Discovery+ Strikes Library Deal With NBCUniversal, Adds Titles Including ‘The Biggest Loser’ & ‘American Ninja Warrior’

EXCLUSIVE: Good Deed Entertainment has acquired all North American rights to basketball documentary Alaskan Nets, which is exec-produced by Chris Pratt and his production company Indivisible Productions.

Angelique Jackson The popular YouTube Originals series “Super Sema,” starring and executive produced by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, has appointed UTA as its North American licensing and publishing agency.UTA will work alongside global toy licensee Just Play to focus on retail initiatives and key partnerships in publishing, apparel, home and accessories for the program, which is the world’s first children’s animated series focused on an African kid superhero.The series follows the world-changing adventures of an extraordinary young African girl, Sema, and her twin brother MB, who are on a mission to protect their town Dunia from the villainous Tobor. Fueled by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) superpowers, Sema knows that with determination and creativity, anything is possible.

EXCLUSIVE: Hostile Planet and Tiny World producer Plimsoll Productions is taking its Channel 4 carpentry format Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker to the U.S. as Channel 4 issues a rare double season order.

EXCLUSIVE: FilmRise has acquired all North American distribution rights to New Zealand drama The Justice of Bunny King, starring Essie Davis (The Babadook) and Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho and The Power of the Dog actress Thomasin McKenzie.

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Phillippe (Crash, Flags of Our Fathers), Kat Graham (Cut Throat City, How It Ends) and Jim Gaffigan (American Dreamer, Troop Zero) will topline Collide, a thriller from Vertical Entertainment, TPC and Robert Ogden Barnum, which recently wrapped production.

The deals keep coming at the 2022 Virtual Sundance Film Festival. MUBI closed the docu Free Chol Soo Lee, including North America, and Warner Bros is negotiating a near $7 million WW rights deal for the Tig Notaro/Stephanie Allynne film Am I Ok? to place the film on HBO Max. The Lauren Pomerantz-scripted film stars Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine Fowler, Molly Gordon, June Diane Raphael, and Sean Hayes.

EXCLUSIVE: Tim McInnerny (Notting Hill, Blackadder) has signed on to star alongside Murray McArthur (Wonka, The Northman), Cameron Ashplant (Gentleman Jack), Tilly Keeper (EastEnders), Jenet Le Lacheur (Cinderella) and Brian Webster in the thriller Marooned Awakening, which is in production on the island of Guernsey.

EXCLUSIVE: MENA platform YouSat.TV has formed a partnership with WGA Middle East writer and producer Evan Mirzai (Origins: The Journey of Humankind) to internationally promote its formats and the raft of regional talent with which it works.

Retta is moving into a new chapter with NBCUniversal. The former star of NBC and Universal TV’s Good Girls and Parks and Recreation has entered into a talent holding deal with the company.

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to drama The Lost Girls directed by Livia De Paolis.

Apple has closed the biggest deal of the 2022 Virtual Sundance Film Festival, securing worldwide rights to the Cooper Raiff-directed Cha Cha Real Smooth for around $15 million. The streamer has been the front runner for the picture since it premiered January 23 in the US Dramatic Competition category.

NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers made headlines numerous times in the last several months over his stance on the Coronavirus vaccines, and most recently, went after President Biden during a live interview.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, is near a deal to be acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline hears. This after a brisk auction involving the likes of Neon, Bleecker Street, and Focus Features.

“Dual,” the latest film from director Riley Stearns that stars Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul, has sold its U.S. rights to RLJE Films, a division of AMC Networks, for a deal that landed in the low to mid 7-figure range.

Ahead of its world premiere at Sundance, the producer of “Dual,” Lee Kim, has signed a first look film deal with the indie production studio XYZ Films.The deal is with Kim’s Toronto and Los Angeles’ based Resolute Films and Entertainment and will be an agreement to produce several titles together per year, specifically with a focus on diverse, filmmaker-driven projects. They’ll also develop international co-productions in Kim’s native Canada and elsewhere.

Manori Ravindran International EditorXYZ Films has struck a first-look production deal with Toronto- and Los Angeles-based producer Lee Kim, who produced Sundance sci-fi title “Dual” and oversees Resolute Films and Entertainment.Under the deal, XYZ and Resolute will jointly produce a number of titles per year, with a focus on films helmed by diverse directors and international co-productions, particularly with Kim’s native Canada.XYZ and Resolute most recently collaborated on Riley Stearns’ “Dual,” which is playing in Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic Competition.

Focusing on the positive. Amid his tumultuous relationship with daughter Lindsie Chrisley, Todd Chrisley opened up about where they stand now.