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It will be solely Kelly Day’s task to find Amazon Prime Video its Squid Game. Well, Day and whomever she ultimately chooses as her vp of international originals.

Following last week’s departure of Jen Salke, Day has been named head of Prime Video’s International Originals teams. The announcement was shared with staff on Friday morning via a Mike Hopkins email; Hopkins is the head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios.

In the next phase of her career, Salke, formerly the president of Entertainment at NBC, will start a new production outfit with an overall first-look deal across both film and TV at Amazon Studios.

While Day actively seeks her lieutenant, her leadership team will be comprised of Javiera Balmaceda (head of international originals, Latin America, Canada & Australia), Tara Erer (head of international originals, Northern Europe), Nicole Morganti (head of international originals, Southern Europe), Nikhil Madhok (head of international originals,...

Following the huge success of such action shows as The Terminal List, Jack Ryan, and the pop culture phenomenon that is Reacher, Prime Video has now teased what could be their next big genre hit. The streamer and studio has now begun to release details about their upcoming action-drama series, Costiera, which finds Grey's Anatomy and Only Murders in the Building star Jesse Williams in the lead role as a former marine-turned-fixer.

As per a report by Variety, the first teaser for the Italian action drama was shown during a recent showcase hosted by the streamer, with Williams revealed to be playing “a fixer at a luxury hotel tasked with finding the owner’s daughter.” Costiera is due to land on the streaming platform later this year.

During the event, Prime Video’s head of originals for Southern Europe, Nicole Morganti, revealed that, despite the series having both an American director,...

From a dark conference hall in Lille, Italy’s Amalfi Coast was given some major screen time as Prime Video used Series Mania to promote “Costiera,” the upcoming action drama series starring Jesse Williams.

The audience at the showcase were shown an exclusive sun-soaked teaser of the show — in which Williams plays a fixer at a luxury hotel tasked with finding the owner’s daughter — before it launches on the streaming platform later this year.

Speaking on stage, Nicole Morganti, Prime Video’s head of originals for Southern Europe, said that while “Costiera” had an American director in Adam Bernstein and an American lead, it was a “true Italian story, written by Italian writers,” featuring an international cast from France, Spain and the U.K., an Italian co-producer in Lux Vide and where “the Amalfi Coast is a protagonist.”

She added: “The most important thing is to show that Southern...

Prominent Italian producer Luca Bernabei who runs Fremantle’s thriving Lux Vide banner, is getting ready for one of his most ambitious projects to date: “Floating Lives,” a six-part international drama series revolving around the 2012 Costa Concordia shipwreck.

The series, which has a large budget, will chart the epic, yet untold, rescue mission executed on the Costa Concordia cruise ship by eight firefighters from the coast guard in Italy’s seaside city of Grosseto.

Lux Vide has secured the life rights to these eight rescuers who boarded the ship the night of Jan. 13, 2012, after it crashed into the rocks, off the Island of Giglio in Tuscany. The crash caused 32 deaths in one of the biggest maritime disasters in Italian history. When they arrived on site, it was pitch dark and they prowled the submerged corridors and more than 1,000 cabins of the sinking ship to save the 30 passengers who were still...

One day longer and hosting unveils of big, big must-check-out series such as Paramount’s “King & Conqueror,” Fremantle’s “Sandokan” and BBC Studios reboot “Walking With Dinosaurs,” this week’s London TV Screenings did nothing to dent its recent status in a new biz order as one of Europe’s two key TV markets alongside October’s Mipcom.

It was these titles and a brace of classy star-studded crime thrillers – Andrew Lincoln’s “Cold Water,” Jesse Williams’ “Costiera,” Mark Gatiss’ “Bookish,” “Maigret” with Benjamin Wainwright – which looked to be moving the needle at this year’s London Screenings, which unspooled Feb. 23-28.

“We are very positively surprised to see that the London TV Screenings has quickly become a key gathering for European fiction,” said José Antonio Salso at Spain’s Atresmedia TV.

“Companies have presented and screened productions with high production value which are sure to be successful.” They...

Fremantle is readying to unleash ‘Sandokan’ onto industry insiders during next week’s London TV Screenings.

