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Apple TV+ has announced the programming that will be added to the streaming service next month. The Apple TV Plus October 2024 lineup includes Before, Curses! Season 2, Disclaimer, The Last of the Sea Women, Shrinking Season 2, Tú También lo Harías, and Where’s Wanda.

Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment. It is available to watch across all of a user’s favorite screens.

Shrinking Season 2 Apple TV Plus October 2024 Schedule

Available October 2

Where’s Wanda? (Comedy Series)

“Where’s Wanda?” is an eight-episode German-language dark comedy produced by UFA Fiction, starring International Emmy Award nominee Heike Makatsch (“Love Actually”), German Comedy Award winner Axel Stein (“The Vault”), multiple award-winning actress Lea Drinda (“The Gryphon”), newcomer Leo Simon, entrepreneur, actress, and author Nikeata Thompson (“How to Dad”), presenter and actress Palina Rojinski (“Welcome to Germany”), Kostja Ullmann (“My Blind Date With Life...

Today, Apple TV+ unveiled the premiere date for its first German-language series Where’s Wanda?, which will debut globally on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, with the first two episodes, followed by a new episode every Wednesday through November 13, 2024.

The eight-episode dark comedy, produced by UFA Fiction, stars International Emmy Award nominee Heike Makatsch (Love Actually), German Comedy Award winner Axel Stein (The Vault), multiple award-winning actress Lea Drinda (The Gryphon), newcomer Leo Simon, entrepreneur, actress and author Nikeata Thompson (How to Dad), presenter and actress Palina Rojinski (Welcome to Germany), Kostja Ullmann (My Blind Date With Life) and rising star Harriet Herbig-Matten (Maxton Hall).

Where’s Wanda? tells the story of Dedo and Carlotta Klatt (Stein and Makatsch), who are desperate to locate their missing 17-year-old daughter Wanda (Drinda), who disappeared months ago without a trace. When the police fail to find her, the family takes matters into their own hands, obtaining surveillance...

Apple TV+’s debut German original drama Where’s Wanda? will launch globally on Wednesday, October 2.

The first two episodes will drop that day, followed by new episodes every Wednesday through to November 13.

The series was Apple’s first German scripted series order and the industry has been awaiting its launch, with some suggesting its success or otherwise will color how the global streamer approaches commissioning in the country going forwards. “The show has been in post for ages, and everyone is really hoping is does well when it launches,” a source in Germany told us this summer as part of our deep dive into German TV drama.

The eight-part dark comedy stars Heike Makatsch (Love Actually), Axel Stein (The Vault), Lea Drinda (The Gryphon), Leo Simon, Nikeata Thompson (How to Dad), Palina Rojinski (Welcome to Germany), Kostja Ullmann (My Blind Date with Life), Harriet Herbig-Matten, Devid Striesow (All Quiet on the Western Front...

Germany network Rtl Deutschland has struck a long-term strategic deal with Wiedemann & Berg Film and the producer’s parent, Leonine Studios.

The multi-year agreement covers free TV and streaming, and means Rtl Deutschland will have exclusive rights to German theatrical releases from the two companies, which produced or co-produced the country’s most successful film in each year between 2020 and 2023.

The pact includes the new comedy Alter Weisser Mann from director Simon Verhoeven starring Jan Josef Liefers, Nadja Uhl, Friedrich von Thun, Michael Maertens, Meltem Kaptan and Elyas M’Barek. It began shooting this month.

The film follows family man Heinz Hellmich, who tries show is ‘wokest’ side and prove he is not an ‘old white man’ to land the job he has longed for. Inviting his boss and colleagues to a dinner party, his family politically correct facade begins to crumble, causing chaos among the guests.

Andreas Fischer, Chief Operating...

If you’re going to make a music biopic — and with new dramatic takes on the lives of Bob Dylan, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson on the way, it appears everyone is — you’d better secure the music rights. Making a movie purporting to tell the story of a pop music legend without first clearing rights to use the pop music that made them legendary is a recipe for box office disaster.

Remember Stardust, Gabriel Range’s 2020 David Bowie biopic starring Johnny Flynn, shot without any music from Bowie? Or Jimi: All Is By My Side (2013) directed by John Ridley with André 3000 as Jimi Hendrix playing none of his original songs? How about England Is Mine, Mark Gill’s unauthorized Morrissey biopic with Jack Lowden and Jodie Comer? Probably not. Without the sing-alone tunes, those films sank without a trace.

The blockbuster pop biopics — Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman,...

Apple TV+ has set its first German-language series, “Where’s Wanda?”

