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Picture Tree Intl. has boarded international sales for Constantin Film’s comedy fantasy blockbuster “Chantal and the Magic Kingdom,” which will receive its market premiere in Cannes.

The film has been No. 1 on Germany’s box office charts for four consecutive weeks since its release on March 28, and reached more than 2 million admissions, with a gross of $22.5 million.

“Chantal” is the latest German-language hit from writer-director Bora Dagtekin and producer Lena Schömann. The duo previously delivered “Turkish for Beginners,” the “Fuck You Goehte” franchise and the German remake of “Perfect Strangers,” which have collectively grossed more than $300 million worldwide.

In “Chantal,” the beloved “Fuck You Goehte” character Chantal and her best friend Zeynep are sent on a fantasy adventure into the world of fairytales with a comedic and contemporary twist.

Chantal, an influencer without followers, and Zeynep stumble into the fairytale world through an ancient magic mirror, which they mistake for a social media gimmick.

Stand at attention and prepare yourself for a history lesson because Guy Ritchie’s next film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, comes to theaters on April 19, 2024, courtesy of Lionsgate. Based on the book “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops” by Damien Lewis, Ritchie’s new film project is packed with stars and ready to get rude for an outlandish action-comedy.

Henry Cavill leads The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, with Eiza González (Baby Driver), Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer (In Time), Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusamokun (Dune), Henrique Zaga (Beyond the Universe), Til Schweiger, Henry Golding, and Cary Elwes also starring as primary cast members.

Here’s the official logline for the upcoming film:

Based upon recently declassified files of the British War Department and inspired by true events, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is an action-comedy that...

In one of Germany’s most closely-watched media cases, a Berlin court on Wednesday ruled in favor of German screenwriter Anika Decker in her residuals suit against Warner Bros. and Barefoot Films, the production company of German star Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds).

Decker co-wrote the screenplays to Schweiger’s 2007 comedy hit Rabbit Without Ears and its successful 2009 sequel Rabbit Without Ears 2, both of which were distributed in Germany by Warner Bros. The first Rabbit Without Ears film, which Schweiger directed and co-starred in alongside Nora Tschirner, earned around $74 million at the German box office, blockbuster numbers for the territory. Rabbit Without Ears 2 was also a major success, grossing around $40 million at the German box office.

Decker claimed, given the outsized success of the films, she was not adequately compensated for her work. She sued under the so-called “fairness clause” of the German copyright act, which was first added...

Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has added to its European Film Market slate “Love Thing,” starring top German actor Elyas M’Barek, whose credits include “The Collini Case.” Also on the slate is “Soul of a Beast,” which debuts its trailer below.

Despite the virtual nature of the EFM, the company has taken additional office space at the Marriott Hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.

“Love Thing,” which also stars Lucie Heinze, Peri Baumeister and Alexandra Maria Lara, is directed and written by Anika Decker, whose last feature “High Society” sold widely. Decker scripted box office successes like “Rabbit Without Ears,” which grossed $85 million.

“Love Thing” is produced by German production-distribution powerhouse Constantin Film, which has set its release for July 7. The producers are Rüdiger Böss and Philipp Reuter; the co-producers are Anika Decker and Jan Decker; and the executive producer is Martin Moszkowicz. Picture Tree will present a first teaser trailer to select buyers.

Constantin Inks Rtl Licensing Deal

German mini-major Constantin Film has inked a multi-year licensing deal with local TV giant Rtl that covers exclusive free-tv and streaming rights for all of Constantin’s theatrical productions. The pact covers all of the producer’s in-house and co-productions that begin filming from January 1. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. The deal will cover upcoming titles from filmmakers such as Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil), David Wnendt (Look Who’s Back), Til Schweiger (Rabbit Without Ears), and Doris Dörrie (Cherry Blossoms). Among highlights is the new film from Bora Dagtekin, whose Suck Me Shakespeer school comedy trilogy is the most successful German-language franchise of the last decade. Constantin and Rtl have previously partnered on films and series including limited series The Allegation, comedy Weil wir Champions sind (Because We’re Champions), and Strafe (Punishment).