“It’s simply a great epic adventure, based on a known IP. It’s ‘Poldark’ meets ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’,” enthuses CEO Commercial and International Jens Richter, promising action, adventure and some good old-fashioned pirating.

Starring Can Yaman (“Daydreamer”), Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”) and John Hannah (“Spartacus: Blood and Sand”), it’s based on the series of novels by Emilio Salgari and produced by Fremantle’s Italian content powerhouse Lux Vide. Set in the mid-1800s, it heads to a place inhabited by native Dayak tribes yet dominated by British law. Sandokan is used to fighting for his survival, but one thing catches him by surprise: love.

“There’s a portion of romance,” admits Richter. With each episode set in a different environment, “Sandokan” will “fit the needs of the market perfectly,” he adds.

Next year promises to be a hot one for European productions, with everything from Netflix’s Italian period drama The Leopard to Max Turkey’s The First Göktürk drawing audiences to non-English-language fare. Throw in the second season of young adult crowd pleaser Maxton Hall: The World Between Us and Prime Video Italy’s Jesse Williams vehicle Costiera and it promises to be a bumper 2025. Read on for our selection, and add your own in the comments.

‘Whiskey On The Rocks’

Sweden

We’re starting our tour with Disney+’s first Nordic original series, given that it premieres in select countries and on Hulu in the U.S. on January 22. It began airing on SVT1 in Sweden over Christmas, but we’ll give it a pass given the worldwide launch is etched in for 2025. The political satire — from Patrick Nebout, Henrik Jansson-Schweizer and Magnus Bimberg’s Humanoids — revolves...

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2024 is almost over, and while it was a pretty good year for Prime Video and its subscribers because of all the marvelous content we got. In my opinion, it is nothing compared to what Prime Video has in store for us for 2025, as some of the most highly-anticipated Prime Video original shows will be returning in the upcoming year. So, let’s find out which of your favorite Prime Video original shows or some incredible new shows are coming to Prime Video in 2025.

Invincible Season 3 (February 6) Credit – Prime Video

Invincible is an adult animated superhero action thriller drama series created by Robert Kirkman. Based on the comic book series of the same name by Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, Season 3 of the Prime Video series will see Mark Grayson, aka Invincible, forced to face his past and...

Rtl Group revenues dipped 5.5% to €1.34B ($1.42B) in the third quarter, as lower turnover at Too Hot to Handle maker Fremantle dragged the figures down.

Fremantle’s Q3 numbers were not revealed in the unaudited financial statement released this morning, and low advertising revenue was also cited as a reason for the fall. However, across the nine months to September 2024, Fremantle has seen its revenue fall 7.1% to €1.43B, with Rtl saying “the growth of the content market was lower than expected.”

Production and distribution giant Fremantle has also spent big on Asacha Media Group and Beach House Pictures this year, and Rtl CEO Thomas Rabe forecasted a “strong content line-up in the fourth quarter” will “significantly increase” full-year adjusted earnings. Fremantle is set to deliver shows such as Netflix’s Battle Camp, Prime Video’s Costiera, BBC series The Listeners and doc Vietnam: The War That Changed America in the fourth quarter.

Rtl Group, Europe’s largest broadcaster, reduced its full-year 2024 revenue forecast after a weaker-than-expected third quarter amid softer TV advertising trends in Germany, where the company was affected by the Summer Olympics in Paris. The company also noted slower momentum at its Fremantle production arm.

Rtl now predicts €6.3 billion ($6.68 billion) in 2024 revenue, down from €6.6 billion previously, “due to the German TV advertising market and lower growth of the content production market.” Third-quarter ad revenue declined 2.3 percent. “This was mainly due to the effect of the Olympic Games in August that were shown by the public broadcasters, alongside the economic environment in Germany and France,” the firm said.

Rtl confirmed its full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (Ebita) outlook at around €750 million, with a variance of plus/minus €50 million. However, it emphasized: “Due to the persistent weakness of the German economy and TV advertising market, Rtl Group now expects...

“In Europe we are accustomed to producing with a bit less money and finding solutions,” declared Luca Bernabei as he spoke about how his Fremantle-backed production outfit Lux Vide has had to keep costs down on Jesse Williams-starrer Costiera and upcoming epic Sandokan.

