Germany's Constantin Film has cut its sales forecast for 2003, blaming factors such as the hot summer weather and the 'shakeout of the German media market' for the revision.

Releasing its half-yearly and second quarter figures today (Aug 13), the Munich-based producer-distributor announced sales of Euros 36m, compared to Euros 63.4m for the first six months of 2002.

Overall sales for 2003 are now expected to be over Euros 100m, but with a negative EBIT of between Euros 8m and Euros 12m. At the end of March, Constantin had forecast sales of between Euros 120m-135m.

Constantin said it had witnessed 'a substantial reduction' in theatrical and international sales.

Constantin said that the fall in theatrical sales had been influenced by the general crisis in the German exhibition sector which has seen a 10.9% year-on-year fall in box office takings in the first half of 2003.

In addition, the prolonged period of hot weather over the past weeks had meant that Constantin's recent releases "had only fulfilled our expectations to some extent." Constantin's quarterly report also described its release line-up for the second half of 2003 as being "on the average side" and "not the strongest in the history of Constantin Film".

The drop in international sales was attributed to the fact that exploitation of the action horror thriller Wrong Turn will not start until the third quarter, while the world sales from the release of Resident Evil were recorded in the second quarter of the previous year.