REinvent Scores Deals with AMC Networks, MHZ Across Drama Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

Banijay Iberia is getting into Spanish horror drama after striking a partnership deal with Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang’s scripted producer Pokeepsie Films. Deadline understands Banijay has made an equity investment in the Madrid-based company, which is behind HBO Max mystery horror drama 30 Coins.

Manchester United could be dealt a blow in their pursuit of Benfica talisman Darwin Nunez.

Anne Darwin may have claimed she was coerced into helping her husband fake his own death in a canoe, but a series of racy emails between the pair prove they were both planning their new future together in Panama.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMunich-based sales agency Beta Cinema has closed sales to several major territories for stylish comic-book adaptation “Diabolik,” which is among the leaders in the race for Italy’s top film awards – the David di Donatello Awards – with 11 nominations. Beta Cinema will kick off presales on the film’s sequels in Cannes.“Diabolik” has been acquired by buyers in France (Metropolitan), Spain (Flins & Piniculas), and Latin America and Portugal (Sun Distribution Group).

Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman has winged its way past three-quarters of a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, maintaining its spot as the highest-grossing film of the year, globally and domestically. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $751.1M with the Matt Reeves-directed spin on the Caped Crusader counting $386.1M at the international box office and $365M in North America.

Cristiano Ronaldo Jr has pulled out his father’s iconic 'Siuuu' goal celebration as he continues to follow in his footsteps with Manchester United.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFilmRise, the New York-based film and television studio and streaming network, has acquired the North American rights to a large swath of Japanese anime titles, headlined by more than episodes of the “Yu- Gi-Oh!” franchise.The deal with Konami Cross Media NY, part of Japan’s Konami Group, grants AVOD streaming rights for the FilmRise Streaming Network, including apps and free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels.The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is based on the manga series that inspired a trading card game played with monsters, spells, and traps, several video games, and a television series.“This iconic Japanese property will be featured alongside other beloved anime content, on our FilmRise Anime channel a growing new destination for North American anime fans,” said Max Einhorn, FilmRise’s SVP of acquisitions and co-production. The video streaming package includes 808 episodes of the “Yu-Gi-Oh!” TV series in English, and 541 dubbed in Spanish.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe estate of the late Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel has signed an exclusive, worldwide agreement with Virgin Music US Latin and extended its agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. Under the new deal, Virgin Music US Latin will now represent Juan Gabriel’s post-2008 catalog and future recordings, while UMPG will represent his entire catalog through an extended, exclusive global publishing agreement, bringing Gabriel’s music under the Universal Music roof.New music will be released “in the coming months,” the announcement continues, including the highly anticipated “Los Duo 3, including duets with Mon LaFerte and Gloria Trevi as well as posthumously recorded duets. Billboard notes that Gabriel, who died in 2016, left behind dozens of unreleased recordings, including new songs and re-recordings of older ones.

Starzplay Acquires HBO’s Max’s Ken Watanabe Crime Thriller Series ‘Tokyo Vice’

HBO Max executive vice president and general manager Andy Forssell is leaving WarnerMedia ahead of the close of the company’s merger with Discovery, which is now set to close as early as Friday, Variety has learned.News that Forssell is out the door comes just as sources confirmed WarnerMedia studios and networks group chairman and CEO Ann Sarnoff was informed on Tuesday by leadership that her position would be eliminated, and follows WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s resignation this morning.As Variety reported earlier Tuesday, though insiders previously said the transaction between Discovery and WarnerMedia’s current owner AT&T would be formally completed on April 11, leading to the creation of new company Warner Bros. Discovery, two sources with knowledge of the situation say the merger is now expected to potentially be finalized by the close of business Friday.