Bernabei pointed to a “tricky” financial market in which American buyers are looking to Europeans for guidance on how to make shows for that little bit less.

“Europe has been doing this for a long time,” Bernabei told Deadline on the Fremantle stand at MIPCOM. “The producer has to be smart and find new ways of making shows.”

Starring John Hannah, Ed Westwick, Alanah Bloor and Can Yaman, Sandokan is a case in point. The pirate series based on the old novels by Emilio Salgari, which has been adapted several times before for the big and small screen, is yet to find a buyer, with Fremantle deficit financing.

The year was 1992 when Ettore Bernabei, a former chief of Italian public broadcaster Rai, founded Lux Vide, first as an advertising company before moving into television production.

Over 30 years and 1,300 hours of television later, the production house with its expanded studio space now has one of the largest, most sustainable and technologically advanced production spaces in Europe. It boasts a slate of ambitious shows, from Italian favorites such as “Don Matteo” (just entering its fourteenth season) and “Doc” to more international fare, like “The Medici.”

Following Lux Vide’s acquisition by Fremantle two years ago, the shingle continues to provide uplifting content with international appeal. “Lux has alternated great international productions, filmed in English, and Italian productions which nevertheless have the possibility of being sold abroad,” CEO and son of Ettore, Luca Bernabei tells Variety.

“We try to make feel-good content aimed at families. That’s our brand. In the...

On Monday, Fremantle will be showing buyers at Mipcom the first promo for upbeat action-drama “Costiera.” Ahead of the presentation, Variety spoke to star Jesse Williams and Emmy award-winner Adam Bernstein, who directed the series alongside Giacomo Martelli.

“Costiera” will stream on Prime Video next year in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, as well as English-speaking countries. Fremantle will handle sales in all other territories. It is co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide, which is a Fremantle company.

The show centers on Daniel De Luca (Williams), who is a half Italian former U.S. marine who returns to Italy, the land of his childhood, as a fixer in one of the world’s most luxurious hotels, located on the spectacular coastline of Positano. In addition to dealing with the hotel’s wealthy guests’ problems, Daniel is also on the trail of Alice, one of the owner’s daughters,...

Madrid’s 4th Iberseries & Platino Industria’s conferences were packed, foot traffic at Madrid’s Matadero, a former slaughterhouse, was heavy. Delegates came as the industry has been facing a well documented perfect storm of rising costs and an invested pull back from streamers and broadcasters, hit respectively by cost-contention and plunging ad sales.

Yet the mood at Iberseries, which wrapped Friday, was “hopeful,” said Fremantle’s Manuel Martí. Takeaways from this year’s edition, which ran Oct. 1-4:

Spain Stands Strong

“The big slow-down hasn’t yet got to Spain,” Banijay Iberia CEO Pilar Blasco commented on an Iberseries & Platino panel. Spain’s shoot incentives are among Europe’s biggest – €10 million-€18 million ($10.9 million-$19.7 million) per TV episode. Spain had more and bigger first-half non-English Netflix hits than any other country in the world. In contrast, through September, first-run scripted series production is down in every major market in Latin America,...

Super-indie Fremantle has made a strategic shift to center premium film productions within its global business model, global drama exec Seb Shorr said this morning during a keynote at Iberseries and Platino Industria in Madrid.

Shorr, joined by Fremantle’s Mexican Head of Scripted Manuel Martí, and Olivia Sleiter, Head of Production at Fremantle Italy, said the company has been on a “journey” from its traditional position as an “entertainment and nonscripted powerhouse” with formats like Idol, Got Talent and The X Factor.

“The TV drama journey at Fremantle was really started seven or eight years ago,” Shorr said. “And while we’ve always done a bit of film, over the last few years, we very much now want that to be a really important part of our portfolio and a major part of our business.”

Key to this transition, Shorr said, is the company’s relationship with talent, which...

The trend of demand for “mainstream” TV series and growth in Fremantle’s film business — thanks to the likes of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, starring Daniel Craig, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Pablo Larraín’s Maria starring Angelina Jolie — were among the key topics of debate for executives from the production giant in Madrid on Wednesday on the second day of the fourth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria.

