“Local German productions can now be seen worldwide, that’s what I really like.”
For decades, national film industries were largely defined by their domestic audiences. But that dynamic is starting to shift. With the rise of streaming platforms and international co-productions, films are no longer only confined to the countries they’re made in. This change can be seen while looking at the German film scene.
Deutsche Filmakademie
In 2025, German films reached 33 million viewers worldwide, generating nearly €250 million at the international box office. This more than doubled their 2024 revenues and signals a sharp rise in global visibility. However, at home German productions account for approximately only 19.5 percent of the market. With children films playing a significant role. This raises an important question: if German films are thriving internationally, why is their success at home still uneven?
Jule Bartram is the head of strategy and communication at the Deutsche Filmakademie and has noticed this change. Bartram has
worked there for 15 years and has seen many shifts in the German film scene. “This scene has seen many different phases in the last few years,” she explains. In recent years, increased funding and the rise of streaming platforms led to a surge in production, with more projects being developed than the industry could easily sustain. This was followed by a slowdown, as other European countries introduced more attractive funding systems, drawing productions away from Germany. Now, the industry appears to be stabilizing again, supported by restructured funding and new
Jule Bartram
investment models. At the same time, Bartram notes that international co-productions and streaming services have made German films more visible abroad, as audiences have become more open to foreign-language content and films are distributed more widely than before.
Yet this international openness is not fully mirrored within Germany itself.
Wulf Sörgel, one of the directors of Moviemento, Berlins oldest cinema, offers a grounded perspective directly from the cinema floor. From his perspective, the domestic performance of German films remains inconsistent. “It depends a lot on the type of film and its audience,” he notes. While some productions succeed, American films still dominate most German cinemas.
However, looking at last year’s most-visited films in Moviemento, Sörgel observes a strong presence of German productions, with both the first and second highest-ranking films being German. One of those films being a popular German children’s film. Sörgel explains that
Entry hall Moviemento
German films are generally less popular across the country, where American productions still dominate.
At Moviemento, however, this dynamic is different. Its Berlin arthouse-focused audience is more open to local films, which helps German productions perform well there, compared to bigger Hollywood productions. This suggests that success at home is not just about the films themselves, but about where and to whom they are shown. Outside of such niches, German films often struggle to compete with large-scale international releases.
Berlin plays a central role in these developments within the German film industry. According to Bartram, the city has re-emerged
as a key hub for filmmaking, with a large share of industry professionals based there and a creative environment that continues to
Moviemento Berlin
attract talent. Its international character and diverse cultural landscape make it an appealing place for film production, reinforcing its importance within both the national and European film scene. At the same time, Sörgel’s experience at Moviemento highlights how Berlin’s cinema culture differs from the rest of the country. The city’s strong arthouse tradition and international audience create space for a wider range of films, including German productions that might struggle elsewhere.
In the end, the German film industry is in a bit of a mixed position. Its films are reaching more people around the world than ever before, but that success is not always reflected at home. Whether a film works in Germany still depends a lot on where it is shown and who is watching it.
