Constantin Film

History

Founded by Bernd Eichinger as Neue Constantin Film in 1977, Constantin Film developed into the first German film distributor with its own production company in just six years, with production activities extending to the international market. In 1986, the Kirch Group (at the time Europe's biggest film and TV licence traders) acquired a minority stake in Neue Constantin Film.

In the following years, Constantin Film fixed its position on the international movie market by establishing various production subsidiaries across Europe in 1996. At the end of the nineties, Constantin Film acquired majority stakes in the film production companies Olga Film GmbH, Engram Pictures and MOOVIE GmbH. In September 1999 the company then went public on the German stock market as Constantin Film AG. Deutsche Börse placed the Constantin Film share on the selection index Nemax 50 in March 2000.

Constantin Film AG founded Rat Pack Filmproduktion GmbH over the next few years with producer Christian Becker and his team. The Swiss Highlight Communications AG (a strategy and finance holding with the operative segments of film and sports and event marketing) acquired 23 percent of the capital stock of Constantin Film AG from Kirch Beteiligungs GmbH und Co. KG and from diversified holdings for the first time in 2002. In 2003, the board of Constantin Film AG embarked on a new strategic path for the company: the traditional business areas of production and distribution were expanded to include the three areas of licence trading, home entertainment exploitation and increased TV service production (especially TV entertainment). Constantin Film AG also acquired 61 percent of the shares in KirchMedia Entertainment GmbH (now renamed Constantin Entertainment GmbH), one of the market leaders in German show and entertainment production. The stake was increased to 100 percent in 2005.

At the end of 2009, the listing of Constantin Film AG expired; all the shares were transferred to Highlight Communications after a squeeze-out. Constantin Film AG, as part of Highlight Communications AG, now belongs to the media group Constantin Medien AG, which emerged from the former EM. Sport Medien AG and has had its new name since the beginning of 2009. The company encompasses the four business areas of sports (Sport1, LIGA total!, Sport1.de, Plazamedia and Creation Club), film (Constantin Film, Constantin Entertainment and Rainbow Home Entertainment), sports and event marketing (Team Holding AG) and other (holding activities).

Production

The most successful licence titles and internal or co-productions in Germany include (in terms of numbers of viewers) The Never Ending Story (approx. 5 million), The Name of the Rose (5.9 million), Das Geisterhaus (nearly 4 million), Dances With Wolves (nearly 6.8 million), Seven (more than 2.8 million), The Sixth Sense (more than 4 million), Maybe... Maybe Not (more than 6.6 million), Werner - Beinhart (more than 4.9 million), Rossini (more than 3.2 million), Ballermann 6 (more than 2.4 million), Asterix & Obelix vs. Caesar (nearly 3.6 million), Werner – Volles Rooäää!!! (nearly 2.8 million), American Pie (more than 6 million viewers, the biggest film of 2000), Downfall (more than 4.6 million viewers. Oscar®-nominated), Perfume - The Story of a Murderer (nearly 5.6 million), The Baader-Meinhof Complex (more than 2.4 million), Manitou's Shoe (the most successful German film ever with more than 11.7 million viewers), Dreamship Surprise – Period 1 (9 million), Lissi and the Wild Emperor (more than 2.2 million), Vicky the Viking (nearly 5 million), Nowhere in Africa (1.66 million viewers. Oscar® winner for "Best Foreign Language Film" in 2003), The Wave (more than 2.5 Mio), Hui Buh (more than 2 million), The White Massai (more than 2.2. million), Männersache (1.8 million), Horst Schlämmer – Isch kandidiere! (1.35 million), Maria, He Doesn't Like It (1.3 million), Pope Joan (2.3 million), The Flying Classroom (more than 1.9 million), Bibi Blocksberg (more than 2.2 million), the Wild Chicks series (3.2 million), Girls on Top (nearly 1.8 million), Türkisch für Anfänger (2.4 million), Suck me Shakespeer (7.3 million) and the international self-production Resident Evil (3.6 million viewers), which developed into a successful international franchise.

After the success of Türkisch für Anfänger in 2012 (nearly 2.4 million visitors), the Constantin subsidiary Rat Pack Filmproduktion GmbH, together with the director and author Bora Dagtekin and producer Lena Schömann and their team, landed the biggest German hit of 2013: the school comedy Suck me Shakespeer, starring Elyas M’Barek and Karoline Herfurth.

Successful films of 2014 include the third part of the popular Famous Five series, The Hundred-Foot Journey, starring Helen Mirren and produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, the Bavarian crime comedy Winterkartoffelknödel based on the novel by Rita Falk, and the romantic comedy Love, Rosie by director Christian Ditter, based on the novel by Cecelia Ahern.

In 2015 the company produced the Fantastic Four reboot, the third film of the franchise. Slated later in the year is the sequel to Bora Dagtekin's cult comedy Suck me Shakespeer and the film adaptation of the best-selling satire Er ist wieder da, directed by David Wnendt.