RTL, Beta plot big-bugdet Wild West drama

Germany’s RTL and Beta Film are coproducing a big-budget Wild West drama, with shooting beginning in Croatia.

Winnetou (WT) is based on a popular German-created Cowboys and Indians adventure novels from Karl May and will be a 3x90mins.

German producer Christian Becker (The Wave) is attached to the project through his Rat Pack label, with Beta co-financing and handling worldwide sales.

Matthias & Felix Wendlandt/Rialto Film, which produced a Winnetou feature film franchise in the 1960s, is also a coproducer, along with Marcus Englert, Mythos Film and Tabbenoca.

Jan Berger and Alexander M. Rümelin are scriptwriters.

The Karl May-written Winnetou books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, with the feature film cycle further cementing the property’s fame.

They follow an Apache chief and his companion Old Shatterhand, with Nik Xhelilaj and Wotan Wilke Möhring taking on the roles in the TV reboot.
Beta will debut the show internationally at MIPCOM in October, with RTL planning to air it in 2016.