Zinc Appoints Former Shine TV MD

UK factual outfit...

TBS has snagged German comedy-drama “Arthur’s Law” from its Turner stablemate TNT in Germany. The U.S. channel has taken the finished show subtitled in English, as well as the option to remake it locally.

TNT has been moving into originals in Germany with the acclaimed drug-trafficking drama “4 Blocks” on TNT Serie and “Arthur’s Law” on the TNT Comedy channel. “Arthur’s Law” follows unemployed Arthur Ahnepol (Jan Josef Liefers), who wants his obnoxious wife to die to claim the life insurance and start a new life with his mistress, which sets off a series of disastrous events.

The series, which is directed by Christian Zübert (“Lommbock”), has been nominated for several TV awards in Germany. Martina Gedeck (“The Lives of Others”) and Nora Tschirner (“Rabbit Without Ears”) star alongside Liefers in the German series.

“The tale of our anti-hero Arthur can be applied universally, and we are...

TBS is set to remake German comedy Arthur’s Law – the first original comedy from Turner’s German network TNT Comedy.

The U.S. cable network has secured the rights to the project, which is known locally as Arthurs Gesetz, from its parent company. It has picked up the format rights to the series as well as the rights to run the German version with subtitles.

The comedy follows unemployed Arthur Ahnepol, played by Jan Josef Liefers, who ekes out a bleak existence. Drawn from the strains of his unhappy marriage and bored to death, he makes a morbid plan: he wants his obnoxious wife to die. With the money from the life insurance there’s no obstacle for a restart with his beloved mistress. But an unwritten law dominates the life of the unlucky fellow: every problem solved by Arthur has a far worse effect. And so, he sets...

Madrid — In the long run-up to February’s Berlin Festival, Picture Tree Intl. has rolled out multiple pre-sales on “100 Things,” which Warner Bros. Pictures bowed in Germany on Dec. 6 to a robust first eight-day €2.7 million ($3.07 million).

“100 Things” will receive a market screening at the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

The third feature from Florian David Fitz as a writer-director and actor, whose 2016 “The Most Beautiful Day” earned in Germany, “100 Things” was released in its original German language day-and-date with Germany in Belgium (Kino Scala) and Luxembourg (Utopia).

Of major territories, Picture Tree Intl. has also closed Cis and the Baltic States with Volgafilm, which has scheduled a theatrical release in Russia in the first quarter of next year, and with China’s Red Apollo Group, which aims to release “100 Things” in Chinese theaters third-quarter 2019.

Inspired by the Finnish documentary “My Stuff,” “100 Things” has also closed former Yugoslavia (2i Film D.

Among the fantastic line-up of the 26th Raindance Film Festival is the exciting German thriller "Luna's Revenge" which premiered last night at the Vue Cinema in London's West End. In attendance were Lisa Vicari who plays the title role Luna and Branko Tomovic who stars as the dangerous and scary undercover agent Victor.  "Luna's Revenge", directed by Khaled Kaissar, also features Bibiana Beglau (The Legend of Rita), Rainer Bock (The White Ribbon), Benjamin Sadler (Luther), Carlo Ljubek (The Wilhelm Tell Legend), Annika Blendl (Rabbit Without Ears), Alexander Beyer (Deutschland 86) and Genija Rykova (Tatort). The German premiere was last year at the Munich Film Festival. The film tells the story of Luna, who is spending her summer...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Among the fantastic line-up of the 26th Raindance Film Festival is the exciting German thriller "Luna's Revenge". We caught up for a chat with Branko Tomovic who stars as the dangerous and scary undercover agent Victor.   "Luna's Revenge", directed by Khaled Kaissar, also features Bibiana Beglau (The Legend of Rita), Rainer Bock (The White Ribbon), Benjamin Sadler (Luther), Carlo Ljubek (The Wilhelm Tell Legend), Annika Blendl (Rabbit Without Ears), Alexander Beyer (Deutschland 86), Genija Rykova (Tatort) and Lisa Vicari (Dark) in the title role. The film tells the story of Luna, who is spending her summer vacation in an idyllic mountain chalet with her family, when their holiday harmony suddenly becomes a nightmare: Foreign men take...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Principal photography to start in Czech Republic on Monday. Cassian Elwes produces with Petr Jákl.

