German Box Office Champion ‘School of Magical Animals’ Sells to China, Japan, Latin America (EXCLUSIVE)

Munich-based world gross sales firm International Display screen has closed additional offers in main territories for the household leisure journey “College of Magical Animals,” probably the most profitable German movie on the native field workplace final yr. International Display screen may even be promoting the sequel, it introduced Tuesday.

Offers have been closed for China (A-Quest Tradition Media), Japan (Nice Movies), Latin America (Discovery), Hungary (ADS), Serbia and Croatia (Investacommerce), and Portugal (NOS). Worldwide airline rights had been offered to Eagle Worldwide.

Beforehand introduced offers embody Spain (Flins y Penicuals), Italy (Adler Leisure), CIS (Voxell), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Israel (Crimson Cape Distribution), Taiwan (CaiChang), and Center East (Selim Ramio & Co), with Scandinavia in negotiation.

The nice and cozy-hearted journey with CGI-animated animals is about in an uncommon college the place the youngsters obtain a magical animal as a companion. When Ida strikes to a brand new city along with her mom, she is under no circumstances thrilled by the prospect. However then she will get the prospect to make new mates on the Winterstein college. She may be very stunned when she finds out that there are academics with magic powers and magical animals. The primary pupils to be given such a speaking animal are Ida and her buddy Benni. Along with Ida’s intelligent fox and Benni’s 200-year-old turtle, the buddies tackle the mysterious case of a crafty college thief.

Distributed in Germany by Leonine, the movie opened in October 2021 on greater than 600 screens with a fantastic begin at quantity two, solely crushed by “No Time to Die,” and stayed within the Prime 10 charts for 12 weeks. The movie was final yr’s most profitable German movie on the native field workplace, with a gross of greater than $12.4 million.

Commenting of the movie’s field workplace triumph, Julia Weber, head of International Display screen, mentioned: “This proves that high-end household leisure nonetheless attracts huge audiences to the cinema. This idea of reside motion and CGI animated speaking animals is most engaging to all worldwide audiences, as our gross sales show.”

The sequel, “College of Magical Animals 2,” would have “much more magical animals, even larger funds, and much more enjoyable adventures at Winterstein college,” Weber mentioned. Capturing of the sequel wrapped on Sept. 15, and it’s now in animation and post-production. International Display screen plans to current first footage on the Cannes Movie Market.

“College of Magical Animals” producers Alexandra and Meike Kordes of Kordes & Kordes Movie (Chris Kraus’ “4 Minutes”) tailored the internationally bestselling e-book collection for the massive display screen, with a funds of just about 10 million Euros, as a co-production with Wega Movie in Austria, and Leonine. The movie was directed by Gregor Schnitzler (“The Cloud”) with animation director Tomer Eshed of Lumatic Animation & VFX.

Margit Auer’s books have been revealed in additional than 25 international locations. It’s the main e-book model for kids and younger adults in German-speaking Europe, with seven million books offered in Germany alone. The collection has grown to 11 volumes, and there may be extra to come back because the writer lately mentioned she has “a lot extra animals in thoughts.”

International Display screen credit embody animation hit motion pictures “Ooops!” and “Luis and the Aliens,” thriller-drama “The Collini Case,” and arthouse film “A Thousand Occasions Goodnight,” starring Juliette Binoche. Present highlights embody the World Warfare II refugee drama “The Path” and “The Wonderful Maurice,” the 3D animation based mostly on Terry Pratchett’s novels, with a voice-cast led by Hugh Laurie and Emilia Clarke.

International Display screen is a subsidiary of Telepool, which is 100% owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.