Netflix Germany unveiled a pair of feature films, including Wiedemann & Berg title Brick, true-crime docs and a reality competition series this evening at a showcase in Berlin.
The sizeable slate announcement, which comes a day before a similar UK event, is notable given that Germany’s TV producers have seen the likes of Sky Deutschland pull out of originals and Paramount+ changing direction in their local production efforts.
Among the new titles is feature Brick (working title), which is currently being filmed and stars the likes of Matthias Schweighöfer, Ruby O. Fee and Frederick Lau. Slated to launch in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH) in 2025, the film follows a couple, Tim and Olivia, whose apartment building suddenly surrounded by a mysterious brick wall. They are forced to work with their neighbors to find a way out.
Philip Koch is the creator and Director of Photography. He produces alongside Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann, Benjamin Munz and Katrin Götter, with Nocturna Productions and W&B Television co-producing.
On the unscripted TV side is Kaulitz & Kaulitz a series from Constantin Entertainment in which twins Bill and Tom Kaulitz from the band Tokio Hotel are followed for eight months, charting their international career, family life, tourbus incidents, parties, drama and flirtations on a roadtrip throughout the rural U.S. Caroline Rußwurm is the producer. It launches on June 25.
Fight For Paradise: Who Can You Trust is a gameshow from Banijay Productions Germany in which a group of strangers have to maneuver their way into a luxury paradise and out of a hellish jungle camp by gaining each others’ trust. Bonnie Strange is the host and Andrea Lange is the executive producer. The show launches on April 23.
Doc series Jack Unterweger follows a ‘stranger than fiction’ true-crime case about celebrated Austrian author Jack Unterweger, who after becoming a prolific writer while behind bars for murders, was considered ‘rehabilitated’ upon release. However, he soon began to kill again and the doc will hear from the women who survived his attacks on how he entangled supporters in a web of lies. The Thursday Company produces and Kirsten Brandt is the director, with Felix Kriegsheim and Nils Bökamp the EPs. It launches this year.
Pinzer: German Hitman is from Beetz Brothers Film Production and follows the story of contract killer Werner “Mucki” Pinzner, who created one of Germany’s biggest ever scandals when he suddenly pulled out a gun at the Hamburg police headquarters on July 29, 1986, first shooting the public prosecutor, then his wife Jutta and finally himself. The show will take a look at his motives, using previously unpublished tape recordings and exclusive witness statements. It also explores how Pinzer’s lawyer, Isolde, increasingly became part of his crimes. Carsten Gutschmidt is the director and Georg Tschurtschenthaler the EP. A 2024 launch date has been set.
Finally, Shirin David, from W&B Television, follows Germany’s most successful female rapper as she goes on tour for the first time. Quirin Berg produces ahead of a 2025 launch.
Other announcements include a second season of dating format Too Hot to Handle, which launches next year, plus there were updates on The Empress season two, which we revealed was in the works in November 2022, and Love is Blind: Germany. Further new titles coming to Netflix Germany this year and next include two more from W&B Television: drama series Crooks and feature film Blame the Game. Kleo season 2 is also in the works from Zeitsprung Pictures, Rat Pack FIlmproduktion drama series Cassandra, Komlizenfilm’s family drama film Delicious, crime drama series Murder Mindfully and conspiracy series Exterritorial from Constantin and How to Sell Drugs (Fast) season 4.
