News

The China-set feature is based on an original script.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet is set to shoot a live action feature inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix.

Guillaume Canet is set to play the role of the plucky Gaul hero alongside Gilles Lellouche as his rotund companion Obelix.

Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road will see the Asterix and Obelix head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet revealed the casting via a...

The China-set feature is based on an original script.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet is set to shoot a live action feature inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix.

Gilles Lellouche is set to play the role of the plucky Gaul hero alongside Guillaume Depardieu, who reprises his role as his rotund companion Obelix.

Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road will see the Asterix and Obelix head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet revealed...

Canadian comedian André Sauvé will adapt into a film a famous monologue he did in a sketch: the grocery store (l'épicerie). The film will fittingly be called L'épicerie.

This will be the second film in which André Sauvé plays after Filière 13. Instead of being in a supporting role like in Filière 13, Sauvé will be the lead actor.

Christal Film Productions, a production company, announced yesterday that André Sauvé will write the film's script along with Claude Lalonde (Filière 13). For the moment, no director is attached to the film.

The film is about a man who goes to the grocery store. Once there, he starts to panick because of what's offered to him on the shelves.

In the next months, the producers of the film will seek subsidies from Telefilm Canada and the Sodec, respectively a federal and a Quebecker cinematographic funding agency. The producers expect L'épicerie's budget to be at $6 M.

The European Film Promotion (EFP) and the San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 18-27) launched a new promotion initiative entitled "European Distributors: Up Next".

Ten independent distributors from Central and Eastern Europe attending the festival discussed the possibilities of theatrical distribution on a European level. Since the majority of European producers do not cross national borders, the meetings in San Sebastian were aimed to create possible platform and networking opportunities to improve the circulation of European productions.

• From Slovenia, Natasa Bucar, project manager of the cultural center Cankarjev Dom, a public institution that organizes many events promoting film, including the Ljubljana International Film Festival has been in art film distribution for the last 15 years. They distribute five to six titles every year to fill the gap in theatrical distribution of European high-profile films in Slovenia. Priority is given to established and not always well-known European and other international filmmakers. Their last distributed titles were Neil Jordan’s ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, Tony Gatlif’s ‘Transylvania’, Bent Hamer’s ‘Factotum’, Dagur Kari’s ‘Dark Horse’, Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘12:08 East of Bucharest’, Roy Andersson’s ‘You, the Living’, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’, Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ and Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’.

Besides Cankarjev Dom, there are only four arthouse cinemas in Slovenia. They need more along with arthouse cinema networks to enable better film promotion. In Slovenia, like everywhere in Europe, the number of cinema viewers has fallen drastically. Audiences focus on fewer films, the top 20 films take up to almost 50% of the market in Slovenia.

• From Hungary, Rita Linda Potyondi of Cirko Film - Másképp Foundation, the only Hungarian distributor to operate as a non-profit-foundation, they also own one theater in Budapest. Working on a showstring budget, they are guided by personal tastes and focus on international and particularly European ‘difficult’ auteur films with targeted or limited audiences, especially those that explore themes related to discriminated groups: homosexuals, handicapped people, ethnic or religious minorities and victims of family abuse. Their last releases include films by Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Baltasar Kormakur, Alain Corneau, Bruno Podalydès, Bertrand Bonello, Claire Denis, Ferzan Ozpetek, Catalin Mitulescu and Oskar Roehler. A recent surprise success was Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘Adam's Apples’ which became a sort of cult film. They also did well with Palme d’Or-winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, and ‘Persepolis’, Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding, ‘Red Road’, ‘My Brother Is An Only Child’, ‘A Soap’, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Upcoming are the Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's ‘Lorna’s Silence’, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Belepine’s ‘Louise Michel’, Nic Balthazar’s ‘Ben X’, Simon Staho’s ‘Heaven’s Heart’, Ole Christian Madsen’s ‘Kira’s Reason’, Josef Fares’ ‘Leo’, Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘The Green Butchers’ and ‘Flickering Lights’, and Ole Bornedal’s ‘Just Another Love Story’.

• Czech distributor Artcam’s Managing Director Premysl Martinek knows he is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007 combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4,000,000 viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market. However Martinek is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors and is interested in the shared challenges, from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees. The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.

Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly 1,000,000 people where European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films.

Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Ole Madsen's drama ‘Prague’, ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. The international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors who are now crowding the arena. This year in Cannes when they tried to acquire ‘Waltz with Bashir’, there was greater competition. Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema because if they lack exposure to the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration, they cannot develop their own cinema. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”

• Polish distribution company Gutek’s Jakub Duszyński, artistic director and head of programming (along with Roman Gutek) at the Muranow movie theater also programs for the different festivals held at the theatre and for Poland’s largest film event, the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw. A lawyer by training and a fan of Asian genre films, Duszynski has also set up a distribution company (Blink) specializing in this type of film.

Gutek Film has always been a launching pad for auteur films and has released films by Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmush and Wong Kar-Wai. Every year, they distribute two or three films not aimed solely at auteur film enthusiasts, but also at multiplex audiences. Among such titles are Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ and ‘Control’. Coming up are Polish features including Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Four Nights With Anna’, Piotr Lazarkiewicz’s ‘0_1_0’ and Katarzyna Adamik’s ‘Boisko bezdomnych’. They distribute almost exclusively European films. The box office is certainly dominated by US films, but by only a few titles which often have, interestingly, something European about them, for example they may be inspired by European literature.

• Slovakia’s Michal Drobny is marketing manager for Slovak distributor Continental Film. Slovakia sees 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 admissions in a year. A successful film for Continental is 10,000 to 15,000 admissions, as compared to one of the Harry Potter films which will have 200,000 admissions.

Continental releases 30 to 40 films a year and, thanks largely to its partnership with Warner Bros, enjoys a market share of 20%–30%. Continental also serve as Slovak distribution partners for Hollywood Classic Entertainment, which often buys rights to European and arthouse titles for several Eastern European territories at once. Continental acquires other titles through direct negotiation with the producers, usually from the Czech Republic. Drobny seldom attends festivals other than Berlin. This year is his first visit to San Sebastian.

Margins are tight for Continental, which is the second or third largest distributor in Slovakia. Continental is also a 30% shareholder in Slovak multiplex chain Cinemax, which owns nine cinemas countrywide. Continental also operated Bratislava's only arthouse cinema until it was turned into a congress hall.

Continental counts on public money for a small portion of its operating budget. The Slovak Ministry of Culture gives support up to a maximum of SKK 160,000 (€5,500) for the distribution of European films which covers the cost of two or three prints. Continental also receives funding through the MEDIA automatic support scheme, typically receiving 40 to 60 cents per admission for European films.

Drobny says this public support is welcome but it's seldom enough to make a real difference to distributors. “A print for a US title costs $300 [€210]. For a European title, the cost is $1,000–1500 [€700–1,000] for the print, plus I still need to pay for the all the marketing materials and the cost of subtitles,” he says. “We can't be surprised that American films are everywhere.”

Not surprisingly few European films secure distribution in Slovakia. Cinemax promotes European and arthouse film through its Artmax program and screens independent films once a week, sometimes for free. Current titles in the selection include ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘The Science of Sleep’, ‘Volver’ and ‘Angel’. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain, Continental and Cinemax are creating a Spanish Days celebration of Spanish cinema at Cinemax locations in November.

Drobny has hopes that digital cinema will help small distributors, but believes it will be five to ten years before the major studios settle on a common format. Even then, the costs of converting screens will be challenging for the private sector. “To install one 2K digital system costs SKK 3m–4m [€100,000–132,000] and we have 37 screens, so it's a lot of money,” he says. “We'd like to invest but it will take a long time to see a return on that investment.”

• From Romania, Transilvania Film, founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Stefan Bradea is one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. At first they distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually turned to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Their eclectic selection is targeted to the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35. Their latest premiere was ‘Non pensarci’ by Gianni Zanasi, an Italian comedy. Coming up are Gus Van Sant’s ‘Paranoid Park’ and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s ‘Silent Wedding’, Adrian Sitaru’s ‘Hooked’ and Anca Damian’s debut, ‘Crossing Dates’. Their most profitable film was Tudor Giurgiu’s ‘Love Sick’ with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features were Neil Burger’s ‘The Illusionist’, with 11,500 admissions, and ‘Paris Je T’Aime’, with 9,715 admissions.

Film distribution business in Romania is rather unstable. There are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year to 40-50 screens around the country. The number of distributors is growing and it is becoming a overserved field.

The Romanian mainstream public has little interest in European arthouse film and there are very few available screens, no arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. And there is competition among distributors.

• Stefan Kitanov is the founder of the most important annual film event in Bulgaria, the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2001 he founded ART FEST Ltd., the company behind Sofia IFF. The same company is one of the key European film distributors in Bulgaria. ART FEST Ltd. has three components: production, distribution and exhibition.