German superstar Til Schweiger has joined Michael Caine and Ben Foster on Medieval, the $20m historical action drama from J.B.J Film and Elevated Films that is set to commence shooting on Monday (September 17) in and around Prague.

Petr Jákl is directing the story, inspired by the legend of 14th century warlord Jan Zizka of Trocnov (Foster), the brilliant Hussite commander and former mercenary regarded as a Czeh national hero.

Zizka and his band of men become bound up with the fate of an heiress and...

Principal photography to start in Czech Republic on Monday. Cassian Elwes produces with Petr Jákl.

German superstar Til Schweiger has joined Michael Caine and Ben Foster on Medieval, the big budget historical action drama from J.B.J Film and Elevated Films that is set to commence shooting in and around Prague.

Petr Jákl is about to start principal photography in the Czech Republic on the story, inspired by the legendary 14th century warlord Jan Zizka of Trocnov (Foster).

Zizka and his band of mercenaries become bound up with the fate of an heiress and battle a rival king to establish equality for the Czech people.

Komplizen Film will work on Vanessa Jopp’s adaptation of Daniel Glattauer novel.

Komplizen Film, the producer of Maren Ade’s offbeat comedy Toni Erdmann, is to partner with Sony Pictures on Vanessa Jopp’s forthcoming adaptation of Austrian writer Daniel Glattauer’s international bestseller Love Virtually.

Sony’s German production arm will serve as Komplizen Film’s co-producer alongside Erfttal Film, with Sony Pictures releasing the film theatrically in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Former European Shooting Star Alexander Fehling (Three Peaks) and Nora Tschirner (Rabbit Without Ears) are to headline the cast which will also include Swiss actress Ella Rumpf who appeared in last year’s Panorama title Tiger Girl.

UK-born, Hamburg-based screenwriter Jane Ainscough has adapted Glattauer’s epistolary novel about a love affair conducted entirely by email for Jopp, whose previous films include drama Happy As One.

“I would like to make a wonderful, warm and profound romantic film which will have poetic, magic moments...

Canadian, UK and Brazilian films win at online film festival.

Canadian documentary Davids and Goliath, about the trade of organ harvesting in China, has scooped the $50,000 first prize of the Viewster Online Film Fest charity edition, #VOFF4: Share It Forward.

Second place and $20,000 was awarded to Chris Godwin for Deafening Silence, a Icva Award-winning drama short showing the trauma of still birth from a mother’s perspective.

Cacau Rhoden of Brazil won third place and $10,000 for Drops of Joy, a documentary that focuses on the importance of maintaining one’s playful spirit from childhood into one’s adult years, and Us documentary Baja’s Secret Miracle won the festival’s Audience Award, which resulted in a $20,000 donation to The Climate Reality Project.

The charity edition of the festival, which received 230 submissions from 47 countries, was launched to build awareness around human rights, social, economic and environmental issues.

Kai Henniges, CEO, Viewster, said:...

Perhaps best known internationally for his part in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the German writer-director-actor Til Schweiger returns behind the camera next month with Schutzengel (roughly translated: Guardian Angel).

The first poster and a handful of new images, along with hi-res versions of a few that have already surfaced, have now made their way online.

“A troubled former soldier works to protect an orphan who witnessed a murder from the assassins out to get her.”

Schweiger stars in the lead as the troubled former soldier, once more alongside his daughter Luna Schweiger (Keinohrhasen, or Rabbit Without Ears), and Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run).

Schweiger is directing from a script he co-wrote with newcomer Paul Maurice and Stephen Butchard (Vincent).

Schutzengel will be released by the German arm of Warner Bros. on 27th September, and as yet, there’s no word on if/when it will arrive in the UK or Us.

Do the movies that best represent modern German cinema have crossover appeal, or are they lost in translation?

