EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE
UFA FICTION GmbH • Cinema • 2026Filming of the new adaptation of Erich Kästner’s EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE was completed in Bernburg at the end of October 2025. Co-produced by UFA Fiction, Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany and UFA Mitte, the children’s film is a contemporary adaptation of the classic children’s book about friendship and solidarity.
EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES will be released in 2026 by Warner Bros. Pictures Germany.
In the role of Emil, Nicholas Jonah Peter plays his first major leading role in a movie. At his side are the detectives Pony (Lara Toni), Gustav (Kilian Kasa), Dienstag (Bela Louis Plass), Anh (Ai Vy Bui) and Jason (Camille Moltzen), with whom Emil experiences an unforgettable adventure in the big city. Filming took place in Berlin, Leipzig and Bernburg.
The ensemble of young actors is complemented by a great adult cast including Luise Heyer as Anna Tischbein, Merlin Sandmeyer as Max Grundeis and Ursula Werner as Renate Tischbein.
About the plot: Emil is supposed to spend the summer holidays with his grandmother in Berlin. But already on the train there he is robbed by the unscrupulous fraudster Max Grundeis – and a wild adventure begins! Together with a gang of clever children, Emil takes up the chase and plunges into a fast-paced detective hunt across Berlin – full of wit, courage and genuine friendship.
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EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES is a co-production of UFA Fiction, Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany and UFA Mitte distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Germany. Producers are Sebastian Werninger, Tobias Timme and Katharina Rietz. Matthias Adler is executive producer, Tom Haase is producer. Co-producers of Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany are Steffen Schier, Julia Hayungs and Maggie Mackuth. David Dietl directs, Philip Peschlow is responsible for the camera work as DoP. The screenplay was written by Antonia Scheurlen. The film is funded by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (mbb), the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM), the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFFB), the Filmförderanstalt (FFA), the German Film Fund (DFFF) and the Bavarian State Chancellery.
The film adaptation is not the first UFA Fiction book adaptation of an Erich Kästner classic. Two years ago, THE FLYING CLASSROOM was released in cinemas.
