Christmas fairy tales have long been a symbol of Czech Christmas. Generations of viewers associate them with family comfort, the smell of candy and the magic of festive days. While statistics from last year confirm that interest in fairy tales is not waning, criticism of their declining quality is growing louder. Can the Czech fairy tale retain its firm place at the pinnacle of television entertainment, or are we facing a gradual decline of this once vibrant genre?
The Christmas Eve premiere of The Key of St Peter may have reached a phenomenal 2.96 million viewers last December, accounting for 61 % of all viewers, but many other new releases are lagging behind. On the other hand, classic titles like Three Nuts for Cinderella still hold the top spot, with 2.27 million people watching this ageless stalwart. Other spots were taken by proven hits like Cinderella (1.97 million) and reruns of other fairy tale classics. What does that mean? That audiences prefer to reach for proven titles, while newer productions fail to live up to their expectations.
Rating declines
According to user ratings on Kinobox, the drop in popularity of new fairy tales is unmistakable. While titles such as Lotrando a Zubejda (1997) and The Princess of the Mill (1994) hold ratings of over 62 %, while more recent films, such as The Wizard of Rye (2018) and The Kingdom of the Streams (2022), fall below 50 %. Audiences complain of weaker scripts, predictable plots and less charismatic acting performances.
Among directors, Jiri Strach fares best, with three of his films (e.g., Angel of the Lord) achieving an average rating of 69.3 %. Karel Janák follows with 7 films and average score of 59.1%, while Zdeněk Troška and Zdeněk Zelenka, authors of several well-known fairy tales, remain below 57 %. The data shows that a title's success often stands and falls with a directorial personality that can imbue a film with a unique atmosphere and quality craftsmanship.
Economic pressures on production also play a role. Budgets for new fairy tales are limited, forcing filmmakers to skimp on visual effects and star cast. Attempts to innovate, as with the fairy tale How Not to Marry a Princess (2021), have brought a modern approach to traditional storytelling, but still run into limits in the quality of the workmanship.
Another problem is competition. The Czech fairy tale today has to compete not only with classic domestic titles, but also with the huge number of foreign productions available on streaming platforms. Netflix or Disney bring viewers fairytale stories with budgets that the Czech film industry can only dream of. While these films lure audiences with impeccable visual effects and dynamic stories, Czech fairy tales often rely on nostalgia and tried-and-tested formulas.
The average ratings of fairy tales from the past few decades also paint a picture of a gradual decline in quality. Fairy tales from the mid-1990s averaged 62%, while titles from 2000-2010 fell to 57.1 %. The most recent tales from the period 2020-2023 are around 53.3 %. This trend suggests that audiences perceive older works as higher quality and more compelling, which increases the pressure on contemporary creators to find a way to rectify this loss of trust.
How to save fairy tales?
The development shows that the Czech fairy tale is facing major challenges that may affect its future. Although viewership remains high, the quality of new titles is declining, according to viewers and critics. Moreover, growing competition from foreign productions, which have significantly larger budgets and technological facilities, is putting enormous pressure on domestic productions. Limited financial opportunities, predictable scripts and a desire to appeal to a wider audience often lead to results that cannot compete not only with classic Czech fairy tales, but also with contemporary foreign offerings.
The once vibrant genre is thus at a crossroads. Audiences still want to watch fairy tales, as evidenced by the millions of viewership figures, but they also expect a return to the quality and originality that defined the famous titles of the past. Whether the Czech Christmas fairy tale will remain one of the pillars of domestic television culture will be determined not only by the audience's willingness to continue to trust it, but above all by the filmmakers' ability to adapt to changing conditions and return the genre to its lost charm.
This year, audiences can look forward to The Three Princesses on Christmas Eve and to The Magic Apple on Christmas Day. You can see how all Czech fairy tales are doing in the ranking of the best Czech fairy tales.
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