Secuoya Studios, Caracol TV Seal Scripted Series Production Alliance (EXCLUSIVE)

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Ahead of next week’s Mipcom, Banijay has acquired global rights to Argentine celebrity competition series “The Hotel,”  continuing its hugely successful relationship with Diego Guebel’s high-flying Boxfish in Argentina.  Produced by Boxfish for Canal 13, one of Argentina’s biggest free-to-air channels, “The Hotel” (“El Hotel”) sees 16 celebrity contestants shut themselves away for four months in a luxury hotel on the outskirts of a city. There’s only one caveat: the luxury establishment does not employ any staff.  “While guests enjoy a luxurious stay in the pool, spa and live shows and tuck into gourmet dinners, staff are housed in the hotel’s service area, washing linen, preparing breakfast and serving the guests’ every need,” Banijay explained Saturday, announcing its acquisition. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent To be released worldwide Nov. 4 on Prime Video, Amazon Original “El Presidente: The Corruption Game,” from Academy Award winner Armando Bo, is a Latin American series about how a Brazilian, João Havelange, wrestled control from Europe of the biggest sport on earth. In a neat historical echo, backed by Bo, “Narcos” producer Gaumont TV, Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula (“La Jauría”) and Argentine powerhouse Kapow (“La Jauría”), the second season in the “El Presidente” series saga of soccer business high jinks and low morals now looks set to become one of the biggest soccer titles released in the countdown to the greatest show on earth, the FIFA World Cup. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “La Mesías,” from “Veneno” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, drinks deep from Catholic tradition from its very title — literally, “The Female Messiah” — to iconography  and focus on faith.  Another awaited Movistar+ series, “The Left-Handed Son,” created by “The Plague” screenwriter Rafael Cobos, was presented to the press in July against a spectacular backdrop taking in, just across a waterway, Seville’s iconic Torre de Oro and, a little further away, the Giralda bell tower of Seville’s Cathedral. In line with platform production trends the world over, rather than playing down local elements, Movistar+ is playing them up. For the Telefonica SVOD/pay TV player in Spain, this has been a longterm philosophy, reaching back to its earliest series in 2017. 

International co-productions are all the rage right now, and Europe’s top players are looking to the U.S.

MAMAMOO have announced the first concerts for their forthcoming ‘MY CON’ world tour.The tour and kick-off concerts were first announced via the K-pop girl group’s social media channels yesterday (October 12). Dubbed the ‘MY CON’ world tour, MAMAMOO’s global trek will begin with a three-night residency at Seoul’s Olympic Park Olympic Hall from November 18 to 20.Fanclub pre-sales for tickets are slated to begin on October 19 at 8pm KST and close on October 20 at 11:59pm KST.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Streaming soon on Roku devices: your front door? Roku is expanding beyond its streaming-media players, Roku-branded TVs and home-entertainment speakers with the launch of an array of new smart-home products. The smart-home products include security cameras, video doorbells, smart lightbulbs and smart plugs. Walmart is the exclusive bricks-and-mortar retailer for the Roku Smart Home line, which will be available in nearly 3,500 Walmart stores in the U.S. beginning Oct. 17. The smart-home products also will be sold via roku.com and walmart.com. At launch, customers with Roku devices will be able see who is at their door with their the Roku video doorbell. Users will also be able to view live streams from their Roku cameras or use a Roku voice remote to bring up video feeds.

EXCLUSIVE: Seoul- and Los Angeles-based Bound Entertainment (Apple’s Dr Brain) is teaming with author Ann Liang to develop her genre-bending YA debut novel, If You Could See the Sun as a series.  

