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At the UK-China Screen Forum held with Hong Kong’s Filmart, BBC Studios unveiled that Walking with Dinosaurs will premiere exclusively on iQiyi for mainland China audiences in 2025, and a Chinese-dubbed version of nature series Asia will also launch on Phoenix Chinese Channel.

The forum, now in its fourth edition, featured a delegation from the UK’s Department of Business and Trade (Dbt), British Film Institute (BFI), BBC Studios, Film Export UK as well as from China’s Pheonix TV and Bilibili. Organizers said that another UK-China Screen Forum will run during the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Delegates from UK and China emphasized the need to increase co-production and co-development opportunities between both territories, as well as sharpen distribution opportunities, which will also provide clearer data on what kinds of films and shows work in each market.

Singapore-based Phil Hardman, executive VP and general manager of Asia at BBC Studios,...

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...

BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell and Zai Bennett, CEO and chief creative officer of BBC Studios Productions, are confident and focused on long-term success amid the current financing challenges of the post-peak TV era.

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of British broadcaster BBC, highlighted record investment into content in its most recent fiscal year. “We’re carrying on investing,” Fussell tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Why? Because we’ve got this long-term mandate. We can take creative investments for the long term. It’s fantastic that Zai has joined us, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with him.”

Bluey is among the big hits for BBC Studios that feels like a gift that keeps on giving. “Bluey is the most watched show in the U.S. of all shows period,” Fussell emphasizes.

Since it’s Oscars week, he is also happy to highlight a fact that has often gone overlooked this awards season.

Powerful Programming

BBC Studios and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) have renewed their content alliance with a comprehensive multi-year deal spanning drama, comedy, kids programming and entertainment fare. The agreement brings fresh installments of Alan Carr’s autobiographical comedy “Changing Ends” (Seasons 3-4) and standup favorite “Live At the Apollo” to ABC platforms. The pubcaster has also secured first-run rights to children’s series including preschool hit “Hey Duggee,” “Andy’s Global Adventures” with Andy Day, “Supertato,” “Deadly 60” and “Horrible Histories.”

Continuing the partnership’s second-run arrangements, ABC viewers retain access to audience favorites like “Death in Paradise,” its spinoff “Beyond Paradise,” period drama “Call The Midwife,” crime procedural “Silent Witness,” cozy mystery “Father Brown,” factual stalwart “Antiques Roadshow” and dark comedy “The Cleaner.”

The deal also covers premieres of cold case drama “Unforgotten” Season 6, the sophomore run of “Sherwood,” and most notably, BBC’s reimagined “Walking With Dinosaurs.” The...

BBC Studios and Australia’s public broadcaster, ABC, have extended their long-standing content agreement, continuing the delivery of British programming to Australian viewers. The deal, described as “substantial,” was announced as London’s International TV Week kicks off.

Under the renewed pact, ABC will receive a range of programming, including new seasons of Alan Carr’s Changing Ends, Live At the Apollo, Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise, and Call The Midwife. The ABC will also debut Unforgotten (Season 6), Sherwood (Season 2), and a re-imagined Walking With Dinosaurs.

In children’s programming, ABC will premiere several titles, such as Hey Duggee, Andy’s Global Adventures, Supertato, Deadly 60, and Horrible Histories.

The deal further strengthens the BBC’s relationship with ABC, built on shared values of public service broadcasting. Deborah Tod, BBC Studios’ Director of Content Partnerships and Sales, commented: “We’re proud to have such a long-standing partnership with the ABC, founded...

BBC Studios and Australian pubcaster the ABC have renewed their long-standing content pact.

As the BBC Studios Showcase kicks off this morning, the agreement, billed as “substantial” will comprise drama, comedy, children’s and entertainment titles.

This will include the third and fourth seasons of Alan Carr’s coming of age comedy Changing Ends and forthcoming stand-up showcase Live At the Apollo, will be returning to the ABC. In Kids, ABC will take first-run on a number of children’s shows for the first time, including Hey Duggee, Andy’s Global Adventures, a new season of Supertato, Deadly 60 and Horrible Histories.

The ABC will get get new seasons of Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise, Call The Midwife, Silent Witness, Father Brown, Antiques Roadshow and The Cleaner.

The ABC will premiere the sixth season of cold case crime series Unforgotten and Season 2 of Nottinghamshire-based crime drama Sherwood, and the re-imagining of...

Showcasing some of the biggest shows on the open market – “King & Conqueror,” “Sandokan,” “Walking With Dinosaurs”– as well as a bevy of awaited titles – “Bookish,” “Cold Water,” “Maigret,” “A Prophet,” “This City is Ours”– the 2025 London TV Screening is again a powerhouse showcase of some of the biggest TV highlights of 2024, plus the trends shaping TV markets.

To help you cut through the slates, here’s Variety’s picks of 20+ shows that will whet buyers’ appetites.

“All Her Fault,” (NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution)

Sarah Snook, fresh off “Succession” and an Olivier win for “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” plays Marissa Irvine. She arrives to collect her son Milo from his first playdate, but the woman who answers the door isn’t a mother she recognizes. She doesn’t have Milo, she says, and has never heard of him. And so, the nightmare begins. Dakota Fanning, Jake Lacy, Michael Peña,...

Prehistoric Powerhouse

BBC Factual‘s landmark dinosaur series “Walking With Dinosaurs” roars back to life in a new reimagining, 25 years after its original stomp across television screens. The upcoming six-part series, slated for BBC One and iPlayer, promises to revolutionize natural history storytelling through cutting-edge visual effects and forensic science.

Series producer BBC Studios, alongside co-producers PBS, Zdf, and France Télévisions, will transport viewers into the prehistoric world by following individual dinosaurs whose remains are actively being discovered by leading paleontologists. Each episode, running 50 minutes, weaves paleontological discoveries with cinematic storytelling, bringing to life creatures like the feathered Albertosaurus, a deadly T. rex relative, and the distinctive Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai, sporting its characteristic “unicorn” horn.

The series is executive produced by Andrew Cohen and Helen Thomas, with Kirsty Wilson serving as showrunner. Jack Bootle, head of commissioning for specialist factual, greenlit the project for the BBC, with Bill Gardner consulting for PBS.

BBC Gives First Peak At ‘Walking With Dinosaurs’ Revival

Here’s a first look at Walking with Dinosaurs, as the BBC brings back the hit natural history show after a 25-year hiatus. Check out pic above as the corporation recreates the Triceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus and