News

Germany’s Leonine Studios is to receive the European distributor of the year award at exhibitor convention CineEurope 2025.

The prize will be presented at the CineEurope awards ceremony on June 19 in Barcelona, Spain.

Leonine Studios’s theatrical releases include US titles through to German franchises and international arthouse films.

In 2024, Leonine co-produced and distributed School Of Magical Animals 3, the highest-ranking German film of the year by admissions.

2024 marked the fifth consecutive year in which a film produced, co-produced or distributed by Leonine had topped the national box office among German titles.

Its other releases last year included The Zone Of Interest,...

By most standards, Sandhya Suri’s fiction feature debut “Santosh” is already a hit. After premiering in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar, the Hindi-language crime thriller about a widow who inherits her late husband’s police officer job in rural India has gone on to win the Golden Frog for debut director in Camerimage, land a European Film Award nomination and win two British Independent Film Awards. In France, the film had a successful box office run over the summer, with more than 150,000 admissions to date. It’s now the U.K.’s submission for the Oscars’ international film category – following in the triumphant footsteps of “The Zone of Interest” – and recently made the shortlist.

And yet “Santosh” achieved almost all of this without having a U.K. distributor lined up, sales agent Mk2 and its producers having spent months struggling to find a suitable partner.

Indeed, there was eleventh...

German sales outfit Epsilon has closed a raft of sales on two titles on its AFM slate: animated features Mimi & Harold - Out Of Frame and Brave Heart Yakari.

Mimi & Harold - Out Of Frame, produced by Ulysses Filmproduktion and directed by Toby Genkel, has gone to Poland (Kino Swiat), Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria (Prorom Media), ex-Yugoslavia (Karantanija), Baltics (Gpi), Ukraine (Svoe Kino), Russia (Arna Media), Israel (Red Cape Distribution), Middle East (Selim Ramia & Co), Turkey (Tme), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Greece (Rosenbud), Vietnam (Mockingbird) and Taiwan (Swallow Wings). The German release is being handled by Dcm.

Meanwhile,...

The popular “School of Magical Animals” movie series continues to find success both at the German box office and around the world. The third film in the franchise has risen to the top spot in German cinemas for four consecutive weeks since its September release.

According to sales agency Epsilon Film, “School of Magical Animals 3” earned over $4.2 million in its first weekend, ranking ninth worldwide. As of mid-October, ticket sales have reached $16.4 million in Germany alone. The first two movies also performed well domestically, together grossing over $36.5 million.

International audience interest in the franchise remains high. Epsilon Film has secured deals for the new movie with distributors across Scandinavia, Hungary, Poland, and former Soviet countries. The films will also air on airlines worldwide.

The movies are based on a popular book series by Margit Auer, which has been translated into 26 languages. Set in a boarding school for magic, the...

Epsilon Film has revealed the first presales deals for family entertainment film “School of Magical Animals 3” as the latest installment in the hit franchise continues to dominate the German box office. The sales agency has also secured worldwide rights to the recently filmed “School of Magical Animals 4.”

Epsilon has closed presale deals on the third installment for Scandinavia (Another World Entertainment), Hungary (Ads), Poland (Nowe Horyzonty), Cis (Voxell), Baltics (Gpi), Israel (Red Cape Distribution), Ex-Yugoslavia (Karantanija Cinemas) and Bulgaria (Pro Films). Worldwide airline rights were sold to Eagle International.

“School of Magical Animals 3” took $4.2 million on its opening weekend at the German box office after it was released on Sept. 26 by Leonine, placing it ninth in the worldwide box office rankings. By Oct. 19, it had grossed $16.4 million. The film continues to dominate the German charts, occupying the number one spot after four weeks on release.

The first two...

Germany’s box-office takings in the first nine months of 2024 are down 16% year-on-year to €559m, according to provisional figures from Comscore.

Around 57 million cinema tickets - a decrease of 14.5% on the same period in 2023 - were sold between January 2 and October 2, which makes it unlikely it will reach the target of 90 million admissions for the year by the end of December.

Warner Bros had been the market leader in the first half of 2024 thanks to the performance of Dune - Part Two, but Disney has since overtaken with a nine- month total box office total of €117m and 11.85 million admissions.