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Nordisk Film, the deep-pocketed Copenhagen-based Scandinavian film powerhouse, has launched an advanced LED virtual production stage. Named the Shortcut LED Stage, the venue will provide advanced virtual production services for TV, film, commercial shoots, music videos and live events from Scandinavian banners that are owned by Nordisk Film, as well as other companies around the world. The first film productions that have used the Shortcut LED Stage include “Boundless,” the next opus in the “Department Q” franchise, as well as Ole Bornedal’s psychological thriller “Nightwatch – Demons are Forever,” among other projects.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In what plays like Singapore’s answer to “About Schmidt,” never-too-late-to-live dramedy “Ajoomma” follows a widowed housewife as she steps out of her comfort zone by making a solo trip to South Korea. This upbeat debut from director He Shuming — whose title is the Korean equivalent of all-purpose Asian term of respect “Auntie” — offers longtime TV actor Hong Huifang (“Housewives’ Holiday”) a chance to shine in the title role, which has already netted her a Golden Horse Award nom. Selected to rep Singapore at the Oscars, affable “Ajoomma” is more of a dark horse in that race, albeit one with art-house sleeper potential. Mrs. Lim’s life is light on excitement. What it lacks in drama, she fills by binging on Korean soap operas — a not at all uncommon obsession among Asian women (and a growing number of Americans, thanks to services like Kocowa and Viki). “Auntie,” as most of the other characters call Hong’s character, fusses a bit too much over her only son, who long ago agreed to accompany her on a special tour of Seoul. Now, mere days before they’re to depart, he backs out for a job interview in New York — one that would put some much-needed distance between the closeted young man and his overly suffocating mom.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Keanu Reeves will no longer star in the Hulu series adaptation of “The Devil in the White City,” Variety has learned exclusively from sources. The show was first put into development at Hulu in 2019 and was officially ordered to series at the streamer in August 2022. It is based on the book of the same name by by Erik Larson. Per the official logline, the show “tells the true story of Daniel H. Burnham, a demanding but visionary architect who races to make his mark on history with the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, America’s first modern serial killer and the man behind the notorious ‘Murder Castle’ built in the Fair’s shadow.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) today announced the establishment of its first LED virtual production stage, located at Sony Innovation Studios in Culver City. With LED virtual production transforming the way film and television are made, the new stage is the world’s largest using Sony’s high brightness and wide color gamut Crystal LED display panels. The panels were created in collaboration with top engineers at SPE for use in virtual production. The establishment of this LED stage allows Sony Innovation Studios (SIS) to expand its virtual production workflow across various entertainment platforms and seamlessly merge the real and virtual worlds with its Atom View technology and proprietary stage-integration software.

SF9 have announced stops in Seoul and North America for their upcoming ‘Live Fantasy #4 Delight’ tour, due to begin this November.South Korean music label FNC Entertainment made the announcement of SF9’s forthcoming tour earlier today (October 5) via social media, where it dropped a list of dates and locations. The ‘Live Fantasy #4 Delight’ tour will kick off with a three-night show in SF9’s home city of Seoul in November, before the group embark on a trek across the US with five shows scheduled in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles across November and December.Venue and other specific show information have yet to be made publicly available by the organisers involved.

Selome Hailu Media Res has pre-empted the rights to “Luminous,” the debut sci-fi novel from Silvia Park, which the studio will adapt into a drama series. “Luminous” tells the story of three estranged siblings living in a recently re-unified Korea, where sentient, sensitive, very-nearly-human robots are a part of daily life. One sibling working for the lowly robot crimes unit and is tasked with investigating the disappearance of an older woman’s service bot in Seoul. His investigation brings him to reconnect with his sister, a prominent robot designer working for a top manufacturing firm, who is, embarrassingly, dating one of her creations as well. The investigation sparks an epic journey through future Seoul, where the dark truths of this tech future are uncovered while the characters rediscover their humanity, even if not all of them are actually quite human.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief KC Global Media, which operates a string of channels across Asia including AXN, anime channel Animax, South Korea’s ONE and Japanese entertainment channel GEM, has unveiled its first script development of a sci-fi live action series, “Jonesy.” The show is a sci-fi fantasy thriller action-comedy series set in the year 2029, with eight episodes of 15-20 minutes each. Production will be with Singapore-based production agency, Monochromatic Pictures, while development is supported through the Capability Partnership Programme (CPP) operated by the country’s Infocomm Media Development Authority. The show sees an internet crazy shut-in man driven to extremes by violent weather systems which carry with them supernatural beasts intent on devouring humankind. With his imaginary friend, the man learns to navigate the new world alone, confront his fears, battle colorful foes, and become humanity’s new hope when he kills one of the monsters during a livestream.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Iceland’s leading production company Sagafilm Nordic has teamed with Swiss banner C-FILMS on “Codeword: Rubicon,” an espionage thriller series inspired by the infamous CIA operation involving the firm Crypto AG. Created by Hungarian director-writer Balazs Juszt(“I Love You, Too”), the eight-episode series has been commissioned by broadcaster Swiss Television (SRF). The show chronicles the story of how Crypto AG, a Swiss family-owned company manufacturing code-making machines founded in 1952 by a Swedish mathematician was secretly owned and operated by the CIA in partnership West German Intelligence services. From decades, the Swiss company sold equipment to more than 120 countries, including Iran and nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican, according to the Washington Post. The role of the U.S. and West German intelligence was revealed by the Crypto Leaks.