Most recent releases include Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, ‘The Palermo Shooting ‘by Wim Wenders and ‘Delta’ by Kornel Mundruczo. The most successful releases were Francois Ozon’s ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Crossing the Bridge’ by Fatih Akin with 8,000 to 10,000 admissions.

Such a distribution business is not profitable. Festival audiences like European films but the general audience likes Hollywood films. Festival audiences don’t go to regular cinemas. The general audience goes to regular cinemas, therefore European films don’t go regularly to mainstream cinemas. There need to be events around the distribution of European films so that they be seen, such as a traveling package going to different towns, whether it is with 35mm or video screenings. There are less than 30 towns in Bulgaria with cinemas.

• From Estonia, Katrin Rajaare of Tallinnfilm, a state-owned company that used to produce the majority of Estonian films during the Soviet era has stopped production and sold its studio and now focuses on restoration of its archives. In 2004, Tallinnfilm began operating as an arthouse cinema and a year later started a distribution operation to ensure continuous programming for the cinema. Tallinnfilm acquires the rights to 12-16 films a year, mostly European films, with some titles from Asia and the US. As a state-owned company, Tallinnfilm buys mostly Estonian theatrical rights only. It is the second largest distribution company in Estonia, with a market share of 2.6%. In the Baltic countries, all rights are acquired for smaller films and shared with Lithuania’s Skalvija and Latvia’s Kino Riga. Their biggest hit in 2007 was ‘La Vie en Rose’ with 9,606 paid admissions. This film was number 43 in the 2007 national box office chart. Only US and Estonian films were at the top of the chart. Recent acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ to be released around Christmas and the beginning of 2009.

There is a small, steady market for arthouse titles in the capital city of Tallinn, but the recent opening of a five-screen miniplex in the second city, Tartu (96,000 inhabitants), has brought hope from the outskirts as well. There are very few towns where you can screen European films, although the cinemas have received public support for technical equipment and should screen arthouse titles, but the reality is that you can’t force cinemas to screen certain films that won’t bring in audiences.

• From Lithuania Skalvija, an exhibitor since 1962 under the name of Planeta became the only arthouse in Lithuania in 1992. It has only one screen and 88 seats and is subsidized by the Vilnius Municipality. Located in the city center; it promotes quality cinema and pays special attention to young audiences and education. Its market share as an exhibitor is 1.11%. Two major multiplex theatres share 70 % of the entire Lithuanian exhibition market. Greta Akcijonaite heads its recent arthouse film distribution activity. Over the last two years they have released 10 films theatrically, and another 5 have been acquired for Lithuania and/or all the Baltic States. As a very small and specialized distributor, Skalvija has a market share of 0.64%. Most recent releases were the Danish film ‘Adam's Apples’, with almost 8,000 admissions and the Spanish film ‘Dark Blue Almost Black’ with over 6000 admissions. Recent acquisitions include Sam Garbarski’s ‘Irina Palm’ (Belgium/UK), Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Delta’ (Hungary), the Palme d’Or winner ‘The Class’ (France) by Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay’s ‘Soy Cowboy’ (Thailand/UK), Ruben Östlund’s’ Involuntary’ (Sweden), and Ilmar Raag’s ‘The Class’ (Estonia).

The market share of the European films released theatrically was 25% in 2007 although the share of admissions to European films was only 11%. There is definitely a lack of venues for screening European and quality films.

• Latvia’s Oskars Killo heads Acme Film Sia the leading independent film distributor in Latvia, established in 2004 and owned by Acme, a Lithuanian based company. The rights for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are bought by the mother company in Lithuania. In 2007, Acme Film had 62 theatrical releases and a 25% market share. In 2008, the number of films released will be the same, but the revenue is expected to be higher. In 2008, Acme Film has had such European successes as French films ‘99 Francs’ and ‘Asterix at the Olympic Games’, and Spain’s ‘The Orphanage’. The last European hit was ‘2 Days in Paris’, released on one print on July 4, 2008 and still in release with 12,500 admissions thus far. ‘Cash’ was released on one print on August 1 and has 8,500 admissions so far. The results for ‘2 Days in Paris’ and ‘Cash’ are comparable to recent US releases in Latvia such as ‘The X-Files 2’, and ‘Disaster Movie’. Recent European acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Paris’, ‘JCVD’, ‘The Duchess’, ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, ‘Vinyan’, ‘Ne te retourne pas’ among others.

In 2007, European films had a 18.3% market share, US films a 66% market share, the rest of the world 10.1% and national films a 5.5% market share.

