In a year marked by the return of blockbuster cinema, the Czech Republic's film industry witnessed the showcasing of US imports and local successes, but also a slight downturn in cinema attendance compared to the previous year, with a total of 13.3 million tickets sold, according to the Czech Union of Film Distributors' year-end statistics. This represents a decrease of approximately 200,000 tickets, or about 1%, from 2022.

Despite this dip in attendance levels, the financial health of the Czech cinema industry saw an uptick, thanks to a significant rise in the average ticket price. With an increase of nearly 9% to 171 CZK (€6.85) per ticket, the total box-office revenue surged by more than 7% to reach 2.275 billion CZK (€88.725 million).

Unsurprisingly, the box office was dominated by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie topped the chart with 722,410 admissions, becoming the most-visited film in Czech cinemas for the year. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] secured the fourth spot, with 542,323 admissions. However, the highest-grossing film in the Czech market turned out to be Avatar: The Way of Water. This sequel to Avatar [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] not only dominated the Czech box office in 2022 (see the news), but also continued its reign in 2023, earning more than 146 million crowns (€5.694 million) of its staggering total of 299 million crowns (€11.661 million). This achievement marks it out as the highest-grossing film in the history of the Czech Republic.

Coming closest to disrupting the USA’s dominance in Czech theatres was ONEMANSHOW: The Movie, which emerged as a local favourite (see the news), grossing just over 100 million crowns (€3.927 million) and becoming only the second Czech film to surpass the 100-million-crown mark domestically. ONEMANSHOW: The Movie, co-directed by and starring local influencer Kamil Bartošek, was bolstered by strong PR and buzz marketing upon its launch; however, it failed to maintain this momentum over the following weeks. Other Czech films slotted in towards the bottom of the top ten, with only three additional titles surpassing the 250,000-viewer mark – a benchmark for a hit movie in the Czech market. Specifically, Rudolf Havlík’s comedy The Island [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] secured ninth place with 332,000 admissions, followed by Marta Ferencová’s Birthday Wishes in 11th place with 269,000 viewers, and Michal Samir’s Be the Man coming in 12th with 251,000 admissions.

Domestic fare is already attracting audiences to theatres in 2024, starting with the Czech-Slovak comedy We're Going to Team Building, directed by Zuzana Marianková. Despite its late premiere on 28 December 2023, the film quickly ascended to the top of the top-20 chart based on the weekend box office and reached pole position. After six weeks in cinemas, the film sold 211,590 admissions. However, the leading position has been snatched by Jiří Vejdělek's new film, the Czech-Slovak comedy The Last Aristocrat 2, for the third week in a row. Making a splash during its opening weekend, the film grossed nearly 13 million CZK (€507,000) and attracted over 75,000 viewers to cinemas across the country. This impressive debut propelled The Last Aristocrat 2 to the top of the weekly domestic chart. After three weeks, the film has grossed 32.4 million crowns (€1.264 million).