A fantasy film from 2002 has sneaked into the Netflix charts. At the time, the witch adventure was the biggest Harry Potter competition Germany had to offer.
The incredible success of Harry Potter not only inspired numerous Hollywood productions. In Germany, too, there have been repeated attempts over the years to follow on from the fantasy phenomenon – from The School of Magical Beasts to the eagerly awaited bestselling adaptation Woodwalkers.
The first German Harry Potter alternative was released in 2002. It was the live-action adaptation of one of the most famous radio play series of all: Bibi Blocksberg. Although the film was extremely successful at the time, the fantasy series never made it past part 2. The prelude is now celebrating a small revival on Netflix
German Harry Potter alternative: The Bibi Blocksberg film from 2002 conquers the streaming charts on Netflix
Bibi Blocksberg has been on Netflix’s streaming service for a few days now and has made it straight into the top 10 most popular films. This is probably due to a mixture of nostalgia and curiosity. Bibi Blocksberg is currently being rediscovered on Netflix. The film currently occupies 8th place in the Netflix charts
Here you can watch the trailer for Bibi Blocksberg:
The story tells of the 12-year-old young witch Bibi Blocksberg (Sidonie von Krosigk), who saves two children from a fire. For this heroic deed, she is to receive the witch’s orb, which is actually only intended for witches aged 15 and over. Villainess Rabia von Katzenstein (Corinna Harfouch) doesn’t like this at all.
In addition to newcomer Sidonie von Krosigk and Corinna Harfouch, the then six million euro production (via Cinema ) impressed with other big names: Katja Riemann, Ulrich Noethen and Monica Bleibtreu. Even Rufus Beck, the voice of the local Harry Potter audio books, was part of the film’s cast.
Bibi Blocksberg didn’t stand a chance against Harry Potter – but it is still the most successful German film of 2002
Bibi Blocksberg did extremely well with the target group of young fantasy fans and stayed in the top 10 of the German cinema charts for eight weeks. Even though the film was unable to keep up with the 9.7 million viewers that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets attracted to cinemas in the same year, its success is remarkable.
Over 2.2 million people saw Bibi Blocksberg in the cinema. This makes the imaginative radio play adaptation the most successful German film of 2002. Two years later, the sequel Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of the Blue Owls was released, which still attracted 1.3 million people to the cinema. The figures refer to the German cinema market and are taken from InsideKino .
