The 2018 box office numbers are here -- and they´re not good. In fact, quite bad, because only 105.4 million cinema tickets were sold in Germany, as few as in 1992. In 2017, 122.3 million cinema visits were counted; the decline is 13.9% in percentage terms. The good weather and the soccer World Cup are obvious as the main reasons, but the film offering itself remains the decisive factor in the end. Because they do exist, the sold out cinema screenings, as we can confirm ourselves: only with luck we were spared to see Yorgos Lanthimos -- 10 times Oscar nominated -- film The Favorite from the front row.
According to a report in the epd film magazine, the decline in the number of visitors to the cinemas is "only" about 8%, and some locations in this area are even expected to increase. One should therefore probably speak of a blockbuster crisis, which is primarily at the expense of multiplex cinema chains. The average age of cinema-goers is rising, the (artistically often moderately ambitious) superhero-Sequels/Prequels/Spin-offs, on the other hand, continue to address a rather younger and male audience, which apparently prefers to get media coverage at home.
And as recently reported, it´s apparently not true that streaming services are a big competitor to cinemas. According to a recent study, most Netflix&co. subscribers should go to 
even more frequently than non-subscribers. The main deterrent against going to the cinema is high admission prices.
What a daring idea: go to the cinema for 5 euros to see a film that hasn´t been produced for a three-digit million sum, but feels halfway fresh with an intelligent script, daring direction and fascinating (albeit unknown) actors. Count us in.
;)