“Where’s Wanda?” tells the story of a couple desperate to find their missing daughter. After months of waiting for the police to track her down, Dedo and Carlotta Klatt finally take matters into their own hands. With the help of their tech-savvy son Ole, the family bug their local neighbourhood – which is when they begin to realize that their neighbors are hiding more than they realized.

Produced by Fremantle-owned UFA Fiction, the dark comedy stars Heike Makatsch (“Love Actually”) as Carlotta and Axel Stein (“The Vault”) as Dedo. Lea Drinda (“The Gryphon”) stars as 17-year-old Wanda while newcomer Leo Simon plays Ole.

Rounding out the cast are Palina Rojinski (“Welcome to Germany”), Nikeata Thompson (“How to Dad”), Devid Striesow (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), Joachim Król (“The Most Desired Man”), Jasmin Shakeri (“The Magic Flute”) and...

Apple TV+ has greenlit its first project out of Germany.

Darkly comic TV series Where’s Wanda? answers the question of how far a person would go to save their child. Produced by Fremantle-backed Moonage Daydream-maker UFA Fiction, Where’s Wanda? tells the story of Dedo (Axel Stein) and Carlotta Klatt (Heike Makatsch), who are desperate to locate their missing daughter months after her disappearance. When the police fail to find her, they take matters into their own hands and discover that behind closed doors, none of their neighbors are who they pretend to be.

Where’s Wanda features an ensemble German cast including multiple award-winning actress Lea Drinda (The Gryphon), newcomer Leo Simon, presenter and actress Palina Rojinski (Welcome to Germany) and entrepreneur, actress and author Nikeata Thompson (How to Dad). It is directed by Christian Ditter (How to be Single) and Tobi Baumann (Faking Hitler) and written...

With some of Germany’s most successful production companies in its stable, Leonine Studios is reaping the rewards with such feature film and television hits as “School of Magical Animals,” “Nightlife,” “Dark” and “Pagan Peak.”

Leonine’s production division includes such well-established companies as Wiedemann & Berg Film, which focuses on theatrical features, W&b Television and Odeon Fiction, which produce movies and series for all broadcasters and streaming platforms in Germany, documentary outfit Gebrueder Beetz and format maker I&u TV.

“We are in for high creative quality and commercial success,” explains Quirin Berg, who, along with Max Wiedemann, serves as Leonine’s chief production officer and managing director of Wiedemann & Berg Film.

“The parameters in each segment we are operating in may be different, but the agenda is not. And that was already the profile when we started out as producers some 20 years ago.”

Indeed, Wiedemann & Berg’s first feature film,...

Voltage Pictures has boarded worldwide sales, excluding Germany, on buzzy Milli Vanilli biopic Girl You Know It’s True from Leonine Studios and Wiedemann & Berg Film. The company began shopping the title at Berlin’s European Film Market after a footage showcase for buyers on Thursday.

The film follows the spectacular 1980s rise of the Grammy-winning German-French R&b duo, as well as their fall after it emerges that they lip-synch all of their songs. It wrapped production late last year and is expected to be ready for release near the end of 2023.

Newcomers Tijan Njie from Germany and Elan Ben Ali from France play bandmates Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, while Simon Verhoeven (Welcome to Germany) directs and Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann (The Lives of Others, Dark) produce. The film also features Matthias Schweighöfer (Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Oppenheimer), Graham Rogers (The Kominsky Method) and Bella Dayne (Troy: Fall of a City).

Verhoeven,...

Exclusive: Picture Tree Int’l (Pti) has boarded sales on German Sophie Scholls – The Final Days Oscar-nominee and hitmaker Marc Rothemund’s heart-warming family drama Weekend Rebels, inspired by the true story of a father who forged a special bond with his autistic son through the search for a perfect soccer club.

The film, currently in post-production, is produced by Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann.

Their Oscar-winning banner Wiedemann & Berg Film company has delivered a slew of award-winning pictures over the years including The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who Am I. SevenPictures Film co-produces.

Leonine Studios is also on board and will release the film in Germany on September 28, 2023.

Florian David Fitz leads the German cast as a father who gets closer to his 10-year-old autistic son through a quest to find a soccer club they can support together,...

Roland Emmerich’s upcoming “Moonfall” and Simon Kinberg’s current release “The 355” are part of a multi-year licensing agreement between German independent content house Leonine Studios and Sky Deutschland.

Under the terms of the deal, Sky Deutschland secures exclusive first pay TV rights and the exclusive SVOD rights for a period of 12 months to the upcoming theatrical feature films and home entertainment titles from Leonine Studios’ premium content line-up.