Scanning overseas box office charts is like strolling the aisles of a foreign supermarket. The old familiar produce is still there and still prominent, although it sits cheek-by-jowl with local cuisine that can seem exotic, enticing or off-putting, depending on your predilections.

So yes, German audiences, like their British counterparts, are currently devouring The King's Speech, Rango, Black Swan and True Grit. They are also partial to films such as Der ganz grobe traum, Dschungelkind and Ya Sonra? The year's biggest hit, meanwhile, is Kokowääh, which has earned a phenomenal €26m (£22.5m) after just five weeks on general release.

So what is Kokowääh, and what makes it so good? A cursory investigation leaves me none the wiser. "Anybody who likes KeinOhrHasen or ZweiOhrKüeken will love Kokowääh," promises an enthusiastic user on IMDb.

With one of its best weekends so far, Tangled placed first at the foreign box office for the fourth time in the past month. The big story, though, occurred in France, where local comedy Rien a Declarer (Nothing to Declare) dominated with one of the top openings ever there. The Green Hornet, The King's Speech and Black Swan expanded to new locations and held their ground. For the first weekend in a long time, it appears that the box office was nearly on par with last year, when Avatar led with $79.4 million. Playing at around 85 percent of the international marketplace, Tangled added $23.7 million to bring its impressive foreign total to $285.1 million. The fairy tale had great first place debuts in Spain ($5.7 million), Sweden ($1.8 million) and Norway ($936,000). It also held well in the United Kingdom, dipping just nine percent to $7.4 million. Tangled has earned over $477 million worldwide (domestic plus foreign), and,...

Like in several other territories, commercial juggernauts will win it big in 2011. This should be the case for Germany. Til Schweiger, for example, is going to churn out family-oriented Kokowääh (no, that's not a word) and Keinohrhasen 3. As always, comedians are going to try to translate their concert hall fame into tickets, like Tom Gerhardt and Hilmi Sözer, who have teamed up for buddy-cop-com Die Superbullen, or Kurt Krömer, who's trying his luck in a movie called Eine Insel namens Udo - titles you won't have to memorize altogether, as they will hardly be exported to non-German-speaking countries. Pina, in contrast, will be: It's Wim Wenders' bow to the late Pina Bausch, a 3D dance theater experience running out of competition at coming February's Berlinale, dreaded in advance by arthouse purists. Meanwhile, these are some of the most promising German films that do show up on the horizon: #.5 Memory...

Newmarket Entertainment has scored the remake rights to the 2007 German romantic comedy hit "Keinohrhasen" (Rabbit Without Ears) reports Variety.

The original followed a woman-chasing, tabloid journalist who meets his match in a children's daycare manager. The film grossed nearly $58 million in Germany, while its sequel has already taken in $40 million thus far.

Til Schweiger, who starred in and directed the original, produced with Tom Zickler through their Berlin-based Barefoot Films. No word yet on who might be cast in the U.S. remake.

Even though it's made $100 million in the rest of the world and is based on a global bestseller, it took months for Swedish murder mystery "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" to find a U.S. distributor. The film was finally picked up earlier this month by Music Box Films, known for previously saving the French crowdpleaser "Tell No One" after other distributors passed in fear of poor returns.

In America, with few exceptions, the fact that a film is subtitled means it's destined for the arthouse. Populist entertainment -- action, romantic comedies, thrillers -- has struggled to find a place and an audience. Like most blockbusters, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is guaranteed a sequel -- it's adapted from the first installment of the "Millenium" trilogy, written before author Stieg Larsson passed away in 2004. As Anne Thompson reported, the only reason an American remake hasn't been set into...

Interview by Staci Layne Wilson

Eli Roth is a cutie — he's got those dark-chocolate brown eyes and a sweet smile that could charm even the most hard-hearted Hannah. But Roth is also a complete, total and utter Basterd. He's best-known for making some of the most violent, grisly, and controversial horror movies of the 00's. His feature length horror films Hostel and Hostel II shocked the mainstream, as did his over-the-top fake movie trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse double-dip (in his slasher-trailer Thanksgiving, Roth gives 'cheerleader splits' and 'stuffing the turkey' whole new meanings). He’s also gearing up make a feature-length version of Thanksgiving and a PG-13 creature-feature called Endangered Species.