Emiliano De Pablos Munich-based Beta Film has closed a raft of major deals over Europe and beyond on Spanish TV dramas “You Shall Not Lie” and “La Fortuna,” two of the most successful recent originals produced by Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest pay-TV/SVOD operator.Both series have been sold to Italy’s RAI and to HBO for its platform HBO Max for Eastern Europe, Benelux, the Nordics, Netherlands, and Portugal, among other territories.A six-part thriller by Pau Freixas, co-creator of “The Red Band Society,” “You Shall Not Lie” was sold to RTL Deutschland for Germany, where it will premiere on its streaming platform RTL Plus this spring.In France, the drama has been picked up by M6 with an exclusive window for its SVOD service Salto. Furthermore, Antenna TV secured rights for Greece and Cyprus, as well as Blue TV for Turkey.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThree-part documentary series “Delphine: My Story” tells how the artist Delphine Boël, the illegitimate daughter of King Albert II of Belgium, fought for legal recognition, and is now known as Princess Delphine of Saxe-Coburg. It has been sold to multiple territories, Warner Bros. announced at MipTV in Cannes Tuesday.HBO Max has picked up the show in numerous territories in Europe.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“Theodosia,” the Egyptology-themed adventure series which just premiered on HBO Max in the U.S., has been acquired by BBC, along with a bevy of other partners.Produced by Cottonwood Media, “Theodosia” is represented in international markets by ZDF Studios and Federation Kids & Family, a subsidiary of Federation Entertainment.“Theodosia” follows a smart and bold 14-year-old named Theodosia Throckmorton (aka Theo) who is the daughter of two intrepid Egyptologists excavating in the Valley of the Kings. When Theo and her younger brother Henry stumble upon a hidden tomb and a mysterious artefact, the ‘Eye of Horus’, Theo unlocks the power to see and perform true magic, thus discovering a whole new world of mystery as well as danger.

JD Linville Québécois auteur Florence Longpré has scored a triple, landing her newest series “Aubrey’s Back” in the main competition at Canneseries after enjoying selections at both the Berlinale Series Market and Series Mania with her tragic comedy “Last Summer of the Raspberries.” Written during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the new series follows Audrey, played by Longpré, a young woman emerging from a decades long coma following a traumatic brain injury.The series was co-authored by Guillaume Lambert (“Adulthood”) and their collaboration carries the story forward in this heartfelt journey of rediscovery.The first Canadian series selected in long form competition at Canneseries, “Audrey’s Back” is produced by Pixcom’s Nicola Merola, Charles Lafortune, and Marie-Ève Pelletier. Former collaborator Guillaume Lonergan (“Emilie,” “Can You Hear Me”) directs the series, having also directed Lambert’s series “Adulthood,” which was nominated for the International Emmys.

Parts of Scotland woke up to a blanket of snow this morning as flurries of the white stuff fell across the country yesterday.

Emiliano De Pablos Antonia Nava’s Barcelona-based Neo Art Producciones has teamed with Rome’s Pupkin Production to co-produce gay romantic drama “Si las paredes hablasen” (“If Walls Had Ears”), the feature debut of Spanish femme director, Ceres Machado.Scheduled to roll by this year-end or the first quarter of 2023 in Barcelona and Rome, the film will be produced by Nava and Pupkin’s Rita Rognoni.Spanish actor Fernando Tejero (“La que se avecina,” “My Heart Goes Boom!”) is attached to star in a cast that will combine Spanish and Italian actors.Co-written by Machado and scribe Salva Martos Cortés (“Maniac Tales”), “If Walls had Ears” will narrate, in 10 sequences, a Barcelona and Rome-set story of intense love, passion and pain between two men. They are Juan, a 50 year-old married man who hides his homosexuality, and Leonardo, a 23-year Italian who arrives in Barcelona to try his luck as a soccer player.Over a decade, they will live their romance, but it remains burdened by Juan’s inability to accept his sexuality and the conflicts that it creates with Leonardo, who despite working in a homophobic environment, is open about his sexual orientation as he tries to break social barriers and stereotypes.“The concept is universal and, unfortunately, a highly topical issue.