Vikings, Villains and Cheese
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Bloodaxe, Brody and Banijay.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Prime Video has ordered Bloodaxe, a historical Viking drama from Vikings creator Michael Hirst.
Lee Daniels (The Butler) has signed a multi-year first-look deal with 20th Television.
Fifth Season (Severance) acquired global sales rights for The Artist, a Gilded Age mystery series.
David Oyelowo is in an Apple TV+ surrealist comedy, Government Cheese.
Adrien Brody is in talks to get bloodied in Damien Chazelle’s next film Evel Knievel on Tour.
Euphoria actor Austin Abrams has landed his first lead role in Whalefall, a film from 20th Century.
Apple TV+’s upcoming 10-episode drama Neuromancer adds In Bruges actress Clémence Poésey.
Cynthais Erivo’s next role: a samurai movie.
Euro banner Mediawan has acquired a majority stake in British-Australian indie powerhouse See-Saw Films.
Deeper, a documentary premiering at SXSW, follows Dr. Richard Harris, a key figure in the 2018 Thai cave rescue.
Gravitas Ventures has secured U.S. and Canadian rights to Sundance’s Layla.
Polish born director Pawel Pawlikoski (Ida) announces his next project, Fatherland.
Banijay, the European production giant behind Peaky Blinders, has reported flat revenue for 2024.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Vikings creator's got an axe to grind: Prime Video has ordered Bloodaxe, a historical Viking drama from Vikings creator Michael Hirst and his son Horatio Hirst, produced by MGM Television.
The series follows the legendary warrior Erik Bloodaxe (real name, he was a real guy) and his wife Gunnhild as they fight for Norway’s throne amid war, betrayals, and shifting alliances, with rulers from Scandinavia and England drawn into the conflict.
Vikings may have started off as a way to loosely capitalize off of GOT's growing popularity, but in the end, viewers fell in love with the characters and wanted to see their stories through.
Bloodaxe may carry that inspired Game of Thrones flair that Vikings (2013 - 2020) had, with a mixture of political intrigue and violence.
Currently in casting and pre-pro, MGM has also partnered with the Hirsts on a separate historical drama based on A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii. It appears that the Hirsts have found their niche and Prime is happy to conquer.
Lee Daniels (The Butler) has signed a multi-year first-look deal with 20th Television, continuing his long-standing relationship with the studio to develop and EP series across Disney Entertainment Television platforms. Having been with 20th Television since 2015, Daniels has developed Empire (2015 - 2020) with the studio.
We don't yet know what Daniel's next move is, but this will be the third renewal of his deal that began in 2015, so clearly Fox & 20th Television allign with Daniel's vision.
We are seeing more and more streamers and production studios double down on their directors. The first look deals and other contracts seem to be the way Hollywood is moving forward.
Tidbits:
Fifth Season (Severance) acquired global sales rights for The Artist, a Gilded Age mystery series starring Mandy Patinkin and Janet McTeer. Created by Aram Rappaport (Syrup), the show follows a tycoon’s celebrity-filled estate where a shocking murder unfolds. The golden age is always an interesting time to visit, and a grisly murder should juxtapose that shiny exterior nicely. No word yet on the exact release date, but one would assume it would be in 2025.
Disney Animation's production management staff ratified their first labor contract 17 months after unionizing. With 93% approval, the deal secures pension and health benefits and wage increases: 24% for production managers, 29% for supervisors, and 35% for coordinators. Nearly all eligible workers participated in the vote.
Cancelled shows:
Netflix’s The Recruit (2 total seasons)
CBS’s S.W.A.T. (8 total seasons)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
David Oyelowo is in the Apple TV+ surrealist comedy, Government Cheese. The actor might not be on everyone’s radar. But he played Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma (2015) with a tortured sense of conviction and is currently starring in two hit TV shows, Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Paramount+ trailer) and Silo (Apple TV+ trailer). For a quick dose of his acting, check out his heart-wrenching silent performance, suffering through voicemails in this trailer for The After.
Created by Paul Hunter and Aeysha Carr, Government Cheese 10-episode series follows the Chambers family in 1969 San Fernando Valley as they navigate life’s chaos after Hampton Chambers (Oyelowo) returns from prison as he creates a “revolutionary” product.
Oyelowo is definitely thought of more as a serious actor, so seeing him in a comedy, much less one with such a strange tilt, will be very interesting, but with this and Hello Tomorrow! Apple is cornering the market on shows that have the heart of starting a tech company in a garage mixed with quirky vintage dread.
The trailer shows a suburban idyllic life thrown into chaos.
Streaming on Apple + April 16th.
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Adrien Brody, hot off his second Oscar win as the emotionally brutalized lead in The Pianist, is in talks to get bloodied in La La Land director Damien Chazelle’s next film, Evel Knievel on Tour (IMDBPro link). The film is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio as the beloved and wild daredevil Evel Knievel.
Brody would play a sports promoter, Shelly Saltman, a charismatic showman who wrote a book that had some less than kind words about Knievel. Evel’s response? He broke Shelly’s arm with a baseball bat (photo).
The film is said to be shooting over the summer.
