MGM’s International Streaming Service to Relaunch as MGM+ International in Europe, Include Lionsgate Titles

An oft-heard lament on the part of international distribution is that Italy is impossible to program in the summer. In 2019, there was an effort on the part of the studios and the local industry to steer the season in a different direction resulting in record results, but the pandemic halted momentum. 

Refresh for latest…: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie continues its global domination, now with an estimated $871.8M through Sunday. Of that, $437.5M is from the international box office. The next worldwide benchmark of $900M will hit in the next days. It is only a matter of time for the Bros to get to $1B, particularly as Korea and Japan are due to release this week.

XYZ Films has hired Manon Barat, a former executive at the Spanish sales company Film Factory, to head a slate of titles that will fall under the company’s newly-launched global film initiative, New Visions.

EXCLUSIVE: Harry Gamsu is heading back to Warner Bros. Discovery.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rakuten TV has announced the launch of two new owned and operated FAST channels, bolstering its role as a curated channel programmer in the free ad-supported streaming TV services space. The channels, announced during MipTV’s FAST Summit, will see the growing pan-European video-on-demand streaming service enter the TV series landscape by launching a reality/factual entertainment channel in the U.K. and crime series channels across German speaking territories and in France, Italy and Spain. Rakuten’s Real channel which was launched in the U.K. on April 12, will feature shows such as culinary bootcamp series “Worst Cooks in America”; reality show “My New BFF”, with Paris Hilton; and “Undercover Boss.”

Marta Balaga Stormy Daniels becomes a dating show host in Canada’s “For the Love of DILFs,” combining two groups of “internet’s favorite gay archetypes: Himbos and daddies.” Produced by Daddy TV, it premiered in January. “I was brought here by Doctor DILF, a mysterious gay relationship expert, to help these singles find the man of their dreams. I know it sounds kind of weird but hey, the check cleared. And I love a good check, so here I am,” she said in the trailer presented at MipTV’s Fresh TV Formats, hosted by The Wit.  According to The Wit CEO Virginia Mouseler, moderating the showcase, “The Traitors” and “FBoy Island” are the true trendsetting formats of the season.

MipTV on Sunday, sharing in a dead heat the Buyers Coup de Coeur at the first MipDoc International Buyer Screenings.  A bold experiment, the Screenings saw MipTV allocate he prime market real estate of mid Sunday afternoon traditionally reserved for a drama showcase to documentaries, taking in features, TV specials and series.  In industrial terms the winners could hardly be more different. “The Caravan” is made by Cabal Films, a small Barcelona independent; the three-episode “Prison Project” is produced by Sweden’s SVT in co-production with other public broadcasters in Finland (Yle), Norway (NRK) and Denmark (DR).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor ZDF Studios, the commercial arm of German broadcaster ZDF, is to create the position of director international content partnerships with effect from May 1. The position will be taken by Jeffrey Haverkamp. The core tasks of this position, which has an interface between ZDF Studios and ZDF, will include initiatives to strengthen ZDF’s international programming partnerships, the exploration and initiation of framework and partnership agreements with new international programming partners of ZDF, and the evaluation of current programming offers with regard to the broadcaster’s programming needs. The position is located in the acquisitions and co-productions department, which provides services for ZDF. For the ZDF Studios Group, the creation of the new role is also intended to generate additional impetus for the distribution business from the development and expansion of international content partnerships.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s fast-growing production house Mediacrest Entertainment is launching high-concept eco-reality contest format “El pueblo” (“The Village”), which will have its international market premiere at this week’s MipTV trade fair. Designed as a primetime reality show, “El pueblo” has been structured as a social experiment, charting five families’ attempt to settle in an abandoned village, guided by the principles of sustainability and globally connected self-sufficiency.  The families’ will create their own rules, events and traditions, will initiate agriculture and livestock initiatives and start trading with nearby towns, sand later with the world. The twist: Only one winning family finally gets to stay in the village.

The Sands International Film Festival, Scotland’s burgeoning film event, opened its second edition this weekend with the world premiere screening of Citadel, the much-talked-about Prime Video series from Marvel auteurs Anthony and Joe Russo.

