People in Germany still go to the cinema less often than before the pandemic.

"The cinemas are doing better, but still not well," said Peter Dinges, director of the Federal Film Board (FFA).

According to him, almost 70 million tickets have been sold so far this year.

"Normally, over 100 million people would have gone to the cinema at this point." Compared to a normal year, this is still a clear minus.

“We are not where we should be.

But there is a better way.”

The industry is now also banking on the new "Avatar" film "The Way of Water", which opened in mid-December.

"Anyone who looks at the numbers for the weekend after the launch of Avatar will certainly agree with me when we find that people want to go back to the cinema.

1.1 million visitors on the first weekend!” Dinges told the German Press Agency in Berlin.

"That's a house number.

And that at a time when the soccer World Cup final was taking place, people were more concerned about their energy bills and, by the way, many are still afraid of contagion.”

Possible reasons for missing visitors

In Dinges' assessment, some are still holding back because of the pandemic, especially older audiences.

"Other reasons are that one or the other at the end of the month the money is not that available anymore," he said.

"If I then have to buy an expensive 3D ticket for Avatar, I'll think about it."

Not only the audience, but also the cinema operators notice the higher costs.

When asked whether one could observe whether ticket prices had already risen, Dinges replied: "We have to be careful with the statements here.

It is common sense that the high energy costs that cinemas undoubtedly have are reflected in some way in the ticket.” Even before “Avatar” they arrived at an average ticket price of over nine euros.

New opportunity for 3D technology?

The film promotion agency will publish the final cinema numbers for 2022 in the new year.

The statistics often provide interesting insights, such as how many tickets were for 3D films.

When the first "Avatar" movie was released in 2009, the 3D technology was quite a sensation.

However, it did not become widespread afterwards.

Many would even have already declared 3D technology dead, said Dinges.

Now come "Avatar" and bring them back to life.

"'Avatar: The Way of Water' isn't the only new film that's been filmed.

The third part is actually already prepared and finished.

And there are more parts to come.”