The weekend’s temperatures were as boiling as forecast, but maybe it was precisely the heat that had audiences yearning for some air-conditioned relief inside a cinema: the German-speaking box office held steady despite strong competition from swimming pools and lakes.

On a weekend with basically no new releases – save for one sleeper hit – it was up to the expected blockbusters to fill the theaters. So much so that between Austria and Germany, the sales reached just over seven figures. 

Minions 2 – Auf der Suche nach dem Mini Boss (Minions 2 – In Search for the Mini Boss) led the box office again in its third week, selling another 400.000 tickets for € 3,6 million and bringing the cumulative total to €1,75 million fans of the yellow-clad troublemakers. According to one local poll, it is unsurprisingly kids between six and 12 years who talk to their parents to take them to see the film, often more than once or as one-second grader proudly told a local TV station: “I saw the first one 12 times and this one already four times!” Our condolences to the accompanying adults who surely would have been satisfied with one show.

The minions are however being closely chased by the mighty Nordic god: Thor: Love and Thunder came in second again with 245.000 fans and € 2,7 millions. This means that the sci-fi fi adventure has reached 950.000 sold tickets altogether, just shy of the one million to earn a Bogey, the German box office award named after Humphrey Bogart. There’s time, though and Thor will surely get there next week.

Top Gun: Maverick showed only a slight decrease in its need for speed on this, its eighth weekend, and finished out the top three with 90.000 sold tickets and € 940.000 in sales. This brings the total of people who have seen the sequel to 2,7 million.

Jurassic World: Ein Neues Zeitalter (Jurassic World: Dominion) stayed in fourth place. And there was still no change in sight as Elvis held onto fifth.

The wonderful Sundance hit Meine Stunden mit Leo (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) starring Emma Thompson and Darryl McCormack made the best and only debut in this week’s top ten. Thompson plays Nancy Stokes a widow in her late fifties, yearning for adventure, human connection, and – finally – good sex. She hires a callboy thinking that it will be a one-time fling, paid for and done with. She is in for a surprise as Leo manages to coax emotions out of her, she did not think possible anymore, if ever. The two repeat their dalliance and what was supposed to be nothing more than a tryst becomes much more as young Leo challenges Nancy’s beliefs.

McCormack, who plays Leo, is known for Peaky Blinders, Vikings, and Pixie. The sex dramedy was written by Katie Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde and has garnered nothing but excellent reviews ever since it world-premiered at this year’s Sundance festival in January.

One rom-com follows the other in this week’s charts as the German-made Liebesdings lands right behind Leo Grande in seventh place.

Die Geschichte der Menschheit – leicht gekürzt (The Story of Mankind – slightly shortened), Alfons Zitterbacke – Endlich Klassenfahrt (Alfons Zitterbacke – Finally Schooltrip) and the Empress Elisabeth saga Corsage rounded out the top ten.