SUBMITTED BY LClem

June 7, 2003 — Studio Babelsberg landed the biggest production in its 90-year history this year with the film Around the World in 80 Days, based on the Jules Verne classic. But in spite of the EUR100 million ($116 million) production, breaking even for the first time in 11 years remains as uncertain as lead character and Victorian gent Phileas Fogg winning his bet and encompassing the globe in less than three months. Employees at the studio just outside of Berlin are in the midst of building sets, finishing costumes and preparing special effects for 80 Days, which stars Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan and British comedian Steve Coogan, but over a decade of financial woes and an unhappy owner, the French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal Group, put the future of Babelsberg in doubt... ...Its unique facilities, including the so-called Berliner Strasse, a set made up of 26 nineteenth-century facades, has also attracted productions like Jean Jacques Annaud's Stalingrad epic Enemy at the Gates, and Istvan Szabs's Taking Sides. But the number of films Babelsberg produced in the past few years is a far cry from the days when the studio was pumping out almost 600 films a year, making it Hollywood's strongest competitor. World renowned classics such as Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis, and Josef von Sternberg's 1930 classic and Marlene Dietrich debut film Blue Angel remain long-lost trophies for the studio.