With 150 prints distributed by Kinowelt, the film by Jacques Perrin, Michel Debats and Jacques Cluzeaud has attracted close to 200,000 German spectators in 10 days.
After a respectable opening week, "The Travelling Birds" has kicked off an excellent second week in Germany, having gained good publicity through word of mouth. With 64,000 tickets sold in its second weekend, the film jumped from 9th to 6th place at the box office, pulling in 21% of total admissions, while all other films currently showing saw their attendance rate take a nosedive. With a healthy 150 prints in circulation – the lowest of all films in the Top 10 – "The Travelling Birds" boasts the second best attendance average per print (559 admissions), hot on the heels of "Ice Age" (629 admissions), the number 1 film at the box office for the past 4 weeks. At this rate "The Travelling Birds" could well match the score attained by "Microcosmos," which crossed the 550,000 spectators mark in 1996.
Prior to its release, the film had already won strong support from the German press:
"A dream on film, a fascinating journey." (Stern).
"A visual adventure of unique beauty, enhanced by marvelous music." (TV Movie)
"Spectacular." (Der Spiegel)
"A sensational documentary with remarkable images of nature." (Hörzu)
"Fantastic images that take your breath away; new and original shots of nature." (Bild)
"True adventure cinema, fascinating and light." (SZ Extra)
"A spectacular film about nature. A marvelous and unique movie event. (...) A pleasantly sober voice-over; measured and precise information. A film no-one should miss."(AZ)