The continuing appeal of broad French comedy in Europe pushed Asterix at the Olympic Games to the No. 1 overseas spot for the second consecutive weekend with estimated boxoffice of $18 million from six territories, lifting its total international take to about $56 million.

Oscar-related titles and other international newcomers also commanded weekend attention.

20th Century Fox's Juno with its four nominations opened in seven new territories and drew an estimated $8.7 million from 1,138 screens in 15 markets, enough to qualify for fifth place. The film's international total stands at $17.7 million, $135.3 million worldwide. A U.K. bow produced $4 million from 363 spots.

Paramount's No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers' crime drama, opened at No. 2 in Spain with $2.2 million from 307 spots for an overall estimate of $5.3 million from 1,352 screens in 15 markets.

Following its Friday bow at the Berlin International Film Festival, Disney premiered another best picture contender, Miramax's There Will Be Blood, in the U.K. and Australia for a combined $717,000 from two days worth of showings at 93 screens.

Newcomers included Warner Bros.' Fool's Gold, the action comedy with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. The film, which was the weekend's No. 1 domestic title, opened in Australia and another undisclosed market for an estimated $1.9 million from 250 sites. Universal premiered the father-daughter romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe in the U.K. for $1.5 million from 331 situations, enough to rank No. 5 in the territory.

Warners' L: Change the World (Death Note 3), the latest in the Japanese-language horror series co-produced by Warner Bros. Japan and commercial broadcaster Nippon TV, had a dominant No. 1 opening in Japan with an estimated $4.9 million from 398 screens.

PARIS -- The cast list is one to die for. The makers of Asterix at the Olympic Games, the third in the franchise featuring Gaul's favorite comic book hero, have lined up Alain Delon, Gerard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Jose Garcia, Benoit Poelvoorde and Jean-Pierre Cassel, and that's only the actors.

Famous names from other fields who bolster the project include Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt (motor racing), Zinedine Zidane (soccer), Tony Parker (basketball) and Adriana Karembeu (fashion). Trailed on YouTube months in advance, backed with a massive publicity budget, opening simultaneously on 5,000 screens throughout Europe -- including more than 1,000 in France, the movie, boasting a record budget upward of $100 million, appears certain to pack them in. Nevertheless, the question must be asked: Is it any good?

Perhaps the fairest that can be said is that it's a curate's egg of a movie -- good in parts. While Asterix III is unlikely to win the praise of critics as its predecessor, "Asterix & Obelix Meet Cleopatra," did five years ago, it provides plenty of gags and visual trickery to please children, adolescents and celebrity-spotters and contains at least one noteworthy performance.

When the young Gallic swain Alafolix (Stephane Rousseau) plights his troth to the beautiful Greek princess Irina (Vanessa Hessler), he finds himself in competition with Brutus (Poelvoorde), the ambitious son of Julius Caesar (Delon), to whom she has been promised by her father. To settle the dispute, though she loves Alafolix, Irina says she will give her hand to whichever of the two wins the sports tournament about to take place on Mount Olympus. Asterix (Cornillac) and Obelix (Depardieu) lead a Gallic delegation to compete against teams from Rome, Greece, Egypt, Spain and other parts of the then-known world. Meanwhile, in a parallel strand, the buffoonish Brutus is scheming to get rid of his father by any possible means, including poison, in order to succeed him.

If the plot lacks subtlety, so do the gags, not to say that none of them are funny. The humor is hit-and-miss, with plenty of misses, and the jokey references to modern French pop songs will pass over the heads of foreign audiences.

What first-time director Thomas Langmann and his co-director Frederic Forestier succeed best in providing is a sense of spectacle. They make abundant and effective use of SFX and computer-generated imagery to produce an array of cartoonish effects, culminating in a chariot race that owes nothing to Ben-Hur. The movie lacks pace -- 15 minutes could have been trimmed -- and that it nonetheless hangs together is mainly because of the efforts of Poelvoorde, the one actor who has a genuine comic talent. He plays Brutus as a cross between Caligula and Jerry Lewis and is the best reason for seeing the movie, apart from taking the kids.

ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Pathe Distribution (France)

Pathe Renn production, La Petite Reine, TF1 Films production, Tri Pictures, Sorolla Films, Constantin Film, Novo RPI

Credits:

Directors: Frederic Forestier, Thomas Langmann

Screenwriters: Alexandre Charlot, Franck Magnier, Olivier Dazat, Thomas Langmann

Based on the comic book by: Rene Goscinny, Albert Uderzo

Producers: Jean-Lou Monthieux, Pierre Grunstein

Director of photography: Thierry Arbogast

Editor: Yannick Kergoat

Production designer: Aline Bonetto

Costume designer: Madeline Fontaine

Music: Frederic Talgorn

Cast:

Asterix: Clovis Cornillac

Obelix: Gerard Depardieu

Brutus: Benoit Poelvoorde

Julius Caesar: Alain Delon

Alafolix: Stephane Rousseau

Princess Irina: Vanessa Hessler

Couverdepus: Jose Garcia

Assurancetourix: Franck Dubosc

Panoramix: Jean-Pierre Cassel

Alpha: Luca Bizzarri

Omega: Elie Semoun

Humungus: Nathan Jones

Running time -- 117 minutes

No MPAA rating...

The overseas circuit took a Gallic turn during the weekend as France's Asterix at the Olympic Games opened across Europe atop of the international boxoffice heap, grossing an estimated $25 million from about 6,000 screens in nine territories.

Backed by an unprecedented $5.8 million marketing campaign in France, Pathe Distribution's release of the third installment in the hugely popular Asterix series took a 47% boxoffice share of its home market and performed strongly in Germany and Austria as well. The France take alone came to an estimated $17 million from 1,078 screens in the opening five days.

In Germany, the take was an estimated $3 million from about 500 situations. In Austria, the weekend estimate came to $675,000 from 75 sites, including $38,000 from previews. However, in the U.K., the latest Asterix fared poorly, ranking 61st in the market with $4,000 from just three playdates. (Complete returns from Russia, Belgium, Greece, Switzerland and Poland were not available on Sunday.)

At a production budget of $113 million, Asterix at the Olympic Games is the most expensive French movie ever made. Like its two predecessors -- "Asterix and Obelix Versus Caesar" and "Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" -- it is a live-action adaptation of a comic strip about a band of roistering Gauls who refuse to bend to Roman invaders. The cast includes Gerard Depardieu, Alain Delon and Clovis Cornillac. Openings in Italy, Holland and Spain loom this week.

The weekend also accommodated a mix of newcomers including Sony's Cheung Gong 7 Hou (CJ7), from Hong Kong director Stephen Chow, which debuted in time for Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, Taiwan and in Australia.

PARIS -- French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel died Thursday in Paris after a long illness. He was 74.

"I honor the memory of a man who, with a subtle and ironic sophistication, left a unique imprint on the history of cinema, theater and television," Veronique Cayla, head of French national film body the CNC, said in a statement Friday.

Cassel got his break when he was discovered by Gene Kelly, who cast him in The Happy Road in 1957, and subsequently rose to fame starring in film comedies in the 1960s.

He went on to work with such major directors as Robert Altman, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Sidney Lumet, Claude Chabrol and Richard Attenborough.

The actor starred in more than 110 movies during his career and earned the onscreen affections of Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Stephane Audran and Marie Dubois among others. Cassel, who once cited Fred Astaire as a source of inspiration, was famous for his role as the ungainly King Louis XIII in Richard Lester's pair of early 1970s films The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers.

His latest roles include Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," In Competition at May's Festival de Cannes, in addition to the soon-to-be-released animated movie Asterix at the Olympic Games.

Cassel is survived by his three children, including son Vincent, who also has made a big name for himself stateside with roles in the recent Ocean's Twelve and Derailed.

Father and son were set to star in Jean-Francois Richet's two-film project about infamous gangster Jacques Mesrine -- Death Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1...

COLOGNE, Germany -- German indie production powerhouse Constantin Film has extended its output deal with broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1 for another two years, through 2008, the companies announced Tuesday.

The arrangement will give ProSieben German free-TV rights to all of Constantin's in-house productions, including new comedy titles from directors Leander Haussmann (Berlin Blues) and Oscar-nominated Marc Rothemund (Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.)

Constantin first signed with ProSieben in February 2005. Films delivered under that output agreement include boxoffice hits Perfume -- The Story of a Murderer, Resident Evil: Apocalypse and German kids film Hui Buh -- The Goofy Ghost.

Under a separate deal, Constantin licensed a package of high-profile film titles to ProSieben. These include the George Clooney thriller Michael Clayton, horror sequel The Grudge II, Asterix At The Olympic Games featuring Gerard Depardieu and Alain Delon and Bridge To Terabithia, the upcoming fantasy feature from Chronicles of Narnia producers Walden Media.

Tuesday's deal follows ProSieben's three-year, $300 million licensing agreement with Warner Bros. International Television (HR 10/28) and comes as reports are circulating that the German broadcaster is being put up for sale. By buffing up its feature films slate, ProSieben could be improving its bargaining position for a future sell-off.