{"id":479216,"date":"2026-02-16T21:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479216\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:20:13","slug":"oliver-berben-is-taking-constantin-film-to-new-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479216\/","title":{"rendered":"Oliver Berben Is Taking Constantin Film To New Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOliver Berben<\/a> refuses to be stuck in the past. When the longtime Constantin Film<\/a> exec stepped into the role of CEO nearly two years ago, he had a clear vision of how he wanted to steer the German production-distribution powerhouse to the next frontier and embrace indie-style fearlessness while building on the company\u2019s 75-year-legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe market has been changing rapidly, and I want creatives to see that we are a place where their visions can come to life,\u201d Berben says. \u201cWe consider filmmakers as an IP. Besides existing videogame, book or comic IPs, the biggest creative power you can have is a triple-A filmmaker and a package that combines those filmmakers with great cast and great ideas \u2013 that\u2019s what we are aiming for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis motto is exemplified in the company\u2019s most recent release,\u00a0Good Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die, which sees\u00a0Rango\u00a0Oscar-winner Gore Verbinski return to the big screen for the first time in a decade. Briarcliff released the AI comedy this past weekend, where it opened to a $3.6M 3-day tally across 1,610 theatres. (Deadline\u2019s Anthony D\u2019Alessandro says it was<\/a> \u201can almost near topple of Briarcliff\u2019s record opener Honest Thief, from 2020\u2033). On September 18, Sony will release Zach Cregger\u2019s version of Constantin\u2019s prize IP\u00a0Resident Evil<\/a>, which is set to be a \u201ccomplete new set up\u201d of the franchise. Cregger is the writer-director behind $270M global hit\u00a0Weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Deadline speaks to Berben, Constantin Film is coming off the back of a banner 2025 in cinema: It produced and financed the $30M Josh Boone<\/a>-directed romance\u00a0Regretting You, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover\u2019s book of the same name. Paramount released the project in the U.S. while Constantin handled distribution for all German-speaking territories. The Allison Williams and Dave Franco starrer ended up hitting $48.9M at the domestic box office and $90.5M globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Germany, the company had the biggest movie of 2025 with comedy\u00a0Manitou\u2019s Canoe, a sequel to 2001 hit\u00a0Manitou\u2019s Shoe. That title amassed more than five million admissions in Germany and earned \u20ac50.9M at the box office, which saw Constantin close the year as the biggest indie distributor of the year and fifth place overall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a sign that the audience is there and you just need to make the movies or shows that they really want to see,\u201d says Berben. \u201cIt\u2019s not just cinema \u2013 it\u2019s streaming and traditional TV too \u2013 they have all evolved into something different. The data of where the audience is and what they want is right here in front of us and we\u2019re focusing on exactly that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you get the right product to right people, they will embrace it. The only thing that has changed is that you cannot rely on the same ideas and patterns you used to release movies 10 years ago. The sooner people accept that, the better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFilmmakers as \u2018IP\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Friday saw the European premiere of Verbinski\u2019s\u00a0Good Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die\u00a0at Berlinale. Constantin developed, produced and financed the project \u2013 Verbinski\u2019s first indie film \u2013 with Briarcliff taking U.S. domestic rights and Constantin distributing in Germany, Austria and Swizerland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJuno Temple, Zazie Beetz, Michael Pe\u00f1a, Sam Rockwell, Hayley Lu Richardson, Georgia Goodman und Asim Chaudhry in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the EFM<\/a> this year, its frequent collaborator north.five.six brought three Constantin projects to market: Supernatural thriller\u00a0Siamese Dream, which sees Constantin reteam with Boone; an adaptation of Cecelia Ahern\u2019s novel\u00a0If You Could See Me Now\u00a0from director Peter Segal; and a screen adaptation of Jennifer Archer\u2019s YA\u00a0Into the Deep\u00a0from director Jonathan Wright.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s currently in edit for Cregger\u2019s\u00a0Resident Evil, which Berben says is \u201cfar away from everything that is connected to\u00a0Resident Evil,\u00a0only because Zach Cregger has his own style.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditionally, Constantin recently produced survival horror feature\u00a0Boi\u00fana: Legend of the Amazon\u00a0(aka\u00a0Titan) starring Logan Marshall-Green, Jessica Rothe and Kiana Madeira. Lionsgate will release the film in the U.S. later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Berben, this slate is reflective of how he\u2019s trying to reshape Constantin for the next generation.