After passing $500M globally through Thursday, Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is now on its way to an estimated $659M through Sunday worldwide. Of that, the international box office is estimated to rep $318.6M. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Spanish titles at MipTV: “The Argonauts and the Golden Coin,” (RTVE) A live action kids adventure, targeting 8-12s, from national public broadcaster RTVE and Galician powerhouse Portocabo (“Hierro,” “Rapa”) as RTVE drives into regional co-production. Set over a summer in Galicia and inspired by the spirit of “The Famous Five” and “The Goonies,” translated to the 21st century.  “The Caravan,” (Cabal Films) Selected for the inaugural MipDoc International Buyer Screenings, a first-person account of an eight-month pregnant woman in a caravan of Central American immigrants heading to the U.S. 

Emiliano Granada Barcelona-based production-distribution-sales studio Filmax, producer of the original “The Red Band Society,” has taken on international sales on its own production “Dating in Barcelona,” which is backed by Amazon Prime Video and Catalan public network TV3.  An exclusive promo of the six-episode series will be unveiled at MipTV, underscoring how Filmax has consolidated in a matter of years on Spain’s independent production of scene whose ecosystem has solidified during the so called Golden Age of the streamers. Filmax now intends to keep up its momentum despite more general slowdown.   Minimalistic in concept, the series does what its title promises, delivering in 50-minute episodes a deep exploration of modern day dating using a multifaceted Barcelona as its background, capturing not only its plush architecture but nooks and crannies. 

Naman Ramachandran International sales agency The Open Reel has unveiled the first trailer for director-producer Quentin Lee’s “Last Summer of Nathan Lee.” Inspired by a real life incident from Lee’s high school years, the film follows the titular Nathan Lee, a teenager who finds out that he has brain cancer just before he turns 18, vows to live the remains of his life with passion and refuses to die a virgin. The cast includes Harrison Xu, Matthew Mitchell Espinosa, Natasha Tina Liu, Aaron Guest and Dru Perez. The film is produced by Lee’s Margin Films, with screenwriter Dennis Escobedo and casting director Kit DeZolt also serving as producers alongside Lee.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Google is bringing together more than 800 livestreaming channels — including news channels from ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — into a new guide in the Google TV interface. Google TV is launching free built-in channels that users can watch without downloading or launching an app. In total, it now offers over 800 channels and premium programming, including the addition of free channels from Fox Corp.’s Tubi, Plex and Haystack News, alongside the existing lineup of channels from Paramount Global’s Pluto TV. Google TV also provides channels from around the world, with programming in more than 10 languages including Spanish, Hindi and Japanese.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” towered over box office charts with $377 million in global ticket sales, taking the title for the biggest worldwide debut of the year from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($225.3 million). The animated movie — a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal — crushed already-high expectations, igniting to $173 million internationally and $204 million in its first five days at the domestic box office. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” opened in 70 overseas territories, including Mexico ($27.4 million to start), the U.K. and Ireland ($19.6 million to start), Germany ($14 million to start) and China ($12 million to start).

Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie began its international rollout today in 44 markets, and will expand to 70 through Friday. While we are waiting on numbers from a great many of today’s debuts, early word out of Asia Pacific is encouraging at $7.95M including sneaks. 

Epix is to rebrand as MGM+ International outside the U.S. and has struck a content deal with Lionsgate for key European territories.

Ben Croll Running concurrent with the wider festival, NewImages’ mercantile section has become an event unto itself, hosting a global who’s who from the XR scene while helping in no small part to reshape the field. As it stands to welcome nearly 250 participants – roughly half divided between market participants and heavyweight decision makers – this year’s fully in-person event should do little to reverse that trend. “We’re very international,” says XR market head Ellen Kuo. “With more than half of our participants coming from outside Europe, and with several coming from the U.K., Italy, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Poland, I call [our network] Paris beyond Paris.”

SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals major plot points from tonight’s FBI and FBI: International crossover event on CBS.