The multi-year license agreement also includes Guy Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune,” Reid Carolin’s and Channing Tatum’s “Dog,” and Jennifer Lopez starrer “Shotgun Wedding.” Included in the deal are two upcoming German films – Leonine co-production “The School of Magical Animals 2,” the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release 2021 of with more than 1.5 million admissions, and the upcoming comedy “Jga,” the second film by award-winning director Alireza Golafshan from Leonine’s production banner Wiedemann & Berg Film.

The deal also...

Leonine Studios has picked up six-part event series “Herzogpark,” one of the first big-budget offerings commissioned by German broadcast giant Rtl’s streaming service Tvnow.

Leonine will handle worldwide sales, and is set to launch global distribution at next month’s Mipcom market in Cannes. The show, from “Bad Banks” producer Letterbox Filmproduktion, is directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank, who is best known for his Oscar-winning short film “Toyland.”

Billed as a scandalous society comedy-drama with strong female characters, the cast is led by Heike Makatsch (“Love Actually”), Lisa Maria Potthoff (“Kaiserschmarrndrama”), Antje Traue (“Dark”) and Felicitas Woll. Others include Heiner Lauterbach (“Welcome to Germany”), Jeanette Hain (“The Reader”), Trystan Pütter (“Babylon Berlin”) and Lukas Spisser (“What We Wanted”) and Francis Fulton-Smith (“Blackout”).

The show centers on Hannah, Elisabeth and Annabelle, who are beautiful, rich and want to stay in their home in Munich’s highly exclusive residential area of Herzogpark at all costs.

Pierre-Antoine Capton and Fred Kogel have established their respective companies, Mediawan (“Call My Agent!) and Leonine (“Dark”), as European powerhouses in only a few years. With their new joint vehicle, Mediawan & Leonine Studios, they’re now ready to gear up to the next stage with the acquisition of the award-winning U.K. production company Drama Republic.

The acquisition allows their new outfit, which is financially backed by New York-based private equity firm Kkr, and Mediawan to make its first foray into the U.K. and more broadly into the competitive English-language market. But that’s only the beginning, as the execs said they will look to make one or two mergers and acquisitions per year and are looking at markets such as Germany, France, Scandinavia and the U.S.

The two executives sat with Variety during the Cannes Film Festival to discuss their plans, their hands-on approach and talent-driven strategy...

Picture Tree Intl. has secured global sales rights of Berlin comedy “Nightlife,” directed by Simon Verhoeven, following his last film “Welcome to Germany,” which was Germany’s comic relief to the refugee crisis. The film sold to more than 60 territories and screened at more than 50 festivals worldwide, while being the No.1 box office hit in Germany in 2016.

“Nightlife” features German star Elyas M’Barek as bartender Milo who, on a night out in Berlin, meets Sunny, a Berlin native and the woman of his dreams – a fateful encounter as it soon turns out. Their first date starts out very smoothly until Milo’s chaotic friend Renzo, played by Frederick Lau, appears on the scene. Unexpectedly, the romantic evening turns into a wild race through the nightlife of Berlin with the trio fighting for nothing less than their lives and true love.

After blockbusters like “Maennerherzen” (Men in the City) (2009) and “Welcome to Germany...

The German director is in Berlin shooting a new comedy toplined by Elyas M’Barek, Palina Rojinski and Frederick Lau. Production began last week in Berlin and the surrounding areas on Nightlife, a new film by Simon Verhoeven. Best known for having directed the box-office hit Men in the City and Welcome to Germany, a comedy about the refugee crisis, which in 2016 managed to attract more than 3.9 million viewers into the dark rooms and became the highest-grossing German-language film of the year, Verhoeven is now readying his sixth feature. Nightlife will follow Millo (Elyas M’Barek), a barkeeper, and Sunny (Palina Rojinski), a real Berliner, as they meet accidentally during a night out and decide to go on a date. Everything seems to be going well, but when Millo’s shambolic friend Renzo (Frederick Lau) joins them, the romantic evening turns into a wild ride through Berlin’s nightlife. Millo and Sunny.

German Films, a body that promotes Teutonic talent and content, staged a panel discussion on “breaking boundaries” during the Berlin Film Festival, as part of the fest’s Drama Series Days section. Taking part were three of the participants of German Films’ 2019 Face to Face program – Fahri Yardim, Luise Heyer, and Maria Dragus. For all three breakthrough roles in independent films led to parts in major TV series, which have given them an international platform for their talent.

Dragus’ big break came early, when she appeared as a child actor in Michael Haneke’s film “The White Ribbon.” This took her to Cannes, where the film won the Palme d’Or, and the Oscars, where it was nominated for best foreign-language film. Dragus also won best supporting actress at the German Film Awards.

