Lux Vide: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Ed Westwick (“Gossip Girl”), John Hannah (“The Mummy”) and British newcomer Alanah Bloor are set to join Turkish lead Can Yaman in “Sandokan,” Lux Vide’s reboot of the cult Italian TV series about the adventures of its titular pirate who, with his motley crew, fights against colonial powers in Southeast Asia. Shooting is set to start April 22 outside Rome on this high-end reboot of Italian writer Emilio Salgari’s exotic epic.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent 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 (“30 Rock,” “Breaking Bad”) 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 (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” “The Winter King”) (pictured, center); Spain’s Alejandra Onieva (“Alta Mar”) (pictured, left); Italy’s Maria Chiara Giannetta (“Blanca”) (pictured, right); Antonio Gerardi; Tommaso Ragno (“Nostalgia”); Amanda Campana; Pierpaolo Spollon; Britain’s Sam Haygarth (“Jojo Rabbit”); and France’s Jean-Hugues Anglade (“Sink or Swim”).

The Fremantle exec who fell victim to a $1M fake M&A scam has exited the business.

K.J. Yossman Fremantle has completed its acquisition of global production studio Asacha Media Group, the company confirmed today. Fremantle acquired the group from founding partners, managers and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management Fremantle’s group COO and CEO for continental Europe Andrea Scrosati spearheaded the acquisition.

Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy, Only Murders In The Building) 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 (Breaking Bad, Fargo). The series is currently in production.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Molly Parker (“Deadwood,” “House of Cards”) is set to star in “Doc,” Fox’s upcoming medical procedural based on the hit Italian series “Doc — Nelle tue mani.” Parker will play Dr. Amy Elias, the chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis, who must pick up her professional and personal pieces after she loses the memory of the last eight years.

Molly Parker has been tapped as the lead of Fox‘s new medical drama series Doc. The adaptation of the popular Italian series Doc — Nelle tue mani hails from writer, executive producer and showrunner Barbie Kligman, executive producers Hank Steinberg and 3 Arts’ Erwin Stoff, Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment Studios.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Doc,” the Italian medical procedural that’s a local hit and and major export, is getting a theatrical outing in Italy prior to TV play thanks to a deal between production company Lux Vide and UCI Cinemas. In what is being touted as a milestone, the first two episodes of the show’s third season are set to screen in UCI Cinemas across Italy as an event release on Dec. 18 and 19, ahead of the full season release of “Doc” Jan.

Fremantle kicked off its presence at the Venice Film Festival with a bang this year with the announcement of its new €150M ($162.7M) Scripted Fund forged in partnership with Israel-based IBI Investment House. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Fremantle-owned Lux Vide production powerhouse is expanding its in-house studio capacity, unveiling a large new soundstage on Monday at its facilities in Formello outside Rome which will become a major new European physical production hub. Plans are underway for a total of seven state-of-the-art stages, plus a new post-production facility to be in place at Formello by year’s end creating a sprawling Lux Video studio area on more than 6,500 square meters of space (2,5 square miles) including the backlot. Lux Vide’s new Teatro 5 measuring more than 1150 square meters (more than 12,000 square feet) was inaugurated with Italy’s deputy culture minister Lucia Bergonzoni and other local authorities on hand alongside Lux CEO Luca Bernabei, Andrea Scrosati, Fremantle’s group COO and CEO continental Europe, and Lux’s honorary president Matilde Bernabei.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Emmy Award-winning director Adam Bernstein (“30 Rock,” “Fargo,” “Better Call Saul”) is set to helm new Prime Video Italy original “Costiera,” an English-language action drama set on Italy’s iconic Amalfi Coast. The high-end show is being co-produced by Amazon Studios and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide, the prominent Italian company behind financial thriller “Devils” that is owned by Fremantle. Though production on “Costiera” is set to start on location this summer, the international cast is being kept under wraps. Under a highly innovative deal structure, Fremantle will handle global sales on “Costiera” in all territories outside of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal where Amazon is holding on to full exclusive rights.

BreAnna Bell Fox has given a straight-to-series order for the medical procedural drama “Doc.” The series is slated to debut on the network in 2023-2024. Hailing from executive producers Barbie Kligman (“Magnum P.I.,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Private Practice”), Hank Steinberg (“For Life,” “Without a Trace”) and Erwin Stoff (“I Am Legend,” “The Matrix”), “Doc” is based on the Italian series “Nelle tue mani,” which was created and is produced by Lux Vide, a division of Fremantle. According to Fox’s official description, “Doc” focuses on Dr. Amy Elias, chief of internal and family medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. “After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she’s treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience,” the description reads.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in Belgium’s A Team Productions the indie outfit behind hit drug gang drama “Patsers” by directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and standout short “ “Baghdad Messi.”  The company, which was founded in 2009, is headed by Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé and scored its first major international in 2011 with the short “Land of the Heroes” which won the International Jury Prize at the Berlinale that year. They are also behind short “Baghdad Messi,” by Belgium-based Kurdish director Sahim Omar Kalifa, which won prizes at dozens of international fests and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2014.

Fremantle’s revenues rose 21% to €2.3B ($2.44B) and profits were up 15% last year as the super-indie inches toward its target to hit €3B ($3.2B) turnover by 2025.

Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, told Variety. “This support will increase the presence of Italian audiovisual content not only in cinemas, but also on streaming platforms, online distribution, television, everything,” he added.

Italian medical drama series Doc – Nelle Tue Mani is getting a U.S. remake.

Oscar-nominated All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger has launched a production outfit and struck a first-look deal with Fremantle.

There was a time when Fremantle was shorthand for the American Idol company. ABC’s iconic entertainment brand was undoubtedly a coveted calling card, but it also served to constrain perceptions of a company that harbored a grander vision.

Fremantle has restructured its European operations by appointing Northern and Southern Europe CEOs, bringing in a Paramount Global exec for the latter.

Fremantle has promoted Christian Vesper to CEO of Global Drama, handing him oversight of a number of scripted labels acquired in the past few months.

Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in David Glover and Mark Raphael’s 72 Films.