Format Frenzy: Hit Unscripted Shows Score Global Sales – Global Bulletin
In today’s Global Bulletin, “Love Island” comes to Czech Republic and Slovakia; Kan 11 plans an Israeli version of “The 1% Club”; Amazon Prime Video make India “LOL”; All3Media represents “Eating with your Enemy” on the global market; and Key Buyers Event: Digital teams with WEMW on a new co-pro initiative.
FORMAT
ITV Studios’ super-format “Love Island” has continued its global roll-out with a new local version commissioned by TV Nova in Czech Republic and Markiza in Slovakia for the SVOD platform VOYO, marking the 21st local version of the program. The series will be produced by Paprika Studios at the ITV Studios hub on the Spanish Island of Gran Canaria, with season one scheduled for autumn of this year. Just this week, a Spanish version of “Love Island” premiered to an audience of 640,000 across several networks and platforms. Other upcoming versions include a new season about set sail in Netherlands on RTL streaming platform Videoland, as well as Italian and Nigerian versions coming this spring. “Love Island” is owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group. ITV Studios distributes internationally.
More from Variety
Survey: 39% of Americans Say Netflix Has Best Original Content of All Streaming Services
All3Media Sells 'The Drowning' Across the Globe - Global Bulletin
Amazon Launching 'The Boys' Podcast With Producers, Cast, Crew Talking Season 2 (EXCLUSIVE)
*****
BBC Studios has closed a new license agreement with Kan 11 in Israel for a local version of Magnum Media’s new gameshow “The 1% Club,” marking the second such deal for the format following a recent agreement with France Television for a local French version produced by BBC Studios France for France 2. The program pits contestants and viewers against the combined intelligence of their home nation based on scientific surveys, finding out who among them belong in the country’s top 1% of intellectuals. Kan 11’s local version will begin production in August of this year and begin broadcasting in 2022.
*****
Amazon Prime Video has unveiled a new Indian format for unscripted reality comedy “LOL – Hasse Toh Phasse” to be produced by Sol Production. “Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.” co-stars Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani will host the program, scheduled to premiere on April 30.
In “LOL – Hasse Toh Phasse,” local comedic entertainers Aadar Malik, Aakash Gupta, Aditi Mittal, Ankita Shrivastava, Cyrus Broacha, Gaurav Gera, Kusha Kapila, Mallika Dua, Sunil Grover and Suresh Menon will spend six straight hours together trying not to laugh. With each doing their best to crack up the others, the last person to break will declared winner and secured a not-yet announced grand prize.
*****
All3Media International is partnering with Ireland’s Animo TV and broadcaster Virgin Media Television on a its new format “Eating with Your Enemy,” previously titled “Eating with the Enemy.” The original recently launched on Virgin Media One and quickly became one of the most successful original format titles in the network’s history. The All3Media deal will include distribution rights to the original Animo TV-produced version and see the company handle global sales of the format. In “Eating with your Enemy,” strangers with opposing viewpoints on key topics are paired and sat down for dinner in a restaurant where their conversation and behavior are broken down by a team of psychologists.
MARKET
Russia’s Key Buyers Event: Digital is teaming with WEMW – the international co-pro fund organized by the Audiovisual Fund FVG, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs, Europa Cinema Support Fund Eurimages and others – to expand its co-production program with a pitching event for Russian programs currently in development as well as several panels dedicated to financing and networking. In WEMW Goes to Russia, five international projects in advanced stages of development will pitch to Russian producers and gain access to a minority co-production support granted by the Russian Ministry of Culture. A call for interested projects opens on Thursday April 15 and run until May 7. The five finalists will then be announced sometime in mid-May.
FINANCIAL
Toho, Japan’s top producer, distributor and exhibitor, reported a 60% fall in profits, to $134 million, for the fiscal year ending in February 2021. That was despite releasing “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train,” an animated film that became the biggest all-time hit at the Japanese box office following its October 2020 bow. As of April 12, the film’s earnings totaled $363 million. The biggest drag on profits was the poor showing of the company’s exhibition arm, which recorded a 50% year-on-year drop in earnings due to the pandemic. Toho, however, forecasts a quick bounce back post-pandemic with profits expected to rise 40% to $188 million in the current fiscal year. – Mark Schilling
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
