“Historic Collaboration” From India’s Zee And Mexico’s TelevisaUnivision
15.03.2022 - 17:57 / variety.com
Naman Ramachandran Germany’s Leonine Studios has rebranded its television subsidiary Odeon Entertainment as Madame Zheng Production to reflect its primary focus of “equality and diversity in every aspect of the production business, both in front of and behind the camera.” Tina Wagner, previously producer and executive producer at RedSeven Entertainment, and Nina Etspüler, co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, are joining the management team and will lead the company under Wagner’s direction along with Martin Schneider, Odeon Entertainment’s long-standing managing director.Fred Kogel, CEO and co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, said: “Ever since Nina Etspüler joined Leonine in Jan. 2021, we have jointly pursued the goal of establishing a production brand that advocates for equality and diversity in front of and behind the camera, in order to firmly anchor these themes, which are essential for Leonine Studios, in the production market.
The entertainment sector in Germany, in particular, has a lot of catching-up to do, which is why we want to consciously champion equality and diversity. I am very pleased that we can now put our plans into practice with such a distinguished and talented colleague as Tina Wagner.
Madame Zheng Production perfectly complements our existing entertainment brands i&u TV and SEO Entertainment. In its entirety, Leonine Studios now covers an even broader spectrum within non-fiction production.
This will generate further growth for our Leonine Production division.” Endeavor Content-backed Blink49 Studios has acquired rights to bestselling author Marissa Stapley’s romantic drama “Things To Do When It’s Raining” and will adapt it for television. Set in Canada’s 1,000 Islands, the story
.“Historic Collaboration” From India’s Zee And Mexico’s TelevisaUnivision
Anna Marie de la Fuente Planete Plus Orders Munich Hostage Thriller DocFrench broadcaster Planete Plus has commissioned factual political thriller “Munich: Of Games and Blood” from Pernel Media to mark the 50th anniversary of the hostage crisis that rocked the Munich Olympic Games on September 5, 1972. Written by Philippe Saada, Yossi Melman and cinematographer Marc Dugain, the doc is narrated by three protagonists present at the original event where Israeli athletes were taken hostage by Palestinian Black September terrorists: an ex-terrorist, a member of the German police, and a Mossad agent.
BBC Greenlights Drama On Football Sexual Abuse Scandal; Nick Rowland & Matt Greenhalgh Attached
Think you have what it takes to be an international spy? A new reality competition is giving you a chance to prove yourself 007 style.
Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s Lux Vide, the production company behind “Medici” and financial thriller “Devils,” is now scoring a global hit with its medical procedural “Doc,” the second season of which had its French launch at the Series Mania fest.“Doc,” which turns on a prominent physician who, following a head injury, suffers a permanent partial memory loss but still finds a new way to practice his profession, has been sold as a ready made to a slew of territories, including Australia, Canada, Venezuela, the Netherlands and Nigeria. The Italian version has already aired in France (TF1), Australia (SBS), Spain (AXN) and Portugal (AXN), while a local adaptation played in the Czech Republic.
Russell Peters has Cedric the Entertainer to thank for giving his wedding some much-needed levity.
Banijay Germany Hires
Michele Amabile Angermiller How are we supposed to live without Michael Bolton? “American Song Contest” doesn’t have to answer that question just yet, as Connecticut-based Bolton and his song “Beautiful World” could still place next week through a combination of votes through fans and jurors. But the early lead on night one of NBC’s U.S.
Manori Ravindran International EditorAs programming becomes increasingly international in scope in the streaming age, experts are urging the international drama community to allow plenty of time for accurate subtitling and dubbing. But as Netflix found out with “Squid Game,” sometimes a show can become a global hit overnight and leave you scrambling.Netflix’s Catherine Retat, the streamer’s Paris-based director of international dubbing, told Series Mania delegates about the steep learning curve required for the service to properly accommodate the subtitling and dubbing needs for its volume of shows.“‘Squid Game’ is a wonderful series but no one expected [more than] 100 million viewers in the first 28 days,” said Retat.
Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman has winged its way past the half a billion dollar mark worldwide to become the fourth highest-grossing studio release of the pandemic era. The global total is $505.8M through Wednesday, and there’s still plenty of gas left in the Batmobile.
After two weeks in theaters, Warner Bros./DC’s “The Batman” has passed $500 million at the global box office, with more than half of that total coming from domestic theaters. On Wednesday, “The Batman” added $5.75 million domestically, bringing its total to $258.3 million in North America and $505.8 million worldwide.
Sony Pictures Entertainment and theme-park corp Merlin Entertainments are teaming to extend the Jumanji brand through a range of exclusive rides, lands, retail outlets, and themed hotel rooms across the latter’s global network of theme parks and waterparks in Europe, UK, and North America.
Fremantle Boosts Revenue By 25% For RTL Group
“We are seeing an increase in the proportion of BA.2 that is detected,” warned the World Health Organization’s technical lead on Covid-19, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove. “Of the sequences that are available, about 75% are BA.2 and 25% of those are BA.1,” which is the original Omicron strain.
Candlebox, the Seattle grunge band that was signed to Madonna’s record label, is the latest band to get the feature doc treatment.
K.J. Yossman Film Mode Entertainment has inked a multi-project distribution deal with Australian director/producer Luke Sparke’s company Sparke Films.Among the titles Film Mode will represent worldwide are Sparke’s upcoming projects “Weapons of Choice,” a television adaptation of John Birmingham’s World War Two trilogy “Axis of Time” and “Primitive War,” a horror feature franchise based on Ethan Pettus’ book series.Film Mode will also handle worldwide sales rights for “Occupation: Rainfall 2” and “Occupation: Rainfall 3” – the third and fourth films in Sparke’s franchise – as well as a number of other projects still in development.
Blink49 Studios To Adapt ‘Things To Do When It’s Raining’
EXCLUSIVE: German major Leonine has rebranded its TV subsidiary Odeon Entertainment as Madame Zheng Production and appointed producer Tina Wagner as Managing Director as part of a restructure.
In its sophomore outing, Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman kept a firm grip on the international box office, dropping just 42% to add $66.6M from 76 offshore markets. That brings the overseas cume through Sunday to $224.7M for $463.2M global. As the Robert Pattinson-starrer heads to $500M worldwide this week, in like-for-like markets and using today’s exchange rates, it’s currently tracking 132% ahead of pandemic comp Godzilla Vs Kong and is 44% above Wonder Woman, 36% ahead of The Dark Knight and 24% over Justice League.
Fremantle has acquired a 25% stake in Henrik Bastin’s Fabel Entertainment, the international development and production outfit behind Prime Video’s cop drama series Bosch.