German films have secured a market share of 21.3% in the first nine months of 2008, according to figures collated by Nielsen EDI. This is almost 50% higher than 2007's 14.4% share and higher than 2006's record 20.3%.

That market share would be even higher - up to 25% - if statistics included the German-UK co-production Our Earth which has been seen by 3.7m cinema-goers with box-office takings of $ 30m (Euros 22m).

Between January and the end of September 19.9 m tickets were sold for German films, generating box-office revenues of $ 158.6m (Euros 116.6m).

2008 German releases passing the 1 million domestic admissions threshold cover a range of genres, pointing to the diversity of current German production output. They included: Dennis Gansel's drama The Wave; Joachim Masannek's fifth instalment in the teenager franchise; The Wild Soccer Bunch; Mike Marzuk's Summer; Neele Leana Vollmar's Cheeky Girls; and Doris Doerries' tragicomedy Cherry Blossoms - Hanami.

However December 2007 release Rabbit without Ears by Til Schweiger has been responsible for a quarter of all German film admissions in 2008. It is the most successful domestic film of the year with 4.7m admissions and total box office of $ 54.6m (Euros 40.2m).

Industry insiders suggest that the success of German releases in 2008 is due in no small part to the lack of sufficiently attractive US titles.

Meanwhile, Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex, released by Constantin Film on September 25, had taken over $ 10.9m (Euros 8m) and had been seen by over 1m German cinema-goers by its second weekend.

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