Films and series: producers from Munich celebrate world success – Munich

In view of the fact that the cinemas have been closed for months, nobody can be satisfied with the cinema numbers for 2021, but all the more so with the streaming numbers: Munich producers in particular celebrated great successes, and they even landed world hits. Ever since the streaming platforms found out that national productions were well received by the audience, Amazon Prime, Sky Ticket or Disney + have also been producing in Germany. However, Netflix currently has the greatest output, and the US streaming giant also released the first German global success in 2017: The Mystery Series “Dark” was a national hit, but a huge hit internationally, with fans in Brazil, India and the USA. It was produced by Max Wiedemann and Quirin Berg, their Munich-based company also works for other online program providers: only recently appeared on Sky “The Ibiza Affair” or “Blackout” at Joyn – both series should also be successful internationally.

The Munich producer duo Jakob Claussen and Uli Putz released the second season of their Netflix series “Biohackers” in the summer, while Oliver Berben realized a series version of “Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo” for Amazon Prime. The Munich producer Dan Maag, on the other hand, relied on a feature film: The Safeknacker Story “Army of Thieves” The film was shot by and with Matthias Schweighöfer in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, and it premiered in October. On the very first weekend it was the most watched film worldwide, reaching number one on the Netflix charts in 87 countries.

Veronika Ferres is proud of her “Female Power Team”

But does such a global success also pay off financially? “It’s no secret that these are commissioned productions,” says Dan Maag on the phone, “that the rights to such a format are then lost, lies in the system.” So the thing is a bit double-edged: on the one hand, streaming producers reach a larger audience than ever before, on the other hand, they don’t benefit as much from hits as they do with movies. In the case of flops, however, the risk also lies with the platforms. The production is also easier, as Netflix & Co. often take over the complete financing. “It all went very quickly,” says Maag. After Netflix gave him the green light, he was able to set up “Army of Thieves” within a few months.

It took much longer for Christian Becker: The producer is behind the feature film with his Munich-based company Rat Pack Film “Blood Red Sky”that nobody in Germany wanted to finance for almost 15 years. But Netflix wanted – and landed another global hit in the summer of 2021: The bloody vampire thriller was seen in more than 50 million households shortly after its start, and it reached number one on the Netflix charts in 57 countries. Can such a success be repeated? At least Becker tries: Shortly before the end of the year, he sends the comedy “One Night Off” into the running, this time on Amazon Prime.

Has already proven its suitability for the public “The Unforgivable”: The American-German co-production started shortly before Christmas and reached number one on the Netflix charts in 94 countries. The drama is already one of the most watched films of the year. In addition to his German-born leading actress (Sandra Bullock) and his German director (Nora Fingscheidt), he can also boast a German producer: Veronica Ferres is behind this project with her Munich production company, which could be the beginning of a Hollywood producer career for the actress. Ferres was most recently in Los Angeles, from where she let it be known that she was proud of this “female power team that tells an intense story that now touches millions of people around the world”.

But why is it that so many streaming hits are coming from Munich in particular? That doesn’t surprise him, says Dan Maag, after all there are a lot of good cinema producers here: “And since streamers like Netflix offer options that are otherwise only offered by the cinema, you of course also use them.”