German cinemas have posted a strong start to the year with one of their strongest first quarter performances in five years, according to figures from Nielsen EDI.

German exhibitors reported overall takings of $280.1m (Euro 210.8m) for January 1 to March 22. The figures are down 5% on the same period in 2008, when takings reached $290.6m (Euro 218.7m), but beat the first quarter of 2007 ($220.6m, Euro 166m), 2006 ($241.3m, Euro 181.6m) and 2005 ($ 239.6m, Euro 180.3m).

The top film in the first quarter was Concorde Filmverleih's release of Twilight which has so far sold more than 2.4m tickets generating over $21.5m (Euro 16.2m) in takings. Thanks to this film and the its release of Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona ($ 5.4m/Euro 4.1m), the theatrical arm of Herbert Kloiber's Munich-based Tele München Group has become the leading German independent distributor in admissions (2.6m) and box office ($ 24.8m/Euro 18.7m) with respective market shares of 8.8% and 8.9%.

Nielsen EDI's statistics show that Warner Brothers took the largest slice of the box office with a share of 21.1%, followed by 20th Century Fox with a 13.6% share and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures taking a share of 9.3%.

Constantin Film, traditionally the leading German independent, registered 7.2% from releases including Vivian Naefe's Wild Chicks In Love (Die Wilden Hühner Und Das Leben) and stand-up comedian Mario Barth's film debut Männersache.

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