Not “Avatar 3”, but a surprising 1st place: these are the most anticipated cinema films by German viewers!

In early 2023, me and my colleagues Pascal and Sebastian talked about our screen love podcast our most anticipated movies of the year spoken. With “Scream VI”, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” or “John Wick: Chapter 4”, there were some titles that already received good reviews and had a very good start in the cinemas. Others like “Dune 2”, “Oppenheimer” or “Mission: Impossible 7” don’t start until later in the year. But what are the highly anticipated films of the German cinema audience?

According to the official figures from IVW for 2022, FILMSTARTS is the German-language site with the largest reach in the field of films and series with a community that includes numerous sworn film fans and occasional moviegoers. To find out which movies Germans look forward to the most, just look at our users’ reservations. Using the “Want to see” button on each movie page, they can mark their most anticipated movies. And the result is quite surprising:

The 10 most anticipated movies from FILMSTARTS users

1. “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny”
2. “Aquaman 2: Lost Kingdom”
3. “Avatars 3”
4. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3”
5. “Captain Marvel 2: The Marvels”
6. “Mission: Impossible 7 – Dead Reckoning Part One”
7. “Fast and Furious 10”
8. Avatar 5
9. “Arielle the Mermaid”
10. “The flash”

On the one hand you find yourself the new films from the great directors Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) and Dennis Villeneuve (“Dune 2”) namely only in the bottom places in the “I want to see” list and therefore do not appear at the top. And on the other hand, blockbusters like “Avatar 3”, “Fast & Furious 10” or the soon to be released “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” can be expected among the ten most anticipated movies. But especially the first two places are quite surprising at first sight.

Than with “Aquaman 2” a DC movie is way ahead of all Marvel movies at number 2 on the list – and a title that doesn’t even have a trailer or really much information. It is possible that the first “Aquaman”, which is after all the most successful DC movie of all time and attracted more than two million people to the cinemas in Germany, made more of an impression than many think.

Indiana Jones 5 at #1!

Even more surprising, however, is number 1 on the list: “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny”, which has by far (!) the most “I want to see” characters on FILMSTARTS.de. Apparently, despite the unloved “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and despite all the skepticism about Steven Spielberg not directing himself this time, the anticipation of the fifth Indy adventure weighs heavier.

One reason for this may be the long waiting time – Fans have been waiting for the sequel for over a decade. And just how much waiting can fuel anticipation was just proven by “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” which has become the third highest grossing movie of all time.

Will Indiana Jones 5 therefore also be the highest-grossing film of 2023? You can be skeptical about that, especially since the adventure begins in the very full cinema summer between “Transformers 7” and “The Flash” and “Mission: Impossible 7”, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” and must first assert itself. In any case, we are curious whether “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny” can live up to the apparently very high expectations…