K.J. Yossman The Argonon Group is moving into podcasting with its first audio series, Variety can exclusively confirm. Argonon label Like A Shot Entertainment is set to launch 10-part series “Forbidden History” based on the international TV brand. The label has also undergone a management restructure with Debbie Akinbola (pictured) appointed to head of production. Reporting to managing director Henry Scott, she will be responsible for the production process, including post-production. “Forbidden History,” which is set to launch Oct. 12 across all major audio platforms, is hosted by Janine Harouni. It will explore “the past’s darkest corners by examining true crime stories through history, shedding light on the lives of intriguing individuals with the aim to uncover the truth buried deep in some of history’s most controversial legacies,” reads the logline.

Lindsie Chrisley has found love again! On Wednesday, the former star and her new beau went Instagram official.  “I prayed for you,” the 33-year-old wrote. “He waltzed into my life unexpectedly and swept me off my feet.

BreAnna Bell As the first series hailing from Onyx Collective, Raamla Mohamed’s “Reasonable Doubt” is helping the new production label define itself as a home for unapologetically Black storytelling.  Currently streaming on Hulu, “Reasonable Doubt” stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as L.A. criminal defense attorney Jax Stewart, who seeming has it all –– a devoted husband, two growing children, a well-paying job, and a group of friends that support her through her highs and lows. But what bubbles beneath the surface of her impressively primped exterior (completed with a variety of hairstyles ranging from sleek to coiled) is a messy underbelly of questionable ethics in and outside of the courtroom as well as a pension for shade-throwing.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Spain’s Marc Clotet (“The Sleeping Voice,” “15 Hours”) and Argentina’s Juan Gil Navarro (“100 Days To Fall in Love”), Santiago Achaga (“Like, La Leyenda”) and Esteban Pérez (“Limbo”) are attached to star in “Fragile,” a slice of Patagonia noir thriller from Argentina’s StoryLab.  Created and produced by StoryLab partners Nacho Viale and Diego Palacio, “Fragile” is backed by Flow, Telecom’s dominate Argentine SVOD service, and Televisión Publica Argentina, the country’s public broadcast network.  Palacio will direct “Fragile” (“Fragiles”) from screenplays penned by Lucas Molteni, whose has written on five StoryLab series dating back to 201’s “Estocolmo,” up-and-coming scribes Juan E. Cordoni and Luciano Cocciardi and Viale and Palacio. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Upping the ante on its inaugural edition, the 2nd Iberseries & Platino Industria will unveil about 50 drama series, whether via first episodes (Capítulo Uno, Segunda Ventana), or showreels or trailers (Upcoming…). Following a breakdown of titles, and showreel highlights in showreels, featuring some of the most anticipated titles from Spain and Latin America, as well as recent hits: Capitulo Uno “El Encargado,” (Star Original Productions/The Walt Disney Company Latin America)