{"id":33176,"date":"2026-02-19T13:27:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/?p=33176"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:29:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:29:21","slug":"european-film-market-2026-more-participation-fewer-completed-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/2026\/02\/19\/european-film-market-2026-mehr-beteiligung-weniger-abgeschlossene-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"European Film Market 2026: More participation, fewer completed deals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"33176\" class=\"elementor elementor-33176\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-eb8271d elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default creativo-sticky-disabled\" data-id=\"eb8271d\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;,&quot;enable_creativo_sticky&quot;:&quot;disabled&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6bbcb817\" data-id=\"6bbcb817\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d041256 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d041256\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">More visitors, fewer deals: The European Film Market 2026 shows that Berlin continues to act as the hub of the industry - while contract signings are increasingly being postponed to the following weeks.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-74b76af4 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"74b76af4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p data-start=\"290\" data-end=\"806\">The <strong data-start=\"294\" data-end=\"324\">European Film Market (EFM)<\/strong>from 12 to 18 February as part of the <strong data-start=\"367\" data-end=\"384\">76th Berlinale<\/strong> once again showed that it continues to be of great importance as a central industry platform throughout the year. According to official figures, over 12,000 professionals from the film and audiovisual industry attended the industry event in Berlin, with a broad programme of screenings, panels and networking formats, which was also significantly expanded compared to the previous year.<\/p><p data-start=\"808\" data-end=\"1467\">Despite this increased interest, however, the number of contracts actually concluded during the market event remained relatively modest. Although there were numerous discussions and negotiations, they often did not lead to binding agreements immediately. Instead, many projects developed into discussion and evaluation phases that are likely to continue beyond Berlin. This reflects a structural change in the international sales and acquisition cycle: Berlin is increasingly serving as the starting point for negotiations that are only finalised in the weeks and months that follow.<\/p><p data-start=\"1469\" data-end=\"1942\">An outstanding example of the rather sparse number of larger deals was the worldwide acquisition of the film <strong data-start=\"1577\" data-end=\"1592\">\"Skeletons\"<\/strong>with actress Brie Larson, by Sony Pictures in a reported amount of around USD 25 million. While this deal demonstrates that capital is still available for clearly positioned, genre-orientated projects, it also shows that comparable transactions of this size were rare.<\/p><h3 data-start=\"1944\" data-end=\"1967\">A changing market<\/h3><p data-start=\"1969\" data-end=\"2118\">The organisers and market participants described a trend towards longer negotiation and decision-making processes, which is likely to have several causes:<\/p><ul data-start=\"2120\" data-end=\"2482\"><li data-start=\"2120\" data-end=\"2216\"><p data-start=\"2122\" data-end=\"2216\">Buyers are increasingly demanding more comprehensive materials and data for market and target group analyses.<\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"2217\" data-end=\"2330\"><p data-start=\"2219\" data-end=\"2330\">Financing structures are becoming more complex, often involving several partners and public funding components.<\/p><\/li><li data-start=\"2331\" data-end=\"2482\"><p data-start=\"2333\" data-end=\"2482\">Strategies for window planning, licensing and platform negotiations are gaining in economic importance.<\/p><\/li><\/ul><p data-start=\"2484\" data-end=\"2802\">In practice, this means that Berlin will primarily function as a place to initiate discussions and strategic positioning, while the actual contracts will increasingly be concluded at subsequent events such as the markets in Cannes, Toronto or Los Angeles.<\/p><h3 data-start=\"2804\" data-end=\"2842\">Structural challenges<\/h3><p data-start=\"2844\" data-end=\"3374\">In addition to the deals, structural factors are also influencing the market climate. For example, with <strong data-start=\"2938\" data-end=\"2959\">Wild Bunch France<\/strong> a formerly important independent European sales partner in a monitoring-related insolvency process, which emphasises the difficult situation for medium-sized providers. The combination of declining audience figures in individual territories, strong competitive pressure from integrated media groups and rising costs is exacerbating the situation for independent buyers.<\/p><p data-start=\"3376\" data-end=\"3740\">Industry observers are also seeing an increasing fragmentation of the audience, particularly among younger viewers who have developed diverse digital consumption habits. Films that reach both arthouse and commercial target groups remain rare, further dampening the willingness of acquirers to take risks.<\/p><h3 data-start=\"3742\" data-end=\"3755\">Conclusion<\/h3><p data-start=\"3757\" data-end=\"4319\">EFM 2026 confirmed its role as a central meeting point and driving force in the international film market - but in an environment in which deal cycles have become longer and more selective. While the number of participants and the variety of activities grew, the number of directly concluded commercial deals remained limited. The market is increasingly acting as a platform for initiating discussions and for strategic orientation, the results of which are only likely to become visible later in the year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6f80f46 e-flex e-con-boxed creativo-sticky-disabled e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"6f80f46\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;enable_creativo_sticky&quot;:&quot;disabled&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-27580de elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"27580de\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmtake.com\/distribution\/efm-2026-after-the-applause-attendance-up-deals-down-and-the-industrys-slow-motion-correction\/\">FILMTAKE<\/a>\u00a0reports in detail.<\/p><h5>\u00a0<\/h5><h5><strong>Image generated with AI, chat GPT<\/strong><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mehr Besucher, weniger Deals: Der European Film Market 2026 zeigt, dass Berlin weiterhin als Dreh- und Angelpunkt der Branche fungiert \u2013 w\u00e4hrend Vertragsabschl\u00fcsse zunehmend in die Folgewochen verschoben werden. Der&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":33177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-minimal.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-filmwirtschaft","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33176"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33181,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33176\/revisions\/33181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intelligence.ensider.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}