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German studio Constantin Film has greenlit The Canoe of Manitou, a sequel to Manitou’s Shoe, one of the most successful German-language movies ever. Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig returns to write, star and direct.

Having made his name in comedy sketch show Bullyparade, comedian and actor Herbig made Manitou’s Shoe in 2001. The comedy Western was a parody of the Winnetou Westerns of the 1960s. It was a huge hit, attracting almost 12 million moviegoers.

Christian Tramitz and Rick Kavanian are collaborating with Herbig on the screenplay and all three will reprise their roles from the first movie. Filming gets underway this year and the picture will hit theaters in 2025.

German broadcaster Rtl is on board and has snagged the TV rights.

“Bully is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding filmmakers in Germany and has mastered the art of making people laugh with his unmistakable humor,” said Oliver Berben, Constantin’s Deputy Chairman, and...

German theater owners got some good news Thursday night with mini-major Constantin Film unveiling that it has greenlit a sequel to Manitou’s Shoe, the blockbuster comedy Western from Michael “Bully” Herbig and one of the most successful German movies of all time.

Herbig broke the news to an industry crowd at the Munich Filmweek Thursday night, confirming he was returning to direct and star in The Canoe of Manitou, the sequel to his 2001 hit. He also posted a confirmation on his Instagram feed, noting that the movie will hit theaters next year.

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Herbig will reprise his role as Apache chief Abahachi, with the original co-stars from the first movie, Christian Tramitz and Rick Kavanian returning to play Ranger and Dimitri.

Manitou’s Shoe is a parody of the Winnetou Westerns of the 1960s, European-shot movies inspired by the writings of Karl May,...

’Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ opened with an estimated $38.5m in North America.

Global box office March 31 - April 2 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount) $71.5m $71.5m $33m $33m 61 2. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) $63.2m $244.9m $35m $122m 76 3. Suzume (various) $27.9m $221.1m $27.9m $221.1m 7 4. Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (Warner Bros) $11.9m $119.6m $7.2m $66m 79 5. Hachiko (various) $8.9m $9m $8.9m $9m 1 6. Scream VI (Paramount) $8.8m $152.7m $3.5m $54.5m 55 7. Creed III (Warner Bros) $7.7m $258.6m $2.7m $110m 72 8. Post Truth (various) $6.5m $84.5m $64.5m $84.5m 1 9. His Only Son...

Sony took advantage Monday of the chance to make a splash ahead of the Cannes Film Festival getting underway, unleashing water-skiing zombies and gremlins in speedboats to promote its upcoming animated feature, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.”

The studio has tried to make the most of the lull ahead of the festival’s launch in recent years, with a stunt for “The Emoji Movie” last year and “Angry Birds” in 2016. This time, undead bellhops danced to pop music before puppets of the cast emerged and joined in, along with an array of local kids.

Some of the film’s international voice talent — including Anke Engelke, Rick Kavanian and Lesia Nikitiuk — then came onto the pier, alongside director Genndy Tartakovsky.

He said that the new installment of the Sony Pictures Animation franchise will double-down on the action, playing to the international market. “It probably has half as much dialogue and so much more physical humor,...

Exclusive: The Drac Pack is coming to Cannes. For the third year in a row, Sony’s marketing team is pulling out the stops for a pre-film festival stunt that will showcase an upcoming title. In this year’s case, it’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. This follows similar plays with last year’s The Emoji Movie and 2016’s Angry Birds promo. HT3 tomorrow will stake out prime real estate during the lull in which much of the world’s media is prepping for the main event to open — and looking for photo ops.

Typically, this would be before the Wednesday kick off of the Cannes Film Festival, but the fest this year is going a day early, on Tuesday. And so, Sony stayed in step, planning its latest stunt for Monday.

At 3Pm local time tomorrow, folks from HT3 (whose full international title is Hotel Transylvania 3: A...

Bullyparade – Der Film will be based on the German cult TV series.

Amazon Prime is to become a partner on German comedy star Michael Bully Herbig’s latest feature film Bullyparade – Der Film, based on his eponymous cult TV series [pictured].

As part of their collaboration, the co-production between Herbig’s Munich-based herbX Film and Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany will receive its exclusive small screen premiere on the streaming service six months after its 2017 theatrical opening by Warner Bros. and before its release on DVD and other outlets.

“Our customers love German series and films,” said Amazon Video Germany MD Christoph Schneider. “The cooperation with Michael Bully Herbig and Warner Bros. is our next step to further expand our commitment to German films and series and make them available exclusively to our customers.”

The collaboration between Herbig and Amazon has been announced just a month after the streaming service revealed that it signed a deal with another...

"Manitou's Shoe" was Germany's blockbuster hit of 2001. This comic riff on American Westerns, created by radio and TV comic Michael "Bully" Herbig, single-handedly caused a substantial rise in the German boxoffice last year. The Berlin International Film Festival presented the film to international critics and buyers before its American Film Market bow.

This is a somewhat stripped-down version of Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles". The comedy earns several good laughs but revisits the same comic well too often to earn a place alongside Brooks' raunchy spoof. Comedies are always the most difficult kind of film to travel beyond native borders. By dealing with a well-known, albeit seldom-seen, movie genre, "Manitou's Shoe" can crack jokes that all moviegoers will understand. But North Americans are unlikely to accept cowboys and Indians, even comic ones, speaking German. So probably the film's best chance for domestic distribution is on video or possibly a dubbed theatrical version.

The "Blazing Strudel" spoof gets off to a fast start with lifts from Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns, anachronistic gags and bad puns -- well, possibly good puns because who can tell the difference? But the jokes wear increasingly thin as Herbig finds no way to expand the parody beyond that of a two-dimensional skit.

Performing two roles, that of an Apache warrior and his gay brother, Herbig is a live wire who encourages the rest of the cast to rise to his energy level. Musical numbers that make good use of Herbig and his co-stars -- Christian Tramitz, Sky Dumont and Marie Baumer -- enliven the campy enterprise. Technical credits are OK though heavily influenced by Herbig's TV background.

MANITOU'S SHOE

HerbX Film in association with

Constantin Film and Seven Pictures

Producer: Michael "Bully" Herbig, Michael Wolf

Director: Michael "Bully" Herbig

Screenwriters: Michael "Bully" Herbig, Alfons Biedermann, Rick Kavanian, Murmel Clausen

Director of photography: Stephen Schuh

Production designer: Claus Kottmann

Music: Ralf Wengenmayr

Costume designer: Dina Daigeler

Editor: Alexander Dittner

Color/stereo

Cast:

Abahachi/Winnetouch: Michael "Bully" Herbig

Ranger: Christian Tramitz

Santa Maria: Sky Dumont

Uschi: Marie Baumer

Hombre: Hilmi Sozer

Dimitri: Rick Kavanian

Running time -- 83 minutes

No MPAA rating...