StudioCanal buys German prodco Lailaps

Canal+ Group-owned French company StudioCanal has added Germany’s Lailaps Films to its portfolio of production companies.

Nils Dünker

Producer Nils Dünker’s Munich-based firm recently launched adventure drama series Wild Republic on Deutsche Telekom-owned Magenta TV.

StudioCanal and Lailaps have been collaborating for several years as the former pushes into high-end drama production in Germany.

Dünker and his team are currently preparing Gesicht der Erinnerung for German pubcaster SWR and Austrian counterpart ORF, and the continuation of the series SOKO-Chef Ingo Thiel for ZDF.

Additionally, the film adaptation of Rita Falk’s bestseller Hannes, coproduced by Lailaps and StudioCanal, will be released this autumn by StudioCanal Berlin.

Nicolas Loock, MD of StudioCanal TV and Tandem Productions: “Creating and producing high-quality German content is a priority for our group and very important for StudioCanal’s international strategy.

“We firmly believe that strong series and films with German DNA can be very appealing to international audiences. In order to grow further It was important to find just the best partner and this collaboration with Nils and his team is the result.”

Dünker, MD and exec producer at Lailaps Films, said: “We are very happy about the trust StudioCanal has placed in us and that we are able to launch even more high-quality feature film and series projects with such a strong partner.

“This partnership makes us one of the leading European film production and distribution companies. In times of rising budgets and increasingly complex production logistics, we couldn’t imagine a more competent and capable partner for the exciting projects ahead.”

The announcement was made as part of a StudioCanal presentation at the annual Cannes Film Festival yesterday.

Among the television projects teased was a third season of CG animated series The Adventures of Paddington for M6 and Nickelodeon.

Principal photography has begun on a third season of Canal+ and The Walt Disney Company’s sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds.

The Blue Hour, based on the best-selling book by renowned author Douglas Kennedy, is being developed as a series in partnership with Vivendi-owned French publisher Editis.

Editis is also partnering StudioCanal and Authentic Prod to make NEO, the young-adult saga from French author Michel Bussi, into a series.

Following the success of Midnight Sun and Shadowplay, StudioCanal is also developing a new project, Butcher’s Hook, with Swedish writer and director Måns Mårlind.

Finally, StudioCanal’s Red Productions in the UK is working on Corto Maltese, based on the graphic novels by Hugo Pratt. Australian writer Andrew Knight (Jack Irish, Hacksaw Ridge) is attached to develop the script.