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe have changed a lot on the creative side,\u201d he admits, stressing that Constantin has been actively positioning itself to the international market as creative producers and not just financiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have strengthened the connections to the creative community in Germany. We are creating paths for new ideas and new creatives to enter the scene and providing them with the groundwork to grow and hopefully be successful in the coming years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continues: \u201cOur approach on the international front has undergone significant transformation. Over the past decade at Constantin Film, we often worked with the same group of creatives, albeit bringing fresh concepts each time. Now, however, we have fully broadened our horizons and opened our doors to new creative talent and ideas from across the globe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGood Luck, Have Fun, Don\u2019t Die, he says,\u00a0is a prime example of this. The film, which was set up out of Constantin\u2019s L.A. outpost headed up by Robert Kulzer and Pam Kunath, is Verbinski\u2019s first independent movie after studio films such as\u00a0Pirates of the Caribbean\u00a0films and\u00a0The Lone Ranger. The film stars Sam Rockwell alongside Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pe\u00f1a, Zazie Beetz and Juno Temple. It follows a man claiming to be from the future who takes the patrons of an iconic L.A. diner hostage in search of unlikely recruits in a quest to save the world against a rogue AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film world premiered at Fantastic Fest, an idea driven by Briarcliff head Tom Oretenberg. \u201cI love working with people who have these bold, new ideas of getting into this new market, which now looks completely different,\u201d says Berben. \u201cThis movie has laid the groundwork for where we want to go on the international side \u2013 stronger filmmakers with bolder ideas. We want to be the place in the independent market for \u2018Triple A\u2019 filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it came to entrusting Constantin\u2019s prize IP\u00a0Resident Evil\u00a0with a new voice, Berben admits it was a no-brainer to give Cregger \u201cthe carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWith\u00a0Resident Evil, we have had an incredible journey with one of the most successful international IPs of more than a billion dollars in box office for many years and now we are creating something new, not just a new story idea, but to allow a new generation to take the IP into their own hands and form something different.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational opportunity<\/p>\n

\n\tBerben says that the goal for growth in the U.S. and international markets is built upon its strong foundations in Germany. The company has frequently collaborated with \u201cwide and diverse\u201d directors like David Wnendt and Michael \u201cBully\u201d Herbig on its home turf. \u201cWe transferred that to the international market,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Resident Evil: Extinction\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe opportunity for us in the U.S. is unique. We have an advantage because we are coming with the territories already. We\u2019ll make things work. We can give filmmakers the opportunity to finally make their movies.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continues: \u201cWe can\u2019t provide every budget that is possible, but we can come in with a strong international element on the table. We\u2019re not trying to feed the machine, and we are very open in embracing working with third-party producers, doing more co-productions and getting involved with creative communities outside of our own. This is the most important to evolve. We have great producers out there and we offer them the possibility to create and to do what they want to do, because in some ways they might know better than we do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBerben has been steadily building a team that he says are integral to championing new voices, notably empowering a younger generation of film and television employees who contribute heavily to the decision-making process across the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow we have a bigger team discussing and greenlighting our ideas,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to include that next generation in the process but it\u2019s even more important to let them lead it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMost recently, Constantin hired Eric Lehmann as its Chief Technology Officer. He\u2019s responsible for building the group\u2019s AI function and steering the strategic development and deployment of new AI applications across production and distribution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re working with many different kinds of AI tools,\u201d Berben says. \u201cSome of them will work, some of them won\u2019t. But we are learning very quickly. The important thing is not to be the first but the best mover. You have to be open for everything, but it doesn\u2019t mean you have to do everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oliver Berben refuses to be stuck in the past. When the longtime Constantin Film exec stepped into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[12268,49,48,361,194071,187562,75,32870,194072,38309],"class_list":{"0":"post-479216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-constantin-film","13":"tag-efm","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-josh-boone","16":"tag-oliver-berben","17":"tag-resident-evil"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}