‘Zorro’ Series Reboot: Mediawan Rights Drops First Teaser of Mipcom Opener (EXCLUSIVE)

The Mediapro Studio will shoot from November Season 3 of “The Head,” its biggest international hit, filming in the Sahara Desert with John Lynch (“The Fall”) and Katharine O’Donnelly (“Mary Queen of Scots), attached once more to star. Olivia Morris also returns to her role as Rachel Russo, the morally conscionable daughter of ambition-crazed biologist Arthur Wilde, played by Lynch. “The Head” Season 1 took place at an Antarctic research station cut off in winter, Season 2 on a hulking freighter at mid-Pacific’s Point Nemo, the most distant place on earth from nearest land.

Marta Balaga Vienna-based Terra Mater Studios, a subsidiary of Red Bull, is developing its first fictional series “Salon of Sugar.” The historical drama will focus on Berta Zuckerkandl, born in 1864: a writer, journalist and a hostess of an important literary salon in Vienna, frequented by the likes of Auguste Rodin, Gustav Klimt, director Max Reinhardt or Stefan Zweig. “Composer Gustav Mahler actually met his wife Alma there,” says producer Nina Steiner, teasing other familiar faces bound to appear in the show, from Freud to Georges Clemenceau.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Gargoyles” could finally be returning to television, with a live-action reboot series currently in the works at Disney+. Variety has confirmed that the Disney streaming service is working with writer Gary Dauberman and James Wan‘s Atomic Monster to develop a live-action version of the beloved animated show. Dauberman would serve as writer and executive producer with Wan also executive producing.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Warner Bros. Discovery will be launching its streaming service Max in France, one of its top European markets, next summer, Variety has learned. The launch in France will follow a rollout in Northern and Eastern Europe, which is expected to be unveiled by Gerhard Zeiler, president of international at Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of its world premiere tonight, the Zorro TV series adaptation has landed a trio of European deals, as Mediawan Rights leans further into big-ticket IP.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sarah Jessica Parker is set to executive produce “Front Row,” a gripping documentary feature following a group of talented Ukrainian ballet dancers. Directed by Miriam Guttmann, the award-winning filmmaker of “Seeds of Deceit,” the documentary is produced by Scenery (“Human Playground”), a joint venture with Banijay Benelux. Parker and Alison Benson are exec producing via Pretty Matches Productions, alongside The Ruderman Foundation.

Ben Croll Acclaimed Romanian animator Anca Damian has lined up her next live-action feature. The filmmaker behind Annecy top prizewinner “Crulic: The Path to Beyond” and “Marona’s Fantastic Tale” will write and direct “First People on Earth,” a tragicomic family saga about a biracial woman re-experiencing her native Namibia after decades in Europe. Returning to her birth country for a family funeral, and bringing her non-verbal, pre-adolescent son in tow, the heroine falls in with a troupe of theatrical Bushmen – an Indigenous tribe, divorced from their historic lands, forced to re-enact ancestral myths for tourist dollars.

Married at First Sight UK took an intense turn during a recent episode when contestant Erica Roberts felt "attacked" by her fellow participants, stirring up echoes of a challenging time in her life. The Edinburgh dance teacher, Erica, aged 25, appeared on the show alongside her partner, Jordan.Thursday night's episode featured their first dinner party, which, as hinted in the episode's preview, quickly descended into chaos, with tensions between Erica and co-stars Tasha and Ella reaching a boiling point.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Bertrand Bonello‘s “The Beast,” a dystopian romance drama starring Lea Seydoux (“No Time to Die”) and George MacKay (“1917”), has been bought by distributors in all major markets following its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Represented in international markets by Kinology, “The Beast” has sold to the U.K. (Vertigo Releasing), Italy (iWonder), Spain (Caramel), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), Benelux (Imagine), Scandinavia (NonStop), Latin America (Impacto), Middle East (Front Row), Poland (New Horizons), Greece (Weirdwave), Portugal (Alambique), CIS (Capella), Romania (Transilvania), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), India (Superfine) and Indonesia (P.T.

C*A*U*G*H*T, the Sean Penn-starring war satire series, is opting out of next week’s Mipcom Cannes following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France TV Distribution has enlisted a raft of major distributors worldwide for “Sugar and Stars,” a movie starring Riadh Belaïche, a social media influencer-turned-actor. The inspirational drama is based on the true story of Yazid Ichemrahem, an underdog who became a famous pastry chef.

Get ready for the return of Chicken Run!

Salli,” a film which has its world premiere this week in the Busan International Film Festival’s A Window on Asian Cinema program. The Mandarin-, Taiwanese-, English- and French-language film follows a lonely middle-aged chicken farmer Hui-Chun, who doesn’t speak English and develops a romantic relationship through an app with a French man who calls himself Martin. In the online world, Hui-Chun is Salli.

Sean Penn, Matthew Fox, and Kick Gurry are heading to Mipcom Cannes to talk about their satirical comedy series C*A*U*G*H*T.

Anna Marie de la Fuente “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis’ of Pimienta Films is coming on board as lead producer of “Freeland,” the first English-language pic by “Emily in Paris” director Katina Medina Mora, Variety learned at Madrid forum Iberseries & Platino Industria. To be co-written with Chilean scribe Julio Rojas, creator of podcast sensation “Caso 63” and a co-writer on Pablo Fendrik’s “El Refugio,” the project was put together by producer Nestor Hernández, a former Sony and HBO development exec for Latin America, who attended the San Sebastian Film Festival in September to present the project.

The first new *NSYNC song in 20 years was just released!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Andrey Zvyagintsev, the two-time Oscar-nominated Russian filmmaker of “Loveless” and “Leviathan,” will next direct “Jupiter,” a politically-minded movie set to shoot in Spain and France next spring. The movie will tell the story of a Russian oligarch’s reckoning with the harsh reality of his family’s future.

Naman Ramachandran The world of detective Charlie Chopra, based on characters created by Agatha Christie, is set to have a prolonged life in India as a franchise. “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley,” based on Christie’s 1931 novel “The Sittaford Mystery,” was adapted as a series for Indian streamer SonyLIV by renowned filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj. Set in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, northern India, the series follows the journey of Charlie Chopra and her quest to uncover a murder mystery alongside her sidekick Sitaram.

Netflix has dropped a first look at Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, its new anime series featuring voiceover work by Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter).

Emiliano De Pablos Red Arrow International and leading Spanish indie producer-distributor Vértice360 have taken a co-production stake in real-life inspired series project “Lucio’s Treasure,” set up at Barcelona-based Friki Films. Also handling international sales rights, Red Arrow co-produces the project. An English-language shoot is scheduled by 2025.