Variety to Honor German Film Company LEONINE Studios at Cannes

Leo Barraclough
Updated ·3 min read

Variety will bestow its International Achievement in Film Award on German production, licensing and distribution company LEONINE Studios at a ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

This award is the most prestigious honor Variety can bestow on an international film company or executive, and is designed to spotlight the honoree’s achievements over the past few years.

More from Variety

Steven Gaydos, Executive Vice President, Global Content, Variety, said: “Building on the links to a storied, successful history, LEONINE Studios has rapidly established itself in the past few years as one of the world’s leading producers, licensors and distributors of premium movies and series.

“The LEONINE Studios name is now known for its brave and highly informed decision-making, as well as its innovation, and its allegiance to high-quality product. In a challenging and complex global entertainment business environment, LEONINE is steering a dynamic, creative course that is serving as a model of boldness and efficiency for others to follow.”

Fred Kogel, CEO of LEONINE Studios, adds: “Four years ago, we embarked on a mission to establish a media company for the digital future that is synonymous with premium content across all genres and platforms throughout production, distribution, and licensing. Receiving Variety‘s International Achievement in Film Award is a great honor, acknowledging our achievements over the past few years. I’d like to thank Variety for recognizing our commitment to quality content and productions, and the entire LEONINE team for its tireless dedication.”

LEONINE Studios was set up in 2019 by Kogel after he acquired Tele München Gruppe, which already owned Odeon Film as well as Universum Film and i&u TV, with financial backing from private equity group KKR. He then partnered with Max Wiedemann and Quirin Berg, and acquired their production houses Wiedemann & Berg Film, which had won an Oscar with “The Lives of Others,” and W&B Television, the producer of Netflix series “Dark.” Later acquisitions included SEO Entertainment, hyperbole Medien and gebrueder beetz Filmproduktion.

In 2021, LEONINE Studios formed a joint venture with France’s Mediawan, whose titles include “Call My Agent” and many others.

LEONINE Studios quickly established itself as one of Europe’s biggest movie buyers, picking up more than 40 feature films since its start, amongst them major international titles like “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Knives Out,” Roland Emmerich’s “Moonfall” and “Hustlers.” It also produced or co-produced significant German titles such as “Nightlife,” which was the most successful German movie at the local box office in 2020, “School of Magical Animals,” the most successful German movie at the local box office in 2021, and its sequel, which was the most successful local film and the fifth highest grossing film at the German box office last year.

LEONINE Studios’ upcoming theatrical releases include the Milli Vanilli biopic “Girl You Know It’s True,” which it produced inhouse, “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” and “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Its upcoming major TV productions include “The Gryphon” for Amazon Prime Video and the documentary series “Juan Carlos: Downfall of the King” for Sky Studios.

Before setting up LEONINE Studios, Kogel was head of entertainment at ZDF, managing director of Sat.1 and Kirch Media as well as CEO of Constantin Film. In addition, he established several of his own enterprises, including Kogel & Schmidt GmbH, a production company that produced the renowned late-night talk show “Harald Schmidt Show,” named after its legendary host of 19 years.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.