Sat.1 joins Circus with Dreamtool

Munich-based production company Dreamtool Entertainment is developing a drama for Sat.1 with the director of Ku’damm 56 about the legendary Circus Krone, one of the largest circuses in Europe still operating.

Sven Bohse and Stefan Raiser

The three-part miniseries will chronicle the history of the circus from its founding in 1900 through two world wars and its comeback in post-war Germany.

Sven Bohse, who directed ZDF’s hit historical miniseries Ku’damm 56 and is working on its sequel, Ku’damm 59, is set to helm the drama next year from a screenplay by Simon X Rost and Derek Meister.

Speaking to German trade magazine Blickpunkt Film, Dreamtool MD and producer Stefan Raiser said the story was an “epic about the rise, fall and return of the world famous menagerie and the history of a country and its people.”

Dreamtool is 49% owned by German distributor Beta Film.

Raiser described circus founder Carl Krone as “the Steve Jobs of the menagerie, the inventor of show business, who created the biggest circus in the world from his parents’ horse-drawn wagons.”

As well as having occupied a building in Munich since 1919, Circus Krone tours the country with as many as 200 animals, including lions, tigers, elephants, zebras and even a rhinoceros.

The circus has faced increasing opposition from animal rights activists but continues to draw crowds and sell out shows.