Film Lack of US blockbusters caused admissions to cinemas to fall in 2025
Swiss and Liechtenstein cinemas and open-air cinemas recorded 9.85 million admissions in 2025, around 7.5 percent fewer than in the previous year. The Swiss production "Heldin" made it into the top ten most successful films.
16.01.2026, 10:03
16.01.2026, 10:04
SDA
With the exception of the coronavirus years, admission figures are the lowest since 2016, according to the "provisional" figures published on Friday by Pro Cinema, the Swiss Association for Cinema and Film Distribution. In 2016, cinemas had still registered 13.7 million admissions. The 9.85 million admissions in 2025 generated box office takings of around CHF 161 million.
The decline is attributed to the thinning out of US mainstream films. Fewer of these blockbusters were released in cinemas, mainly due to the Hollywood strikes. Just how important these are for the statistics can be seen in the film hit parade, where "Avatar: Fire an Ash", for example, was already able to take a top position with around 314,000 admissions in the short period from December 17 to the end of the year.
Sharp decline in French-speaking Switzerland
In the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the decline in admissions was significantly greater, with a drop of 15.6%, than in German-speaking Switzerland, where a fall of 3.1% was recorded. The Italian-speaking part of Switzerland was in between with a drop of 10.7%.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the lack of popular French-language films had a negative impact. In German-speaking Switzerland, on the other hand, German-language films such as "Heldin", "Hallo Betty" and "Das Kanu des Manitu" ensured good admission figures.
In the major cities of German-speaking Switzerland, the box office figures closed on a positive note with a slight increase of 0.5%. The number of cinemas remained stable.
According to the press release, Swiss film had a good year. With almost 985,000 admissions and a market share of 9.2 percent, it was 2.1 percent more successful than in the previous year. The top film was "Heldin" with 204,700 admissions, putting it in 9th place in the annual rankings.
According to the statistics, the overall list was topped by "Lilo & Stich (Live Action)" with 349,600 admissions, followed by "Zootopia 2" with 347,800 and "Avatar: Fire and Ash" with 314,000 admissions.
