Former EM.TV & Merchandising chairman Thomas Haffa will leave the supervisory board of producer-distributor Constantin Film at the end of this year. Last April, Haffa stepped down as chairman of the board, a position then taken over by KirchMedia's Fred Kogel.

As he no longer represents EM.TV it is not appropriate for him to sit on the Constantin board as EM.TV's delegate. An announcement on a successor will be made in January.

There has been speculation that a share swap between EM.TV and Kirch could see EM.TV exit Constantin completely. As of September Bernd Eichinger held 25%, Kirch Beteiligung 21.1%, and EM.TV & Merchandising 16.3% of Constantin's shares.
The company's theatrical distribution arm has announced that it is planning to release a total of 21 films in 2002, with twelve titles scheduled for the first half of the year, six in-house/co-productions and six third-party titles.

These include action comedy Out Cold, teenage comedy Slap Her, She's French, local productions 6 6 6 - Traue Keinem Mit Dem Du Schlaefst! (previously titled Faust & Mephisto), the sequel Erkan & Stefan Und Die Maechte Der Finsternis and a reprise of this year's blockbuster Der Schuh Des Manitu on July 6.