Achterbahn AG, producer of the hugely successful animated Werner features, has become the latest in a long line of publicly listed German media companies to file for insolvency.

In a statement the executive board said that it believed that there were possibilities to continue business activities after the insolvency proceedings.

Founded in 1991 as a publishing house for books, music and films, Achterbahn is currently in production on the fourth Werner feature: Werner - Ein Volk, Ein Koenich. Its live action version of Ralf Koenig's comic book Wie Die Karnickel has meanwhile attracted over 270,00 admissions in its first two weeks of release by Constantin Film since September 19.

Shares in the Kiel-based company fell by 60% to 68 cents following the announcement of Achterbahn's insolvency

Achterbahn has had great success with the cinema releases of the previous features based on Werner. The first film in the franchise, Werner - Beinhart, was produced and distributed by the then Neue Constantin Film and became the most successful German film of 1990 with 5.4m admissions, while the second , Werner - Das Muss Kesseln, was produced by Senator Filmproduktion, but distributed by Neue Constantin in 1996 with 5.6m admissions. The third film, Werner - Volles Rooaa!!!, was produced by Achterbahn itself, with Constantin again distributing to reach 2.75 m cinemagoers in 1999