Can Constantin Survive Its Own Parent Company?

In Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, our plucky protagonist, medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams), heroically fights his way through hordes of zombies, only to (spoiler alert!) be overcome by the mutant virus within him in the film’s final, controversial ending.

As a metaphor for Constantin Film, that might feel a bit on the nose.

The German production and distribution group, which holds the film rights to the Resident Evil video game franchise and produced Cregger’s reboot with Columbia Pictures, is coming off a triumphant year. But internal issues — specifically potentially toxic levels of debt at its parent company, Highlight Communications — mean its future may ultimately be beyond its control.

Resident Evil, at least, is a clear win for Constantin and its CEO, Oliver Berben. The global box office for Cregger’s reboot is $410 million and counting against a reported $75 million budget, making it the highest-grossing title in a franchise that now runs 12 features, including four animated films, and two Netflix series.

“I was discussing this with [Sony Pictures CEO] Tom Rothman,” says Berben, “and he pointed out how rare it is to take an intellectual property that has been around for so long — one that was arguably on the decline in terms of performance — and successfully reposition, revitalize and prepare it for the future. The fact that we managed to turn this IP around is remarkable.”

Berben, who took over as Constantin boss two years ago, sees this as evidence his strategy for the German mini-major is working. “Things have progressed faster than I had anticipated,” he says. “We have succeeded more quickly than expected in steering the company back onto a growth trajectory.”

Berben’s approach at Constantin has been to shift the company away from what he calls its previous “high-risk strategy” of investing in “large, very expensive productions” like recent flops In the Lost Lands, a $55 million fantasy starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista, which grossed a fraction of its budget worldwide, and Momo, a family fantasy film featuring Martin Freeman and Claes Bang that cost upward of $35 million and has earned less than $3 million globally. “We need to rethink how we finance such large-scale productions moving forward,” he says.

Which doesn’t mean Constantin is going downmarket or putting a cap on its ambitions, budget-wise.

“This discussion about budgets is always somewhat misleading,” says Berben. “It’s rarely just about the budget itself. What’s actually at stake is the risk profile of a project, not the budget.”

Instead of relying primarily on in-house productions and shouldering most of the risk, Constantin is leaning into co-productions and projects with a clear, often hardcore fan base. That was the case with Resident Evil and Josh Boone’s Colleen Hoover adaptation Regretting You, a Constantin co-production with Harbinger Pictures, Frayed Pages Entertainment and Heartbones Entertainment that grossed more than $90 million globally on an estimated $30 million budget.

“It’s no longer about focusing on producing one major film every two or three years,” says Berben. “Our goal is to release at least one — if not more — films every single year. We have a wide range of filmmakers, and at Constantin, we’ve consistently brought in new talent — people who hadn’t worked with us before.”

The biggest uncertainty surrounding Constantin, however, has little to do with its films. It lies with its parent company.

Since 2009, Constantin has been wholly owned by Highlight, the Swiss media group chaired by Bernhard Burgener. And Highlight is in serious financial trouble. The group reported an operating loss of CHF 131.8 million ($165 million) in 2025 on revenue of CHF 412.1 million ($503 million) in 2025, and its balance sheet showed negative equity of CHF 3.3 million ($4 million). The damage came almost entirely from its struggling sports and events division, including broadcaster Sport1, which accounted for virtually all of the group’s operating loss. Constantin’s film division, by contrast, remained profitable. Constantin, which now accounts for roughly three-quarters of Highlight’s revenue, is the group’s most valuable operating asset.

The immediate problem is a CHF 74.5 million ($93 million) bank loan that comes due Nov. 30.

Highlight has pledged all of its Constantin shares, carried at about CHF 142 million ($177 million) on its books, along with other assets, as collateral for the loan. If it cannot refinance or repay the debt, the banks could enforce their claims against those assets, potentially putting Constantin’s ownership in play. Highlight’s annual report warns of significant uncertainty over the group’s ability to continue operating as a going concern.

Burgener has said Highlight is reviewing its options and has not ruled out selling Constantin.

At the same time, Constantin has taken steps that would make it possible to bring in a new investor. At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting Aug. 21, the company authorized its board to issue up to 6.37 million new shares over the next five years, in exchange for cash or assets. That represents a potential one-third stake in Constantin after the new shares are issued. If all were placed with a single investor, Highlight’s ownership would fall from 100 percent to two-thirds. The authorization also allows Constantin to exclude existing shareholders from participating in the new share issue.

No deal with a new investor has been announced, and the authorization does not mean one is imminent. But it gives Constantin a mechanism to bring in fresh capital and potentially change its ownership structure.

In Resident Evil, Bryan ultimately cannot escape the infection inside him. Constantin may yet avoid a similar fate, but with its parent company facing a November debt deadline, the studio’s future is no longer entirely in its own hands.