Rapid rise of cinema production for instant box office hits

In the realm of literature and screen adaptations, the German-speaking world has witnessed a significant shift over the past decade. This transformation is evident in the growing number of bestsellers being brought to life on the big screen, small screen, and streaming platforms.

Caroline Wahl's debut novel "22 Bahnen", published in 2023, is set to make its cinematic debut on September 4, 2025. Meanwhile, Helene Hegemann's controversial debut novel "Axolotl Roadkill", published in 2010, was adapted into the film "Axolotl Overkill" in 2017.

The time between a book's publication and its cinematic realization seems much shorter today compared to two decades ago. This is evident in the case of Timur Vermes' debut novel "Er ist wieder da", published in 2012, which was adapted into a film and released in 2015, attracting around 2.5 million cinema-goers.

Notably, the young adult novel "Save me", published in 2018, was released as a six-part series on Amazon's Prime Video in 2024, achieving the "largest global viewership of a non-American title".

Stephen King, a renowned author in the international literary scene, has also been a popular choice for adaptation. His works have been made into multiple films and miniseries such as "The Stand", "Lisey’s Story", "The Institute", and remakes like "Carrie" and "The Children of the Corn".

In the realm of television, "Babylon Berlin" is a prominent example. Based on Volker Kutscher's novel "Der nasse Fisch - Gereon Raths erster Fall", published in 2008, the series, which began in 2017, has been enthusiastically received in many countries and is currently in production for its final season, based on Volker Kutscher's novel "Märzgefallene" (2014).

The screen adaptations of German literature have become a genre of their own, with viewership on par with popular German films like those by Til Schweiger and Matthias Schweighöfer, or the "Fack ju Göhte" films.

In the literary world, Bernhard Schlink's novel "Der Vorleser" took about 14 years to be adapted into a film, while Patrick Süskind's novel "Das Parfum" took over 20 years to find its cinematic counterpart. Felix Lobrecht's novel "Sonne und Beton", published in 2017, took you through shattered families and aimless men in Berlin's Neukölln district, with 1.2 million cinema visits.

In contrast, Hape Kerkeling's autobiography "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft", published in October 2014, saw its film adaptation released in Christmas 2018, but attracted fewer viewers than readers (over five million). Similarly, Wolfgang Herrndorf's novel "Tschick", published in 2010 and sold around four million copies, saw its film adaptation attract fewer viewers than readers (over 900,000).

In other news, Hamm is currently grappling with a high unemployment rate and a large-scale internet outage. New postal voting documents for the election of the Integration Council have been announced in Hamm.

Lastly, Annette Hess' novel "Deutsches Haus" was published in 2018, and a Disney+ miniseries based on it is exceptionally well-made, exploring the legal and societal reckoning of the mass murder of Jews.