All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 206
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Publishers Springer and Bauer join KirchMedia bidders
German publishing empires Axel Springer Verlag and Heinrich Bauer Verlag have set up a consortium to acquire at least 51% of insolvent KirchMedia when it emerges from restructuring.This latest development comes just two days after the WAZ publishing group withdrew from the consortium including the Commerzbank and Sony's Columbia ...
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Germany, Luxembourg sign co-production treaty
Co-productions between film producers in Germany and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were given a boost this week after the signing of a formal co-production treaty between the two countries.Co-productions made under the auspices of the new treaty will be regarded as national films in both states and therefore enjoy ...
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Germany's TiME Group confronts insolvency
Germany's TiMe Group has filed for protection from creditors two months after it was forced to dramatically scale back distribution and licence trading arm TiMe Medienvertriebs. Although TiMe founder Wolfram Tichy described the filing as "a legally imperative precautionary measure," the likelihood of TiMe joining Germany's growing list of high-profile ...
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Heidi delayed by KirchGroup fallout
German media giant KirchGroup's bankruptcy has brought work on animated feature film Heidi to a standstill and may threaten the future of animation specialist TV Loonlands' Budapest facility after payments from group subsidiary TaurusProduktion, the film's co-producer failed to materialise.Animation specialist TV-Loonland, the film's other co-producer was forced to lay ...
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Film distribution arm launched by Germany's BMG/Universum
European broadcaster RTL Group's video subsidiary BMG Video/Universum Film has launched a theatrical arm Universum Film to act as a link in the distribution cooperation deal announced last year between RTL and Constantin Film (Screendaily, 10 September 2001).Universum Film, which will be headed by the video distribution company's chief executive ...
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German Film Awards go to Nowhere In Africa
Caroline Link's Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika), swept the board at the German Film Awards this weekend, winning in all of its nominated categories, including Lolas for best film and director.Nowhere In Africa, the most successful German film so far this year with over 1.1m admissions, recently secured US ...
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MediaPro continues Spanish expansion activity
Recent Spanish entrant into feature film production, media conglomerate MediaPro looks set to continue its expansion with the $57m (Euros 60m) buy-out of rival Avanzit Media, the media subsidiary of Spanish technology giant Avanzit.MediaPro declined to comment on press reports that it is considering a $57m (Euros 60m) offer for ...
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TV audience determines German blockbuster director's next movie
Michael "Bully" Herbig, director-producer of German box-office phenomenon Manitou's Shoe, is planning a spoof of cult TV series Star Trek as his next film after asking viewers of his TV show Bullyparade to vote among four alternatives "Basically, the whole thing was an act of desperation", Herbig explained. "I asked ...
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Collapse of Germany's Kirch empire now complete
The collapse of German media mogul Leo Kirch's empire was sealed on Wednesday with the filing for insolvency of two more divisions of the KirchGroup Management holding TaurusHolding and the KirchBeteiligung unit which holds shareholdings in other companies such as Axel Springer Verlag and Formula 1, both sought protection from ...
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Nowhere goes somewhere with Zeitgeist
Following The Tunnel and Sun Alley (Screen Daily, May 29), Caroline Link's Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika) has become the latest German film picked up for US theatrical distribution.Zeitgeist Films, who also handled Max Faerberboeck's Aimee & Jaguar starring Nowhere's lead actress Juliane Koehler, plans to release Link's adaptation ...
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Helkon to quit Germany's Neuer Markt
Helkon Media is seeking to leave the Neuer Markt by the end of the month as part of a programme of cost reduction and reorganisation. If the Deutsche Boerse approves its shares will be traded on the third tier Geregelter Markt from July 1. 'This section change will lead to ...
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RTL closes in on Warner Bros German package
The KirchGroup's arch rival RTL Television is in talks with Warner Bros to sign a $200m film package spanning such titles as The Matrix, The Lord Of The Rings, Ocean's Eleven and Harry Potter.According to the daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the deal will allow RTL seven screenings of each film ...
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Columbia said to be heading for Kirch bid
A consortium of Germany's Commerzbank, the Rhineland-based WAZ publishing group and US major Columbia TriStar could be setting its sights on the assets of debt-ridden KirchMedia.According to news magazine Der Spiegel representatives of the three companies attended a presentation of a preliminary evaluation of KirchMedia by the Roland Berger management ...
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MEDIA programme aids 29 festivals
Film festivals held in Giffoni, Oberhausen, Bergamo, La Rochelle, Dresden, Tampere and Pesaro are among 29 events throughout Europe which have been supported with a total of Euro623,000 by the European Union's MEDIA Plus Programme in its latest round of funding for festivals.Separately, in response to its call for proposals ...
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IN-motion hangs on to Neuer Markt listing
International media company IN-motion will remain listed on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt exchange after an arbitration panel ruled against the Deutsche Boerse's plans to delist itThis development comes less than a week after IN-motion announced sales of Euros 46.91m and a consolidated net loss of Euros 7.71m for the first six ...
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Germany's DVD sell-through market leaps 79%
Germany's DVD sell-through market has leaped 79% in the first quarter, over 2001, helping to boost overall turnover in the national video industry by 25.5% to $332.2m in the first three months of 2002.Statistics compiled by GfK for the trade association Bundesverband Video (BVV) show that the video/DVD sell-through sector ...
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German media funds defend accusation of US bias
The newly created interest group for Germany's media funds, Verband Deutscher Medienfonds (VDM) has responded to criticism from Culture Minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin and film industry figures that monies raised by the funds flow wholesale into US major studio productions.High-profile US productions that have tapped German equity funds include: The Fast ...
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Fund veteran Marco Mehlitz named COO at Cinerenta
Marco Mehlitz, the former head of production at VIF International Films, has been named chief operating officer of German production fund Cinerenta. He will be responsible for sourcing projects to be produced by Cinerenta and overseeing the projects alongside Michael Ohoven, CEO of LA-based Infinity International Entertainment, the US consultant ...
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New directors awarded German Film Board funds
The new generation of German cinema is the focus in the Federal German Film Board's (FFA) latest round of production funding which totalled Euros 2.5m.Backing between Euros 100,000 and Euros 270,000 was given to feature debuts by Marco Kreuzpaintner (Ganz Unz Gar) and Joachim Masannek (Die Wilden Kerle) and second ...
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Germany's Das Werk reports sales increase, film production optimism
German media company Das Werk posted a 14.6% increase in turnover to Euros 26.8m for the first quarter of 2002 compared to the same period last year, thanks to business generated by its new acquisition Centropolis Effects (CFX).In a breakdown of the Group's turnover, the German companies brought in Euros ...