Leonine Studios‘ longtime CEO Fred Kogel will remain in his role at least until 2028 in a contract extension agreed with parent company Mediawan Group.
The announcement comes two years after Paris-based pan-European content group Mediawan acquired Germany’s Leonine Studios, having owned a 25% since 2020.
Kogel has been CEO of Leonine Studios since 2019, which he founded in the same year together with New York-based international investment group KKR.
Under Kogel’s leadership Leonine Studios has evolved into one of the biggest independent production and distribution groups in German-speaking Europe, with hits including School of Magical Animals 2 & 3, Girl You Know It’s True, and Weekend Rebels, which is now poised for a U.S. remake.
In other C-suite announcements, Quirin Berg will also be appointed Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Leonine Holding GmbH on April 1, 2026.
Watch on Deadline
Berg has been responsible for the content strategy of the entire fiction division of Leonine Studios as Chief Creative- and Co-Chief Production Officer Fiction since January 2020.
Jochen Köstler, who has been Executive Vice President Non-Fiction and Managing Director of i&u Studios within the Leonine Group since January 2024, will join the Management Board of Leonine Holding as Chief Production Officer Non-Fiction on April 1, 2026. He will be responsible for the entire non-fiction production division in the role.
The Management Board of Leonine Holding is completed by Sarah Fischer, who continues in her role as Chief People & Sustainability Officer; Max Wiedemann remains as Business Development and Co-Chief Production Officer Fiction of Leonine Studios as well as Head of AI Mediawan Group; and Bernhard zu Castell remains Chief Distribution Officer, overseeing theatrical, home entertainment, and audio-distribution, the licensing segment as well as channels.
“I am delighted that we will be continuing on the highly successful path of Leonine Studios, the production and distribution group I co-founded,” said Kogel.
“At the same time, I am looking forward to building on Leonine’s success in the future with Quirin and Jochen in their expanded roles, as well as Sarah, Max, Bernhard and our regional CFO Jens Mezger – my entire management team. In recent years, we have successfully tapped into additional potential thanks to our intensive collaboration with Pierre-Antoine Capton and the Mediawan Group. We will systematically continue to pursue this internationally successful course.”
Mediawan Group co-founder and CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton said Mediawan’s collaboration with Leonine Studios was at the heart of the group’s ambitions to be “a global independent champion, driven by top-tier talent and a strong European vision”.
“ We are delighted to continue working closely with Fred and his teams and to further accelerate synergies across the group, such as Weekend Warriors, Plan B’s movie adaptation of the film Weekend Rebels developed by Leonine Studios’ production banner Wiedemann & Berg Film – to develop more international projects and strengthen our growth together,” he said.