Boxoffice-July.1997

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SPECIAL REPORT: Europe 1997
KNOCKIN' ON THE
BOXOFFICE DOOR
A German-made blockbuster may serve as a blueprint
for the European production and exhibition
"You've never seen the ocean? Don't you
know what happens when you get to heaven?
In heaven, all they talk about is the ocean. How
gorgeously beautiful it is. And all the sunsets
that they saw. How you couldfeel the sun lose
its strength. And how the cool water splashed
forwardand the onlyfire left was thefire in their
souls. And you ? You can 't say a thing, because
you've never been there. Up there, you'll be
"
nothing but af-— d up outsider
— from "Knockin ' on Heaven 's Door"
The
German film industry
is celebrating its
strongest period since
the 1950s, when domesti
cally-made German product
dominated theatre screens. In
first-quarter 1997, German
features accounted for 37 percent
of the national boxofficc.
More than 1 1 .6 million filmgoers
viewed German features
at moviehouses. In
comparison, American films
counted
19.3 million admissions
in the same period. This
is a-stounding, considering the
very large amount of Amen
can film being shown on Ck i
man screens. During 1997
first three months, 3,0'-' 1
prints of locally-made films
were delivered to German
theatres—a third more than
during an entire year jast half
a decade ago.
"We want to concentrate on producing German
films in Germany for the German public."
That was how Wolfgang Braun, vice president
of Buena Vista International Germany,
summed up his company's domestic business
strategy two years ago at the Buena Vista
International trade fair. And he wa.stcd no time
in putting this credo into action. Buena Vista
Germany's first German production,
by PKay Krieg
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door," a dramedy in
road-movie style, is already setting industry
standards on how German product will be
viewed internationally and how it will be produced
in the years to come. Among other
things, the Buena Vista production shows how
capital from a U.S.-based company can be
used to reinvigorate a European market, as
opposed to siphoning local resources, which
divisions of Hollywood studios are occasionally
accused of doing.
DOORWAY: T/ie story of two men who w, ml
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" has opened new wiij.
Buena Vista Germany risked plunging into
new territory by working with a dynamic
young German production company called
Mr. Brown Entertainment. The result of this
cooperative effort is a road movie about two
terminally ill men, Martin and Rudi, who meet
in the hospital. After realizing that one of them
has never seen the ocean, they steal a car.
planning on driving north to the sea before one
of them dies. It turns out that the car belongs
to Frankie Boy, whose hitmen, Henk and
Abdul, were supposed to transport it (and the
million German marks in the trunk) to
Frankie's boss, Curtiz. Now millionaires, Rudi
and Martin go on shopping sprees, order nx»m
service in the best hotels, and set about making
their foremost wishes come true, determined
to get to the ocean before fate overtakes them.
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was an instant
commercial smash for Buena Vista.
sea,
:man film.
Within just eight weeks it garnered the coveted
Golden Screen Award (Goldene
Leinwand) for more than
three million admissions sold
(a feat that typically takes up
to 18 months in release). The
film could be seen in almost
every theatre complex in Germany
during February and
March 1997, and it received
two prestigious German Film
Award nominations: for Best
Film and Best Supporting
Actor. Buena Vista Germany
and Mr. Brown Entertainment
touched the pulse of the nation
with their first try, which
makes the details of this intriguing
partnership worth noting
as a possible production
mcxlel for the shape of German
things to come.
•t all began rather harmlessly
two years ago in a
.bookstore in Cologne.
There, Thomas Jahn bumped
into Til Schweiger. Schweigerat that time was
regarded as a major up-and-coming star in
Germany. (He's since gained that reputation
.stateside, having become hot in Hollywood.)
He was basking in the success of "Der
Bewegte Mann" ("Maybe, Maybe Not"), another
huge domestic hit, which was released
on October 13, 1994. Pnxluced by Bemd
Eichingcr (head of Coastantin Film), "Maybe,