U.S. distribution deals for German films are of great strategic value for international rollouts, but lucrative prospects largely depend on the type of film on offer.
It has, however, become more difficult for U.S. distributors to convince exhibitors to program foreign-language movies in the U.S., Hemminger points out. Weber notes that while the production value and script quality of German films is much appreciated, German-language and English-language German productions face vastly different prospects. Whereas German-language films are quickly pushed into the arthouse sector, regardless of budget or style, English-language films enjoy much greater opportunities.“This is something that one of our distributors is currently doing,” Weber says.