLIONS, FEATURE LENGTH FILMS) MFG Baden-Württemberg (total budget 14.95 Mio.) 9.68 120% FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (total budget 36,64 Mio) 28.18 150% Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (31.76 Mio) 19.26 150% Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (13.89 Mio) 11.08 150% HessenFilm und Medien (5.77 Mio) 4.77 100% Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (15.73 Mio.) 8.33 100% Nordmedia (9.64 Mio.) 7.32 125% Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (31.15 Mio.) 25.15 150% * The percentage of any grant that must be spent in the region Source: FFA, Individual Fund websites 5.5 All of these bodies aim to provide both cultural support and economic stimulus.