Yahoo News MIPCOM Deal Memo Day 2: BBC Nabs ‘Marie Antoinette’ Season 2, Newen Takes Full Control of Felicita Films
Day two of the MIPCOM international television market brought a slew of new deals and a major corporate acquisition.
French group Newen Studios, owned by commercial channel TF1, announced it had secured a majority stake in Marie Guillaumond’s French production company Felicita Films. The boutique group has some 10 projects in development for local French channels and streaming platforms, and is currently in postproduction on A la Hauteur, a feature film directed by Delphine and Muriel Coulin starring Vincent Lindon.
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On the sales side, the BBC pre-bought season two of period drama Marie Antoinette from Banijay Rights. The Canal+ drama, created by Deborah Davis, stars Emilia Schüle (Ku’damm 56/ 63) as the avant-garde French queen and Louis Cunningham (Bridgerton) as the King Louis XVI. The first season of Marie Antoinette sold to more than 147 territories, including to PBS Distribution in the U.S.
“Following the great success of series one, we are delighted to return to Versailles for the next entertaining chapter in the eventful life of the charismatic and captivating Marie Antoinette,” said Sue Deeks, head of BBC programme acquisitions on the deal.
Marie Antoinette is produced by Claude Chelli and Margaux Balsan for Capa Drama, Stéphanie Chartreux for Banijay Studios France. The season two writing team is led by Louise Ironside, joined by Charlotte Wolf, Francesca Forristal and Andrew Bampfield. Ed Bazalgette will direct the first four episodes, while Raf Reyntjens will direct the remaining four.
BBC Studios racked up multiple presales for the third installment in its BAFTA-award-winning natural history hit Planet Earth, presented by Sir David Attenborough. The new, eight-part series has sold to Australia (Nine), Belgium (VRT), Czech Republic (Czech TV), Denmark (DR), Italy (Mediaset), New Zealand (TVNZ), Spain (Movistar Plus+) and Sweden (SVT). In Japan, the show will be a co-production in association with NHK. In China, the show has been acquired by Shanghai Media Group for their linear channel and by streaming platforms including Bilibili, iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku and China Mobile’s Migu Video.
World of Wonder (WOW) confirmed its hit reality format Drag Race will continue to strut its stuff in France, the Philippines and Thailand, with all three regional versions of the Emmy-winning competition show getting re-upped for a third season. The upcoming series of Drag Race Philippines and Drag Race Thailand will be available to stream on WOW Presents Plus globally and Drag Race France will be available on WOW Presents Plus in all territories outside of France.
And in Idris Elba news, the British multi-hyphenate announced Tuesday he will be narrating and executive producing a Nat Geo series, tentatively titled The Color of Victory: Heroes of WW2, about people of color who fought during the war. Produced by October Films and Elba’s Green Door Pictures, The Color of Victory: Heroes of WW2 will see Elba, whose grandfather served in WW2, focus on three unsung heroes per episode, highlighting the roles they played in Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor and D-Day.
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