Emil und die Detektive (2026)

Twelve-year-old Emil and his mother live modestly in the town of Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, after his father’s death. As his grandmother in Berlin becomes increasingly dependent on help, they decide to buy her a proper smartphone—instead of one for Emil, who feels left out among his friends because of his old-fashioned Nokia phone. The friends will only let him join their clique if he passes a dare. Emil agrees, but the dare goes wrong, and he barely manages to escape the police. After a burst water pipe floods his mother’s hair salon, she sends him alone by train to take the money to his grandmother. In the ICE train compartment, another passenger spots the money, so Emil secures it in his jacket pocket with his father’s brooch. The man, who introduces himself to Emil as Max Grundeis, manages to drug him with tampered gummy bears, put him to sleep, and steal the money. When Emil wakes just before the train arrives, he discovers the theft and pursues the thief through Berlin’s central station and onto the S-Bahn. Another boy, Gustav, notices Emil’s distress and helps him. More children of about the same age join the chase through Berlin, soon forming a force of six detectives. They follow the thief to his luxury hotel. Emil gets his money back, but the criminal kidnaps Pony Hütchen and will release Pony only in exchange for his wallet. When the situation seems hopeless, the detectives seek the solidarity of Berlin’s children by putting a QR code on their campaign, “Operation Codeword Emil,” and posting it throughout the city. Meanwhile, the thief presents a real-estate deal to a large audience at an event, but the deal is a scam. The detectives break into the building’s media control room and warn the audience on the screen in the hall. The crook flees, but everywhere he encounters groups of children who confront and surround him. His only remaining route is across the Friedrich Bridge on Museum Island, which here spans the Spree in a steep arch. At the crest, he finds himself facing as many children as there are already chasing him. Grundeis is apprehended and handed over to the police. Emil proves that the cash in Grundeis’s wallet is the money his mother gave him by showing the holes left in the banknotes by his father’s brooch. Emil’s mother, who has seen an interview with Emil on television, travels to Berlin. She is very proud of her son and deeply grateful to the detectives, as is her mother-in-law, Emil’s grandmother. Emil has made many friends and also receives part of the reward offered for the capture of the con man Grundeis, who had conducted his shady dealings under many names.