Oliver Berben refuses to be stuck in the past. When the longtime Constantin Film 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’s 75-year-legacy.
“The market has been changing rapidly, and I want creatives to see that we are a place where their visions can come to life,” Berben says. “We 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 – that’s what we are aiming for.”
This motto is exemplified in the company’s most recent release, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, which sees Rango Oscar-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’s Anthony D’Alessandro says it was “an almost near topple of Briarcliff’s record opener Honest Thief, from 2020″). On September 18, Sony will release Zach Cregger’s version of Constantin’s prize IP Resident Evil, which is set to be a “complete new set up” of the franchise. Cregger is the writer-director behind $270M global hit Weapons.
When 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-directed romance Regretting You, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 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.
In Germany, the company had the biggest movie of 2025 with comedy Manitou’s Canoe, a sequel to 2001 hit Manitou’s Shoe. That title amassed more than five million admissions in Germany and earned €50.9M at the box office, which saw Constantin close the year as the biggest indie distributor of the year and fifth place overall.
“It’s a sign that the audience is there and you just need to make the movies or shows that they really want to see,” says Berben. “It’s not just cinema – it’s streaming and traditional TV too – 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’re focusing on exactly that.
“If 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.”
Filmmakers as ‘IP’
Last Friday saw the European premiere of Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die at Berlinale. Constantin developed, produced and financed the project – Verbinski’s first indie film – with Briarcliff taking U.S. domestic rights and Constantin distributing in Germany, Austria and Swizerland.
Juno Temple, Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, Sam Rockwell, Hayley Lu Richardson, Georgia Goodman und Asim Chaudhry in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.
At the EFM this year, its frequent collaborator north.five.six brought three Constantin projects to market: Supernatural thriller Siamese Dream, which sees Constantin reteam with Boone; an adaptation of Cecelia Ahern’s novel If You Could See Me Now from director Peter Segal; and a screen adaptation of Jennifer Archer’s YA Into the Deep from director Jonathan Wright.
It’s currently in edit for Cregger’s Resident Evil, which Berben says is “far away from everything that is connected to Resident Evil, only because Zach Cregger has his own style.”
Additionally, Constantin recently produced survival horror feature Boiúna: Legend of the Amazon (aka Titan) starring Logan Marshall-Green, Jessica Rothe and Kiana Madeira. Lionsgate will release the film in the U.S. later this year.
For Berben, this slate is reflective of how he’s trying to reshape Constantin for the next generation. “We have changed a lot on the creative side,” he admits, stressing that Constantin has been actively positioning itself to the international market as creative producers and not just financiers.
“We 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.”
He continues: “Our 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.”
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, he says, is a prime example of this. The film, which was set up out of Constantin’s L.A. outpost headed up by Robert Kulzer is Verbinski’s first independent movie after studio films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films and The Lone Ranger. The film stars Sam Rockwell alongside Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, 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.
The film world premiered at Fantastic Fest, an idea driven by Briarcliff head Tom Oretenberg. “I love working with people who have these bold, new ideas of getting into this new market, which now looks completely different,” says Berben. “This movie has laid the groundwork for where we want to go on the international side – stronger filmmakers with bolder ideas. We want to be the place in the independent market for ‘Triple A’ filmmakers.”
When it came to entrusting Constantin’s prize IP Resident Evil with a new voice, Berben admits it was a no-brainer to give Cregger “the carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP.”
“With Resident 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.”
International opportunity
Berben 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 “wide and diverse” directors like David Wnendt and Michael “Bully” Herbig on its home turf. “We transferred that to the international market,” he says.
‘Resident Evil: Extinction’
“The opportunity for us in the U.S. is unique. We have an advantage because we are coming with the territories already. We’ll make things work. We can give filmmakers the opportunity to finally make their movies.”
He continues: “We can’t provide every budget that is possible, but we can come in with a strong international element on the table. We’re 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.”
Berben 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.
“Now we have a bigger team discussing and greenlighting our ideas,” he says. “It’s important to include that next generation in the process but it’s even more important to let them lead it.”
Most recently, Constantin hired Eric Lehmann as its Chief Technology Officer. He’s responsible for building the group’s AI function and steering the strategic development and deployment of new AI applications across production and distribution.
“We’re working with many different kinds of AI tools,” Berben says. “Some of them will work, some of them won’t. 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’t mean you have to do everything.”