Titbits:
Euphoria actor Austin Abrams has landed his first lead role in Whalefall, the 20th Century film adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ novel. Brian Duffield (dir/wri: Hulu’s No One Will Save You) directs. The film is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours, following a fictional story of a scuba diver who gets swallowed by an 80-foot sperm whale. Opposite established stars like Brad Pitt and George Clooney, Abrams held his own in last year’s action pic Wolfs (scene breakdown), adding a crucial layer of vulnerability as he spilled his guts becoming the film's real heart. While Whalefall is still just in development, it’ll be exciting to see Abrams headline.
Apple TV+’s upcoming 10-episode drama Neuromancer adds In Bruges actress Clémence Poésey to its cast already made up of Masters of the Air star Callum Turner and Briana Middleton (Sharper). Neuromance follows a damaged, top-rung super hacked (Turner) who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime. The show is a co-production between Skydance Television, Anonymous Content, and Apple Studios.
Cynthais Erivo in a samurai movie?! Erivo has just joined Lionsate’s Karoshi, described as:
A corporate thriller with a samurai twist.
No word on Erivo’s role but there was a jilted yet dire stillness to her in The Outsider that could track well for this (clip). 87Eleven Entertainment serves as the production company. No word on shoot dates.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Euro banner Mediawan has acquired a majority (51%) stake in British-Australian indie powerhouse See-Saw Films. The high profile studio is behind:
Apple TV+’s Slow Horses
Netflix’s Heartstopper
The Power of the Dog (2021)
The King’s Speech (2010)
See-Saw Films under the Mediawan umbrella will become a significant asset, as well as one of the most successful and best-known scripted labels working in film and TV.
Mediawan is the parent company to over 80 production companies, having bought up:
Brad Pitt’s Plan B (majority ownership)
Germany’s Leonine (The Lives of Others, Netflix’s Dark).
Partnership with LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company.
Mediawan sees See-Saw as its first UK outfit operating in high-profile feature films.
Tidbits:
Deeper, a documentary premiering at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival, follows Dr. Richard Harris, a key figure in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, as he embarks on a dangerous deep cave diving expedition in New Zealand. Directed by Jennifer Peedom, the film will focus on the psychological effects and anxiety brought about by cave diving. The trailer looks awe-inspiring and terrifying. Trailer Here.
Gravitas Ventures has secured U.S. and Canadian rights to Layla, a beautiful romance between a drag queen struggling with their identity from their traditional Arab upbringing. The film premiered at Sundance and was produced by Film4 and supported by BFI. Now that’s a filmmaker’s production company romance made in heaven. Hits LA theaters March 21, with a VOD release on March 28. Trailer.
Neil Young’s Coastal tour documentary announced. Capturing his 2023 solo concerts and behind-the-scenes moments. Directed by Daryl Hannah, it premiered at Woodstock Film Festival. Featuring candid insights and a companion soundtrack, the film marks Young’s return to the stage after four years. Costal debuts April 17 in select theaters. Trailer here.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Polish born director Pawel Pawlikoski (Ida) announces his next project as Fatherland, a film adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s 2021 novel The Magician. The story is a “fictionalized autobiography” of German author Thomas Mann following his life and defiant opposition to the Nazi regime, and his subsequent exile in the US.
Pawlikoski’s complicated 50s love story Cold War (2018, trailer) shot entirely in black and white earned him the Best Director Award at Cannes, with the director praised for his unparalleled visual storytelling and graceful yet realistic approach to European politics.
The news of Pawlikoski’s latest project comes as a surprise as he was previously working on his film The Island, which was supposed to star Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, but production had halted due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Looks like the critically acclaimed director has switched focus to his new film with no news regarding whether he will return to The Island afterwards.
The director behind Best Picture nominee Conclave Edward Berger is on board to produce Fatherland with his production company Nine Hours. Shooting is expected to start this summer.
The European production giant behind Peaky Blinders and MasterChef, Banijay Entertainment has reported flat revenue of $3.5 bn for 2024.
$2.8 Bn - Content Production Revenue
↓ 2.8% from 2023
$971 M - EBITDA
↑ 22%
$451 M - Net Income
↑ 29.3%
The growth at Banijay Group was mostly generated by the company’s betting business.
Banijay Group Ceo François Riahi said:
“Banijay Group enjoyed a record year in 2024… Even in a challenging global content production market context, we continued to see strong demand - especially from streaming platforms - for our iconic brands and deep content catalogue.”
By reducing spending and prioritizing their return to profitability, Banijay Group saw great success this past year across all of their divisions.
Tidbits:
London-based broadcasting network ITV completed its $193 M cost savings program a year early, showing record profits for the studio. The numbers revealed $64 M in savings for 2024, up $10M from the previous year due to the “significant restructuring and transformation programme of the business.” While the company saw a 23% dip in paid subscribers for their streamer ITVX, they seem optimistic in recouping their cumulative investment with their cost savings program, which has been so successful.
Belgian director Olivier Pairoux’s Vigilante is a French-speaking thriller starring French musician and rapper Eddy de Pretto as a man who traps predators online. Produced by Kwassa Films, the film is set for a 2026 release, with international sales talks ongoing.
First look gets a bit voyeuristic.
ON THIS DAY
1975. Mirror (dir: Andrei Tarkovsky) is released.
That’s all for the week. See you Monday!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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Whalefall would not be Brian Duffield's directorial debut, he already directed two previous, excellent movies.
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