ARRI has released a statement on social media that seeks to reassure its users about its future, especially those using ARRI lighting.
It's not been an easy 2025 for ARRI. In fact, it's been a bit of an annus horribilis. It is now attemption to draw a line under all that with a statement released on its social media channels, which you can read in full below.
So, to recap:
In May, ARRI signed an agreement to sell lighting fixtures subsidiary Claypaky.
In August it was reported that ARRI Group was weighing up different options and working with consultants to investigate ways of keeping the company afloat, including a sale of all or part of its business.
And In November it admitted that it was closing down operations at its lighting-oriented factory, repair and distribution centers in Stephanskirchen and Brannenburg in Germany with the loss of 150 jobs.
“Like many companies in the film industry, Arri is undergoing a significant transformation to address lasting shifts in market demand while reinforcing its core strengths,” ARRI spokesman Kevin Schwutke said in an email.
Naturally, this has all led to a lot of online speculation and unease, especially amongst users of its lighting equipment. That side of the business has been under pressure for years, as increasingly capable kit floods the market from a range of bullish Chinese manufacturers at price points significantly under what ARRI charges for its premium products.
The statement, titled ARRI prepares for the future, unsurprisingly spends a lot of time talking about lighting. "Lighting remains a central pillar of our business," it says, before talking about a full roadmap of products developed in-house in Germany, apologizing for recent service disruption on the lighting side of things in particular, and saying that centralizing repair in Munich will help address some of those issues once it is complete.
A map of worldwide service locations for ARRI lighting is also included.
It then talks briefly about cameras, saying its focus will remain on the high-end cinema and live entertainment markets (it recently announced The HELM as its first global Live Solution Partner as it looks to ramp up the presence of its multicam technology into live broadcast and production environments worldwide), and that the camera family will continue to grow in the coming years.
Response and feedback to the statement is still coming in, but seems to be along the lines of 'this is typically what a company says to reassure customers and investors just before it makes major changes'. One poster even talks of the upcoming closure of the ARRI rentals division in Burbank (though we should point out that we have no way to corroborate this just yet).
Whether any of that is fair or not, it does highlight the fact that users are uneasy. Certainly, the statement is a bit of a departure from the company's position in August when a spokesperson told us that, "As a matter of long-standing policy, ARRI does not comment on market speculation or rumors."
Plenty of other people are doing that for them. And just add to all that, one of the key things you will note from the statement below is what it does not say. There is nothing in there about future or continued ownership of the company.
When the late Queen Elizabeth II popularised the phrase annus horribilis in 1992, ARRI had just released the ARRIFLEX 16SR 3. The industry has come a very long way since then. And while we can all hope that ARRI will be servicing it still another 33 years in the future, it probably won't be quite the same company as it is now.
For more than 100 years, ARRI has created tools to empower filmmakers. As we come to the close of a difficult year for many businesses and creatives in the film and entertainment industries, ARRI would like to provide an outlook for the coming year and a strong commitment to the future of our brand.
Lighting remains a central pillar of our business, and we are dedicated to continuing this legacy. We have a full roadmap of lighting products we're excited to launch in 2026 and beyond, featuring new technologies for motion picture, live entertainment and for content creators.
We're committed to maintaining the standards you expect from ARRI Lighting, while meeting the needs of modern productions.
New specialists have joined ARRI to strengthen our team, and development for new lighting technologies will continue in-house, with R&D, product management, and service teams now centralized at our headquarters in Munich.
This enables us to benefit from modern workspaces, closer collaboration, and faster innovation. We are confident in a bright future for new lighting fixtures designed in Germany.
We know that exceptional, personal service and the local repairability of our products are key factors in deciding to buy ARRI. We apologize for any hiccups, particularly for lighting products, that have occurred recently.
With the service of lighting, camera, lenses, and stabilizer systems bundled in Munich, our goal is to meet and exceed your expectations of the ARRI brand, especially after the transition of lighting service to the Munich headquarters is completed.
The ARRI Camera Systems business unit will continue to deliver the features and reliability that our customers demand. Our core focus will continue to be the high-end cinema and live entertainment markets.
The ALEXA brand is synonymous with exceptional imagery, and we had a fantastic showing across multiple film festivals and award nights this year. The family of ALEXA cameras, and the wider ecosystem of ARRI camera equipment, will continue to grow in the coming years to meet the changing needs of the industry.
Despite the challenges of 2025, one thing remains clear: the passion that our customers have for the ARRI brand. Thank you for your support, suggestions, questions, comments, and criticism. ARRI is strong because of the trust you have in our philosophy and our equipment.
Meeting your expectations is the driving force behind our plans for the future.
We look forward to the year ahead and to more exciting developments to come!
David, Wolfgang and Chris, Managing Directors of ARRI