Universal Pictures International (UPI) has appointed Kalle Friz, former StudioCanal executive, as its new Managing Director for Germany and Austria. Friz will take up his new position in July 2025 and will report directly to Paul Higginson, Executive Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa at UPI.

In his new role, Friz will assume responsibility for day-to-day operations in one of the company's most important cinema markets. Together with Higginson, he will work on further increasing cinema revenues in the region and defining strategic goals for the local companies in Germany and Austria. This includes the areas of sales, marketing, publicity, acquisitions and finance.

Karel De Vries, who led the teams in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands on an interim basis, will move to the Netherlands after Friz takes up his position as Managing Director.

Kalle Friz has over 20 years of industry experience and has held various management positions at StudioCanal over the past 16 years, most recently as EVP International Operations and CEO StudioCanal Germany. During this time, he was responsible for the German cinema releases of international productions such as the "Paddington" series and the "Tribute of Panem" and "Saw" franchises. He was also responsible for successful local productions such as "Heidi" and "The Little Witch".

Before joining StudioCanal, Friz was head of Fox Searchlight in Germany from 2002 to 2009 and was responsible for the acquisition of films. At the time, he was responsible for the German releases of titles such as "Little Miss Sunshine", "Juno", "28 Days Later" and "Black Swan".

Paul Higginson expressed his enthusiasm for the appointment: "Kalle is an experienced professional with an excellent reputation for innovative distribution strategies and a deep understanding of the German market. His leadership style is characterised by drive and the ability to inspire people. We are very much looking forward to further expanding our strong position in the region and implementing new growth strategies with him."

Variety reports in detail.