Constantin Film has delivered the highest-grossing Resident Evil feature ever, but its corporate future now hinges on a Swiss parent’s balance sheet rather than any box-office number.
The hit that changed the narrative
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot, co-produced with Columbia Pictures, has grossed $410 million worldwide and is still counting, against a reported $75 million budget. That makes it the top earner in a franchise spanning 12 features, four animated films and two Netflix series.
CEO Oliver Berben frames the result as IP repositioning. “The fact that we managed to turn this IP around is remarkable,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. The studio’s Regretting You adaptation added more than $90 million globally on an estimated $30 million budget.
Berben’s strategy is to move away from what he calls high-risk bets on large in-house productions. Recent misses include In the Lost Lands, a $55 million fantasy that grossed a fraction of its budget, and Momo, a $35 million-plus family feature that earned under $3 million globally.
The parent problem
The risk now is not project-level. Since 2009, Constantin has been wholly owned by Highlight Communications, the Swiss media group chaired by Bernhard Burgener. Highlight’s 2025 accounts show an operating loss of CHF 131.8 million ($165 million) on revenue of CHF 412.1 million ($503 million), and negative equity of CHF 3.3 million ($4 million). Its sports and events arm, including Sport1, drove the loss; Constantin remained profitable and now contributes roughly three-quarters of group revenue.
A CHF 74.5 million ($93 million) bank loan comes due Nov. 30. Highlight has pledged its Constantin shares, carried at about CHF 142 million ($177 million), plus other assets as collateral. If the loan is not refinanced or repaid, lenders could enforce claims and put the studio’s ownership in play.
What Constantin can do
An extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Aug. 21 authorized the board to issue up to 6.37 million new shares over five years in exchange for cash or assets. That could represent up to a one-third stake; if one investor took the full allocation, Highlight would drop from 100 percent to two-thirds ownership. The authorization also lets the company exclude existing shareholders.
No investor deal has been announced. The share issue simply creates a route to fresh capital and possibly a new ownership structure before, or after, the loan deadline.
- $410M: Resident Evil reboot global box office against a reported $75M budget
- $90M: Regretting You global gross on an estimated $30M budget
- CHF 74.5M ($93M): Highlight loan due Nov. 30, with Constantin shares as collateral
- 6.37M: new shares authorized, up to a one-third stake
For media planners and content buyers, Constantin illustrates a core screen-business lesson: a franchise’s commercial recovery can sit alongside acute capital-structure risk. Deals, licenses and co-productions tied to the studio are not just a bet on IP quality but on how the parent resolves its debt.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
