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BritBox Signs UK Programs From Sphere Abacus
Best-of-British streamer BritBox has bought a package of programs from Sphere Abacus, the UK-based sales house making its debut at MIPCOM in its current guise. Package contains Travels With Agatha Christie with Sir David Suchet from Soho Studios and Two Rivers Media. Suchet is currently on the ground with Sphere Abacus in Cannes, as our report earlier today noted. Also acquired by BritBox are Jon and Lucy’s Odd Couples, The Murder of Sandra Rivett, Breaking Dad: Britain’s Unlikeliest Drug Dealer, Agatha Christie: 100 Years of Poirot and Miss Marple (aka Agatha Christie: 100 Years of Suspense), Diana: The Interview That Shook the World and Susan Hill’s The Small Hand: A Ghost Story (1 x 94’) produced by Awesome and Two Rivers Media. BritBox takes rights for the U.S. and Canada.
Beta Sets Globo Co-Pro ‘Discipline
Germany’s Beta Film and Brazilian content giant Grupo Globo are developing crime drama Discipline (working title), as a multi-year pact between the companies begins. Konrad Dantas, founder of KondZilla, is the creator and Felipe Braga is showrunner and creative producer. They first worked together on Netflix’s Sintonia. Braga’s LB Entertainment and KondZilla will produce for Globo, Beta and the newly established Janeiro Studios, led by former Beta CCO Koby Gal Raday. The eight-part series follows Maicon, a young Brazilian entrepreneur, who finds himself caught between his female-dominated family and a European crime heiress navigating her own patriarchal challenges. Their paths converge in a high-stakes collaboration across the Atlantic, centered around a precious commodity: cocaine. In related Beta news, Beta Cinema has unveiled a first-look at The Physician II, starring Tom Payne (Horizon: An American Saga, The Walking Dead, Prodigal Son), Emily Cox (The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Maze Runner), Áine Rose Daly (Boiling Point, Hanna) and Owen Teale(Robin Hood, Game of Thrones), and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Hunger). Beta will debut the film at the upcoming American Film Market. Beta is working on the film with Constantin Film, Zeitsprung Pictures and UFA Fiction. Philipp Stölzl is the director.
Korea’s ‘Queen Of Tears’ Gets Turkish Remake
O3 Medya and Dass Yapim have teamed to make a Turkish version of TVN and Netflix’s Korean drama series Queen of Tears. Eccho Rights has picked up international distribution on the new show, which marks the first time the CJ ENM scripted format has been remade overseas. Originally produced by Studio Dragon and airing on Netflix worldwide (excluding Korea), Queen of Tears, revolves around Hae-in, a queen of department stores, and her small-town husband, Hyun-woo, as they weather a marital crisis — until love miraculously begins to bloom again. O3 and DASS Yapım said they are “in talks with top-tier Turkish talent” to cast for the roles Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji-won originally popularized. Başak Soysal will direct the series.
‘Inside Comedy’ Season 4 Finally Hits International Market (Exclusive)
Season 4 Inside Comedy, Steve Carrell and David Steinberg’s series about comedians, is finally hitting the international market — nine years after it launched on Showtime in the U.S. Film Mode Entertainment has picked up the rights to the season and will present it to buyers for the first time at MIPCOM this week. The show sees Steinberg interview popular comedians from stand-up, TV an film about their careers. Season 4 features the likes of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Michael Keaton, Dan Akroyd, Bryan Cranston, Carol Leifer, Ted Danson, Wanda Sykes, Cheech and Chong, Dane Cook, Conan O’Brien and Jeffrey Tambor. Film Mode chief Clay Epstein said: “It’s an honor and pleasure to be able to bring laughter to audiences all around the world via the most revered comedic legends of our time. The never-before-seen fourth season of Inside Comedy for international audiences delivers that priceless joy at a time when it is most needed.”
BBC Studios Takes ‘Asia’ & ‘Solar System’ Global
BBC Studios kicked off its MIPCOM with pre-sales for natural history series Asia and multi-territory deals for five-part science series Solar System. Asia, produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit and co-produced by BBC America, ZDF and France Télévisions, has secured pre-sales in Australia, to Network Nine), China (Dragon TV and Phoenix TV), Denmark (DR), Japan (NHK), New Zealand (TVNZ), Norway (NRK), Portugal (SIC), Spain (Movistar Plus+) and Switzerland (RSI). It will play on BBC Earth in many other territories and on BBC Nordic, Sony-BBC Earth in India and BBC Player in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. Solar System, a BBC Studios Science Unit Production with NOVA and GBH for the BBC and PBS, has sold into Australia (ABC), Croatia (HRT), Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia (AMCNI CNE), France (France Télévisions), Germany (ZDFinfo), Italy (Sky Italia) and Spain (Movistar Plus+). Also from BBC Studios Natural History Unit and launching at Mipcom 2024 are Big Cats 24/7 and Expedition Killer Whale.
2004 Tsunami Doc ‘The Day The Wave Hit’ Sells
Viasat World, SVT and Radio Canada are among new buyers of Tsunami: The Day the Wave Hit from UK distributor BossaNova. Viasat’s deal is for its feeds in the CEE, CIS, Nordic and Baltic territories. SVT takes Sweden and Radio Canada takes French-speaking Canada. This follows pre-sales to Channel 4 in the UK and SBS in Australia earlier this year. Tsunami: The Day The Wave Hit is a minute-by-minute account of one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, in which nearly 230,000 died after an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia triggered a tsunami that radiated across the Indian Ocean. It is told through first-hand testimony and archive, and looks at the legacy of the tsunami, from the heartbreaking months spent searching for missing family members to the monumental task of recovering and rebuilding shattered lives and communities. Argonon-owned BriteSpark Films originally made the two-parter.
