„Chantal im Märchenland“ is rocking German cinemas. After only six days, Bora Dagtekin’s blockbuster hit its first million viewers yesterday. We spoke to Constantin board member Martin Bachman about the sensational start and what comes next.
Let’s call it like it is: Spot on, „Chantal im Märchenland“ is delivering the goods! How confident could you be that Bora Dagtekin’s sixth film would also be a hit?
Martin Bachmann: Of course, expectations are high when you start working on a movie like this. But when you’ve been in the industry for a few years, you know that a blockbuster is not a given. You hope for it. You believe in it. But you just don’t know. What has always given us confidence is Bora Dagtekin. With every one of his films, he has not only delivered, but has always exceeded expectations. You’re lucky to have someone like him at your side. It’s clear that you go all out, that you reach for the stars, that only the best is good enough. With another filmmaker you would have been just as confident, but as a distributor you might have acted more cautiously. That doesn’t count with Bora. As a distributor, you have a duty to challenge yourself just as much as Bora does on the creative side. You have to go all out. That’s why I was happy that I could write to my staff exactly what you said in your question: Spot on!
And on Easter to boot. So far, all Dagtekin films since „Fack Ju Göhte“ have always been released at the beginning of October.
Martin Bachmann: Easter was always a date we had in mind. We just didn’t communicate it for a long time because we couldn’t know whether Bora would really manage to finish this very elaborate film with its countless VFX on time. But clearly, that was our dream date. We geared everything towards it. We knew that „Chantal in Fairyland“ would be the right movie. Because there hadn’t been a really big comedy for a long time. And because the studios had left a big gap due to the strike. In the first quarter, „Dune: Part Two“ was the only really big film; things are looking better again overall in the second quarter, but the competitive environment is nowhere near as full as you might otherwise expect in early summer. „Chantal im Märchenland“ therefore has several weeks of almost free rein. It’s plain to see, the film is going down exceedingly well with audiences. We saw that at the huge premieres in Munich and Berlin, we are currently experiencing it on the fantastic cinema tour, and the reactions from the cinemas and on social networks reflect this as well. The only filmmaker in Germany who can deliver blockbuster entertainment with Hollywood quality right now is Bora Dagtekin.
And it’s clever too!
Martin Bachmann: It’s modern entertainment with depth and social relevance, from gender equality to women’s empowerment and diversity. We knew we had a strong movie. That’s inspiring. Even more so when you see that the efforts are bearing fruit.
I hear it was also a race against time. I was told that the film was only finished five days before the premiere.
Martin Bachmann: To be honest, it was even tighter. The DCP wasn’t actually pulled until Monday, and the world premiere in Munich was on that very evening. We worked until the last possible minute; any date after that would have been too late.
You officially announced the start date at the Munich Film Week, only then did „Chantal im Märchenland“ become visible to the public. The first trailer also came comparatively late. What needs to be guaranteed for a campaign to still be successful?
Martin Bachmann: My former boss in LA used to say: „This is not my first rodeo…“ You just have to be aware of the challenge. It was clear that the entire team would have to work extra hard to bring the film to the public’s attention in a very short time. However, we also knew what we had on our hands. And it wasn’t as if the campaign was only been launched internally after the date had been announced. Everything was well prepared. The fact that the trailer came out so late was due to the fact that the film had so many VFX, which, as we know, are always finished very late. Of course, the trailer had to look as good as possible and feature the big money shots. So you have to be patient and wait a little longer, you have to keep your nerve. I was used to this from my time at Sony, where it was quite similar with many big films. As you can see, it paid off.
Did you have to do more marketing overall because time was so short?
Martin Bachmann: The great distribution team did everything they could. We knew what was still to come, that collaborations with McDonald’s and Samsung were still to come. We had an extremely strong trailer push on youTube with the corresponding investment to get a lot of attention, more than you would normally do. We prepared two huge premieres and organized a major cinema tour. There was an elaborate cooperation with RTL. Special thanks go to CEO Stephan Schmitter, who saw „Chantal im Märchenland“ very early on and gave us a lot of support because he firmly believed in the film. When you have partners like that and work with actors who have given their all for the film, you can achieve ambitious goals. We involved many influencers, the models from „GNTM“ came to the premiere in Berlin, strong media brands such as Bild and Stern were involved, Jella Haase appeared with Max v. d. Groeben on „Let’s Dance“. And we always knew: It would pay off. We have a brilliant release date and will also be able to score points in the weeks to follow. We don’t have to hide from the competition.
You can see from the figures after the weekend that the film has been well received: 150,000 visits on Easter Monday…
Martin Bachmann: … and another 125,000 tickets sold on Tuesday. The figures are great. Yesterday we reached the threshold of one million visitors!
Does Constantin already have time to look ahead to the time after „Chantal“?
Martin Bachmann: I’m not telling you anything new when I point to the fall, when we will be bringing the next event to theaters with „Hagen“ – but not only in theaters, but also as a hybrid on RTL as a six-part series. But it is also a special production, the film adaptation of the greatest of all German legends. We showed an impression of it at Film Week imk Munich in January to give you an initial feel for it. Now we are working full time on a first trailer that will give an impression of the sheer size, but also the great emotion of the material. We will then also highlight this in the campaign to launch „Hagen“ as a blockbuster on October 31. The end of the year will see the release of „The Nickname“, the third part of Sönke Wortmann’s comedy series after „The First Name“ and „The Last Name“, for which we were once again able to gather the entire ensemble cast. Jusdt yesterday we announced the completion of filming. And then I mustn’t forget to mention „September 5“, the very intense new film by Tim Fehlbaum, who I consider to be one of the most talented directors in the German-speaking world with a strong signature style. If you look at the audience response to supposedly demanding films like „The Zone of Interest“ at the moment, we will also see a lot of momentum here.
And then „Das Kanu des Manitu“, Michael Bully Herbig’s return to the „Manitu“ universe, awaits in the not so distant future…
Martin Bachmann: I can promise that it will be big. But I can also promise that we have a lot more planned.
So you’re having fun?
Martin Bachmann: It’s a lot of fun to do something new, to take on new challenges. Constantin in Munich has always been a myth for me. The fact that I can now play a part in this myth myself makes me very proud. We are already on the right track.
The interview was conducted by Thomas Schultze.