Theatrical revenues at Germany's Constantin Film were halved in the third quarter of 2003, from Euros 14.2m to Euros 7.99m, a drop far in excess of the 5.8% decline at the overall German box office.

For the nine months to end of September Constantin recorded a drop in theatrical receipts from Euros 35.1m to Euros 16.8m, a decline again worse than the 14% for the industry as a whole. The company said that it had cut back its release schedule and that its best performer has been Swimming Pool, with close to 500,000 admissions.

Despite the theatrical gloom, Constantin says that it has expanded its other businesses and is sticking to its 2003 forecast of losses of Euros 8m-12m at the EBIT level.

The good news came from TV sales, which seem to be recovering after a period of massive restructuring in the free and pay-TV sectors. Sales in the quarter grew from Euros 2.96m to Euros 9.16m and for the year so far from Euros 11.7m to Euros 23.3m.

The international rights business was little changed from Euros 19m in the first nine months of last year rising to Euros 19.3m.

The group, in which Highlight Communications now has a 50.1% majority stake, reported that it has completed the production of Maedchen, Maedchen 2 and video game adaptation Autobahnraser.

Olivier Hirschbiegel's The Downfall, which it describes as "one of the most ambitious German films of the past 20 years", got underway in August and should be delivered in September 2004. It is scripted and produced by Constantin chairman Bernd Eichinger. It is also in production on Resident Evil - Apocalypse, being directed by Alexander Witt as a sequel to its Paul WS Anderson hit Resident Evil which generated more than $100m internationally.