That success launched her acting career, which has included a recent role in a Hollywood movie, “Mary Queen of Scots,...

Picture Tree Intl. has added German romantic comedy “Cold Feet” (Kalte Füsse) to its market lineup at the Berlin Film Festival, where the sales agent will screen the film as a market premiere. Sony Pictures released the pic, directed Wolfgang Groos, in Germany on Thursday, and it garnered 100,000 admissions over its opening weekend.

“Cold Feet,” set in a snow-covered landscape, tells the story of petty criminal Denis, who breaks into the winter cottage of rich business man and stroke patient Raimund. Denis is mistaken for the new nurse by Raimund’s granddaughter Charlotte, a police-academy trainee. In order not to get busted Denis decides to play along. Then a snowstorm hits and a game of cat and mouse ensues in the snowbound house.

Denis is played by Emilio Sakraya, who previously appeared in “Heilstätten” and the “Bibi & Tina” movie franchise; Raimund is played by Heiner Lauterbach, whose credits include...

Constantin Film is adapting German author Ferdinand von Schirach’s international bestseller “The Collini Case,” a legal thriller that deals with Germany’s Nazi past and that was inspired by the author’s own family history.

Elyas M’Barek (pictured), of “Fack ju Göhte” fame and one of Germany’s leading actors, toplines the film, “Der Fall Collini,” which is being directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Christian Zuebert, Robert Gold and Jens-Frederik Otto. M’Barek plays an attorney who takes on a defendant accused of the vicious murder of a respected elderly businessman. In researching the case, the young lawyer comes across one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history and a truth that nobody wants to face.

Alexandra Maria Lara (“You Are Wanted”) and Heiner Lauterbach (“Welcome to Germany”) also star in the courtroom drama, which is shooting this year for a 2019 release via Constantin.

Comedy and romance bookend the 2017 Stony Brook Film Festival presented by Island Federal Credit Union. The 22nd Annual Sbff opens on July 20th at Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University. U.S. premiere screening of Welcome to Germany (Willkommen bei den Hartmanns), a feature written and directed by Simon Verhoeven (Men in the City), opens the Festival. Welcome to Germany is a timely comedy about a well-off Munich family who offer to take in a refugee. The film stars Senta Berger, Heiner Lauterbach, Palina Rojinski, Elyas M'Barek and Eric Kabongo. The film from Picture Tree, produced by Quirin Berg, Michael Verhoeven, Simon Verhoeven and Max Wiedemann, is being shown in its first screening in North America. A romantic comedy, Text for You, from...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Maren Ade named best director as female filmmakers flourish.

Toni Erdmann continued its triumphant run at the German Film Awards on Friday night, taking home six coveted Lola statuettes in an evening dominated by strong women filmmakers.

Maren Ade’s tragicomedy received the Golden Lola for Best Feature Film as well as double honours for Ade (pictured at left) herself as director and screenwriter, plus statuettes for her lead actors Sandra Hueller (pictured at right) and Peter Simonischek, and a Lola for the film’s editor Heike Parplies.

Handled internationally by The Match Factory, Toni Erdmann began winning the hearts of critics and audiences around the globe following its premiere in Cannes’ Official Competition last year.

It picked up five European Film Awards in Poland’s Wroclaw last December – in the same categories as the Lolas except for editing – as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.

Hours before Friday night’s ceremony in Berlin, the film’s...

Simon Verhoeven’s Welcome to the Hartmanns becomes the year’s No 1 local-language film in Germany, earning more than $20m at the domestic box office

A comedy about the refugee crisis has become Germany’s biggest homegrown film of the year. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Willkommen bei den Hartmanns (Welcome to the Hartmanns) – which follows a well-to-do woman’s decision to take in an African refugee – has broken the $20m barrier at the German box office. This puts it some distance ahead of the second-placed Der Geilste Tag (The Most Beautiful Day) as the most successful German language film of 2016 at the domestic box office.

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New Roy Andersson feature About Endlessness also gets backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

Terrence Malick is lining up WWII drama Radegund (aka Jägerstätter), about the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II who was executed by the Nazis in 1943 aged 36.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI declared Jägerstätter a martyr and he was beatified by the Catholic Church.

Set to play Jägerstätter is August Diehl (Inglourious Basterds, The Counterfeiters), while Valerie Pachner (Jack) is also due to join.

The project was announced by the German funding body the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, which is backing it with €400,000.

The drama is reportedly set to shoot at Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, Germany, this summer and marks Malick’s return to the WWII era following acclaimed 1998 title The Thin Red Line.

The title Radegund refers to the Thuringian princess and Frankish queen from the 6th century who found protection under the Church after fleeing her marriage when her husband had her...