MIPTV: Music Box Picks up 'Generation War' for U.S.

The six-hour WWII drama is billed as a German "Band of Brothers."

CANNES - Theatrical distributor Music Box Films has picked up U.S. rights to Generation War, an acclaimed German-language TV series billed as a German equivalent to HBO's Band of Brothers, from sales group Beta Film.

Music Box is planning a platform theatrical bow for the six-hour Generation War in selected U.S. cities, to be followed by a roll out on VOD, home video and TV. Music Box has experience with handling international series, having scored successes with the U.S. bow of the Swedish Millennium crime trilogy, released as three feature films and a six-part TV series as well as the original Swedish version of the Henning Mankell procedural Wallander.

Generation War, which aired as a three-part miniseries in Germany, was a ratings hit for public broadcaster ZDF; drawing a peak of some 8.5 million viewers. Critics have hailed the series and its brutal depiction of the war on Germany's East Front as a turning point for local-language drama. The series has also provoked a heated debate, both in Germany and in neighboring Poland.

Directed by Philipp Kadelbach, Generation War features a cast of German cinema stars including Tom Shilling (Oh Boy), Sylvester Groth (Inglourious Basterds) and Katharina Schuttler (Carlos).

In addition to the U.S. deal, Beta has sold rights to Generation War to Arrow Film in the U.K., to EOne/Hopscotch for Australia and to Sweden's SVT, marking the first time in years the Swedish public channel will air a German TV series.