So what's a nice boy like Eli doing in Tarantino's latest movie, Iglourious Basterds? Why, killing Nazis, of course! And not just killing them… he's beating, scalping, burning, and basically putting on the hurt in every way...

Spoilers Ahead!

Atomic Popcorn: So, how honored did you feel when you read in the script that you were going to be the man to blow away Hitler?

Eli is a Basterd

Roth: Oh, it was an incredible honor! It certainly was an honor that I took very seriously, that was actually not originally in the the script. That was something that came about when we were shooting. So it was actually even more of an honor, in fact, because as we were shooting, Quentin adapts to what he likes as things going on, and he was so happy with what I was doing as The Bear Jew and the scene where we were beating Rachtman, he just loved the scene where I was kicking ass, then I shot Nation’s Pride, the film within the film, and Quentin realized that, “Wait a minute, Eli is shooting all the action stuff!

Cologne, Germany -- Til Schweiger’s German comedy “Rabbit Without Ears” keeps hop-hop-hopping along. According to figures released by research group media control, “Rabbit” was the best selling DVD of 2008 in Germany.

The Warner Bros. title beat out Hollywood imports “Mamma Mia!” and “Ratatouille,” complementing Schweiger’s success at the German boxoffice, where “Rabbit” earned more than $55 million.

Multihyphenate Schweiger, who has a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” will add another “Rabbit” trophy to his case on Jan.16, when his film will be honored with the people’s choice prize at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich.

Schweiger latest, the medieval spoof “1 1/2 Knights,” has taken in $12 million in three weeks at the boxoffice. A sequel to “Rabbit Without Ears” is set to hit German theaters this December.

Cologne, Germany -- German boxoffice king Til Schweiger received a 1.5 million euros ($2.1 million) subsidy boost from the Berlin/Brandenburg Medienboard for his latest project, "Zweiohrkuken" (Two Ear Chick), the sequel to his mega-hit "Rabbit Without Ears."

The first film, a romantic comedy starring Schweiger and actress Nora Tschirner, had a boxoffice take of more than $56 million, making it the number one film in Germany this year. The main cast, including Matthias Schweighofer, will return for the sequel.

The Medienboard also gave Quentin Tarantino an early Christmas present in the form of a $840,000 production subsidy for his World War II film "Inglourious Basterds," currently shooting at Babelsberg Studios outside Berlin.

Berlin -- One in three movie tickets sold in Germany in the first half of this year was for a homegrown film, an all-time industry record.

Local-language hits including the romantic comedy "Rabbit Without Ears," teen drama "The Wave" and kids franchise "The Wild Soccer Bunch" accounted for a 34% share of Germany's total first-half boxoffice of 373 million euros ($548 million).

Hollywood looks set to make a comeback in the second half, with "The Dark Knight" leading the way with a strong opening last week and James Bond set to follow up with the German release of "Quantum of Solace" on Nov. 6. But everyone here is waiting to see how Bernd Eichinger's new production, "The Baader Meinhof Complex," performs when it opens Sept. 25.

BERLIN -- German director Fatih Akin proved he's not just the darling of the Festival de Cannes as his cross-cultural drama The Edge of Heaven won big at the German Film Awards on Friday night, taking home four Lolas, including best picture, director, editing and a screenplay nod for his script.

It is the second best film Lola for Akin, whose international breakthrough Head-On swept the awards in 2004.

This year's victory is particularly sweet, however. Akin has repeatedly butted heads with the German Film Academy, criticizing the way the academy selects its Lola nominees.

Hoisting his golden statue Friday night, he made reference to the public spat, addressing star Til Schweiger, who recently resigned from the German academy after his boxoffice smash Rabbit Without Ears was snubbed in the Lola nominations.

"Just watch, Til, we're going to join (the academy) again!" Akin said.

Heaven, a series of interlocking stories set in Germany and Istanbul, beat out the favorite: the moving drama Cherry Blossoms from veteran director Doris Dorrie.