Picture Tree acquires box-office hit “Welcome to Germany”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Picture Tree Intl. has picked up world sales rights to German box-office hit “Welcome to Germany” (“Willkommen bei den Hartmanns”), which it will present to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market next week, Variety reports.

The comedy, which was Germany’s most successful local movie last year, deals with the issue of immigration. It was directed by Simon Verhoeven, whose credits include the popular German franchise “Men in the City” (“Männerherzen”), and the English-language stalker thriller “Friend Request,” which reached the top five in the U.K. box office last year, distributed by Warner Bros.

The cast of “Welcome to Germany” includes several well-known German-language actors, such as Elyas M’Barek, star of 2013’s top box-office hit in Germany “Fack Ju Goehte,” Florian David Fitz (“The Most Beautiful Day,” “Vincent Wants to Sea”), and Austrian actress Senta Berger, who played alongside Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas and John Wayne in the 1960s.

The film is produced by Wiedemann & Berg, one of Germany’s most successful production companies, whose credits include Oscar-winning “The Lives of Others” (2005), and box-office hits such as “Men in the City” (2009), “Who Am I” (2014), “Friend Request” (2015) and “Joy of Fatherhood” (2013), which was released in Germany as “Vaterfreuden.”

In Berlin, PTI will also present “Tiger Girl” by Jacob Lass (“Love Steaks”) as a world premiere and co-opening film in the Panorama Special section, as well as launch sales for the Euro 12 million ($13 million) budgeted action comedy “Hot Dog,” which is in production and stars Til Schweiger and Matthias Schweighöfer, two of Germany’s hottest stars.

Upcoming international titles include “The Confession” by Academy Award nominee Zaza Urushadze (“Tangerines”) and French-English road movie “Links of Life” by Marie-Helen Roux.