Babelsberg studios profits dip by unparalleled losses over Hollywood strikes

Admin I Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024

 

BERLIN – Germany’s Babelsberg Film Studio saw significant financial losses in 2023 which the company blamed on disruptions from the months-long strike by screenwriters and actors in the United States.

“There was a sharp drop in orders in all of Studio Babelsberg’s business divisions,” according to the studio’s newly released annual report.

Among other things, a planned cinema production by director Wes Anderson (“Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Darjeeling Limited”) at Babelsberg had to be interrupted last summer and postponed until this year as a result of the strikes.

Turnover collapsed, dropping from around €109 million ($120 million) in 2022 to around €21 million last year.

At the bottom line, the Studio Group made a loss of around €3.1 million in 2023, after posting profits of €2.8 million in 2022.

The loss would have been significantly higher if the US owner of the film studio, the Cinespace Group, had not compensated Babelsberg for around €6.5 million.

The studio was forced to reduce working hours for many employees due to the poor order situation, according to the report.

According to the report, the Babelsberg Film Studio is still feeling the effects of the Hollywood strike this year as well, with at least one series having been cancelled.

“Nevertheless, we expect a significant increase in Group revenue compared to 2023, in particular due to the continuation of productions cancelled in 2023 and postponed to 2024,” the report said.

Although the company once again expects a loss, this will be significantly lower than last year.

The Babelsberg studios, located just outside Berlin, were founded in 1912 and have a storied history in German cinema. Seminal films such as Fritz Lang’s 1927 “Metropolis” and Josef von Sternberg’s 1930 “The Blue Angel” were produced there.

More recently, a number of international Hollywood films have worked at the studios in addition to German and other European productions.