We had a significant increase in 2025 compared to 2024, and so far this year we are around 20 percent above the previous year’s figures. The occupancy rate is 75 percent. A pre-evening performance is about to begin, “Extrawurst” with Hape Kerkeling. The film has been running for several weeks now, but the hall is still almost full again. And the main performance tonight is almost sold out.
Do you have an arthouse cinema with just one hall – and are you making a profit?
Yes. I am a cineaste, cinema is my passion. But I don’t have a lot of wealth with which I could afford this as a hobby and a permanent subsidy business. With the income I can pay a full-time employee and three part-time employees. I will also pay off the loan that I took out in 2022 – in addition to my own funds and state funding – to invest in the “Filmbühne”.
At that time, Corona rules still applied, and for many people the cinema seemed doomed. Where did you get the courage from?
I wasn’t afraid of the Corona aftermath. In the first few months, some visitors came with masks, others without. But they came. Even then, I had such a great longing to meet other people again and experience community that I had no doubt that many others would feel the same way. Maybe I was just so busy in the tunnel before the opening that I didn’t think about the risks. There was also a stroke of luck: our first film was the Elvis Presley biography, which had just come out at the time. A sure-fire success in Bad Nauheim, where Elvis once lived as a US soldier.
Apart from this special case, how do you explain its success?
The only cinema in town had gone bankrupt a few years earlier. It was a typical general store, typical for a movie theater of this size. Everything was on there: the big Marvel titles, then something German, a film in the original sound, with Bibi Blocksberg in between. It was clear to me: This is no longer how cinema works in a city with 34,000 inhabitants. In order to stand out from the multiplex cinemas in the big city, I have to choose my films very carefully. Hollywood blockbusters would only dilute the program. I prefer to show an opera or ballet performance every now and then.
They not only changed the program, but also rebuilt it.
Everything that had previously bothered me as a moviegoer had to go. I canceled the movie posters that the distribution companies showered me with, but which often mean little to the audience; Instead, there are screens in front of the door on which I show excerpts from the films and accompanying texts. I also removed the two front rows of seats in the cinema because the view of the screen from there was simply too bad, and increased the distances between the other rows so that no one had to climb over their neighbors on the way to the toilet. And the big popcorn machine at the counter had to go too.
What do you have against popcorn?
It starts with the fact that the whole cinema smells like it. It is also over-sweetened and comes in disposable packages. And then the rustling and cracking in the cinema also destroys the moment of greatest attention that actors can achieve on the screen, namely the pause between words.
Instead, you’ll have mango balls, roasted cashews and chocolate-coated peanuts to nibble on – out of glasses so there’s no rustling. You’ll definitely earn more from this than from plain popcorn.
On the contrary. Nothing beats popcorn when it comes to margin! Everything for me is organic, including the wine, which isn’t cheap to buy. I’ll then resell it for about twice the price. Overall, I earn significantly less on snacks and drinks than the large cinema centers calculate for popcorn, nachos, sweet soda and combination menus.
How big is the margin on tickets?
A good 40 percent goes to the rental companies, and something also remains with the provider of the online booking system. The top distributors even charge more for the big films. But what bothers me even more is that there are strict requirements as to how often these films have to be shown in the first few weeks. I only have one hall here and often can hardly show anything else. Committing yourself to this is a bit like speculating on the stock market but only being able to bet on a single stock. That’s why I only do this if a film suits my audience one hundred percent.
What’s particularly worth it for you if it’s neither the snacks nor the tickets?
I rent out the cinema hall for events, for example to companies or for family celebrations. This causes me almost no additional costs, ideally I also sell drinks.
Do you rent to anyone who will pay?
No, I say no to a lot of people. Only those who share my values come in here. I don’t show 30 minutes of advertising for anything before the performances. Advertising here only promotes charity, democracy and environmental protection. There are also one or two selected trailers that match the following film. Everything that happens here has to fit this place. That’s why I guard the cinema like the apple of my eye. Otherwise this pointed positioning won’t work. It will backfire if you do something stupid in order to earn 5,000 euros more.
How much do rentals, bar and ticket sales each bring in?
This can easily be estimated for 2025. I sold almost 30,000 tickets, which makes around 300,000 euros. Let’s say that on average everyone spends 3.50 euros at the counter, making around 100,000 euros. In addition, around 20,000 euros came from the rental.
How much more expensive have tickets become since 2022?
Prices in the cinema don’t rise as quickly as in the ice cream parlor. I started with ten euros, now it’s twelve euros. I regularly ask customers whether this is too expensive for them. Most people tell me that they find it comparatively cheap.
There is also a monthly subscription to Netflix for around the same money, with which you can play the home cinema every evening.
I subscribe to all sorts of streaming services myself. But I don’t see any competition with cinema in this because, in my eyes, they are two different products. I’m not selling films, I’m selling an occasion. I want my customers to take away a feeling that they can talk about afterwards: that it was a nice evening in which they perhaps met two people they knew by chance; that in the hall there are small tables with lamps on them, like in a variety show; that they had a great chat after the film. And then there is the special cinema experience – the moment in which 90 people in a dark room, some of whom are complete strangers, laugh at the same thing. To get there with a Netflix subscription, you need a very large living room.
In many cinemas, cell phones are a nuisance. How often do you talk on the phone during the performance or watch something else at the same time?
We have very polite guests. There are hardly any problems with the second screen that you mention here. However, cell phones are often used before and after the performance to take photos of the facility.
How young or old are the cinema-goers in Bad Nauheim on average?
The majority are 45 years or older. The younger ones haven’t been so easy to reach so far, maybe they don’t know the cinema that well from before. But we are working on it. For this I want to use the stage that I had installed in front of the screen. There will be stand-up comedy evenings there – hopefully with many younger guests who will then come back for a movie night once they get to know the place.
Which films are playing particularly well in your cinema – and which are not?
That’s easy to answer. German productions usually do very well, and bestseller films do extremely well. What’s not doing so well, however, are American productions.
Do tearjerkers attract more attention than action films, and dramas more than comedies?
In the first two years, the films that I thought were good enough for my cinema were almost all dramas. But now there are a few really good comedies, even from German production, that are very well received. I’m really happy about that. There has already been talk of the “extra sausage”, and “Oh, this gap” is currently one of them. A film with a great cast, with depth and humor. My feeling is: people are thirsting for comedies.
Do the Oscar winners, who will be announced on Monday night, attract a particularly large audience?
Not necessarily. Personally, I really liked the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” two years ago. That’s why I showed it here as early as possible. But it was a flop with the audience. Then he won seven Oscars and I immediately brought him back into the program. Another flop.
Nevertheless, there is a large replica of an Oscar statue at the entrance.
And a red carpet leads past it. But not because I expect so many prominent actors and directors to be with us. The red carpet is rolled out for all moviegoers. Because here they should be able to feel like stars.