Seb Shorr, COO, global drama at Fremantle U.K., Olivia Sleiter, head of production, global drama, and Manuel Martí, head of scripted development at Fremantle Latin America appeared during a spotlight panel session.

“We have a good amount, I think now it’s 17,” Sleiter said about Fremantle’s growing film business. “It’s film for cinemas and films for TV as well.” Among others, she mentioned that Element Pictures, in which the firm owns a majority stake, has worked with Yorgos Lanthimos “and is now shooting his next movie.

Fremantle has taken global distribution rights on Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn’s Netflix series Penelope.

The high-end show, which premiered at Sundance, will launch tomorrow on Netflix U.S. but worldwide rights have been up for grabs.

Penelope follows the eponymous lead, played by Megan Stott, a 16-year-old who feels out of place in modern society and is drawn into the unknown wilderness, where she begins to form a new life for herself. Like most teenagers today, Penelope is caught up in the modern world’s technology, pacing and pressure. But something is missing, and things feel off, she can’t quite put it into words. On the surface, her life seems pretty great, while inside, there’s a fierceness that’s been brewing, a calling towards a new way of being.

Alongside Megan Stott, the cast also includes Austin Abrams; Krisha Fairchild and Rhenzy Feliz.

Fremantle is selling outside of the U.S. and the move builds on its strategy to partner on streamer shows that can be sold to other territories. One of its key MIPCOM titles will be Costiera, the Jesse Williams-starring Prime Video Italy series that is currently without a UK or U.S. buyer.

“Penelope is very dear to our hearts and we wouldn’t trust her to just anyone,” said Duplass and Eslyn. “We are grateful to have found partners that understand, support and encourage the story we are trying to tell and the larger conversation we are hoping to inspire.”

Duplass and Eslyn executive produce alongside Jay Duplass and Shuli Harel of Duplass Brothers Productions. Eslyn also directs and serves as showrunner. Fremantle is handling global distribution.

Prime Video has unveiled the next installment in the Russo Brothers' Citadel franchise. Titled Citadel: Diana, the new series will star Matilda De Angelis as undercover Citadel agent, Diana Cavalieri.

The streamer unveiled the Citadel spinoff during a gala evening presentation of its Italian slate held in the palatial Villa Miani on a hill overlooking the Eternal City. Diana will be Prime Video's most ambitious Italian original to date. The six-episode series is set in Milan in 2030, where eight years ago, spy agency Citadel was destroyed by the powerful enemy syndicate, Manticore. Since then, Diana Cavalieri (De Angelis), an undercover Citadel agent, is alone, trapped behind enemy lines as a mole in Manticore," reads the official synopsis. Check out the teaser trailer for Citadel: Diana below.

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Related Reacher Season 2 Sets 4K Uhd, Blu-Ray & DVD Release Date

The second season of Reacher, one of Prime Video's most-watched series,...

Prime Video on Monday unveiled teaser footage, plot details and an Oct. 10 launch date for “Citadel: Diana,” the hotly anticipated spy show starring Matilda De Angelis (“The Undoing”) that is part of the “Citadel” franchise.

Details of “Citadel: Diana” – which marks the streamer’s most ambitious Italian original to date – were unveiled during a gala evening presentation of Prime Video’s Italian slate held in the palatial Villa Miani on a hill overlooking the Eternal City.

The six-episode series is set in a near-future Milan, in 2030, where eight years earlier the independent global spy agency Citadel was wiped out by Manticore, the powerful enemy syndicate that manipulates the world from the shadows. Since then, Diana Cavalieri (De Angelis) – who is an undercover Citadel agent – is alone, “trapped behind enemy lines as a mole in Manticore,” as the provided synopsis puts it.

When Diana finally sees a way out and the chance to disappear forever,...

Prime Video Italy is taking a leap “not only at national level but at international level” with its originals strategy, its scripted boss has said.

Davide Nardini was bullish with his confidence in upcoming shows including Costiera from Adam Bernstein and Citadel: Diana, as he addressed attendees on the first day of the AVPSummit in south Italy.

The likes of Costiera, he said, “create a competitive framework for us not only at national level but at international level,” describing its potential to be a “big series devised for international audiences travelling abroad.”

“We asked Adam Bernstein to work on a quintessentially Italian project trying to be strong in the international market,” said Nardini. “This is the type of partnership we would like to build.”

Starring Greys Anatomy’s Jesse Williams, the show from Fargo helmer Bernstein is an Italian action-drama series filmed in English. Williams plays Daniel De Luca, a half-Italian former U.

Prime Video has announced the full cast for action comedy show “Costiera” set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast being directed by Emmy-winner Adam Bernstein and featuring Jesse Williams (“Take Me Out”) as the lead.

The ensemble cast for the English-language series being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide comprises British actor Jordan Alexandra; Spain’s Alejandra Onieva (“Alta Mar”); Italy’s Maria Chiara Giannetta (“Blanca”); Antonio Gerardi; Tommaso Ragno (“Nostalgia”); Amanda Campana; Pierpaolo Spollon; Britain’s Sam Haygarth (“Jojo Rabbit”); and France’s Jean-Hugues Anglade (“Sink or Swim”).

In “Costiera” – which started shooting in Italy in late February and is expected to wrap at the end of May – Williams is playing an Italian-American former Marine named Daniel De Luca, who is a problem solver in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world in the picturesque Amalfi Coast town of Positano. He is a...

“Grey’s Anatomy” star Jesse Williams is set to lead Prime Video’s Italian original “Costiera” which unfolds on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast.

The high-end show is an English-language action-drama with comedic elements directed by Emmy winner Adam Bernstein, which is currently shooting on location.

In “Costiera,” Williams is playing an Italian-American former Marine named Daniel De Luca, who is a problem solver in one of the most exclusive hotels in the world in Positano. He is a guest of the owner because Dd, as everyone knows him, is the only person who caught a glimpse of the man who may have kidnapped his daughter, and therefore is the only person who may be able to hunt the kidnapper down. Aside from that storyline, Dd basically solves a case in each episode.

“Costiera” is being co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide, the Fremantle-owned Italian...

Only Murders in the Building star Jesse Williams has taken the lead role in Costiera, an original drama for Prime Video Italy.

Williams will play Daniel De Luca, a half-Italian former U.S. marine who returns to Italy, his childhood home, as a fixer in a luxury hotel where one of the owner’s daughters disappears. He must find her and bring her home, while sorting the ever-changing problems of the exclusive hotel guests.

Production on Costiera on Italy’s Amalfi Coast follows the success of the second season of The White Lotus, the HBO Max series also set in a luxury hotel in the same picturesque region of Italy.

Emmy winner Adam Bernstein (Breaking Bad, 30 Rock) will direct the English-language action comedy. The co-producers are Amazon MGM Studios, which retains the distribution rights for Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, and Fremantle’s Lux Vide, which will handle global...

Jesse Williams will produce and star in Prime Video’s Costiera, an Italian action-drama series filmed in English and directed by Emmy award winner Adam Bernstein. The series is currently in production.

Williams will play Daniel De Luca, a half-Italian former U.S. marine who returns to Italy, the land of his childhood, as a fixer in one of the world’s most luxurious hotels on the spectacular Positano coastline. Synopsis reads: “Shortly after Daniel, or Dd as everybody knows him, starts working at the hotel, one of the owner’s daughters disappears. He must do whatever it takes to find her and bring her home while still solving the ever-changing problems of the exclusive hotel guests.”

Based on an idea by Luca Bernabei, written by Elena Bucaccio, Matthew Parkhill, and Francesco Arlanch, the series is co-produced by Amazon MGM...

Exclusive: Fremantle is taking a Love is Blind-esque Danish format to the London TV Screenings in which singletons try to find love using just sight and sound.

Fremantle label Strong has produced Sense of Attraction and the show will be shopped to potential buyers in the capital in a fortnight’s time.

In Sense of Attraction, singletons try to find true love using only two senses. But they can’t use the two senses at the same time, so when they see each other they can’t speak and when they speak they can’t see one another.

The show has shades of Netflix hit Love is Blind, in which single men and women become engaged before they have even seen each other. That smash format has aired for six seasons on Netflix and been remade in a number of territories.

Denmark has a healthy history of originating big formats...