The Czech Film Distributors Union has released year-end stats for the Czech Republic’s box office in 2023, and it’s no surprise that the summer’s biggest hits come out towards the top. Barbie and Oppenheimer, released on the very same day last July, saw 722,410 and 542,323 admissions last year, respectively, to rank first and fourth among last year’s most-seen films in Czech cinemas.

While Barbie sold the most tickets to Czech cinemas in 2023, however, it was another film that earned the most revenue: Avatar: The Way of Water, which opened in mid-December 2022 but would go on to earn about half its total Czech box office in 2023.

Given that near-even split, Avatar: The Way of Water has the unique distinction of being the Czech Republic’s highest-grossing film in both 2022 and 2023, as well as being the highest-grossing film in the history of the country.

Avatar: The Way of Water earned a total of more than 146 million crowns ($6.42 million) of its record 299 million crowns ($13.12 million) in 2023, topping Barbie‘s total of 134 million crowns ($5.89 million). Oppenheimer came in third with nearly 110 million crowns ($4.83 million) in revenue at the Czech box office last year.

A Czech film finished fourth at the local box office last year, as ONEMANSHOW: The Movie pulled in a total of just over 100 million crowns ($4.42 million). Next to Angel of the Lord 2 (Anděl Páně 2), ONEMANSHOW: The Movie is only the second Czech film to gross more than 100 million crowns domestically, falling just short of the 2016 holiday comedy’s all-time record for Czech movies of about 109 million crowns.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 came in fifth at the Czech box office in 2023 with 87 million crowns, but other big superhero movies didn’t fare so well. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came in 20th on the 2023 Czech box office chart with 30.8 million crowns, while The Marvels failed to make the top 25 with just 13.9 million crowns.

DC’s big 2023 releases – The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom – also failed to crack the top 25, though the Aquaman sequel released in the final week of the year and will end up with a higher total than the Ant-Man film (it’s already at about 30 million crowns).

Animated films displayed strong staying power at the Czech box office last year, with 2022 release Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, and Elemental all cracking the top 10 in 2023 box office.

In addition to ONEMANSHOW – The Movie, four other Czech movies made the top 25, with The Island (Ostrov) grossing over 54 million crowns ($2.37 million) and Never Say Never (Nikdy neříkej nikdy), Be the Man (BUĎ CHLAP!), and Birthday Wishes (Přání k narozeninám) each ending up with just under 32 million crowns ($1.40 million).

These were the top 25 highest-grossing movies at the Czech box office in 2023: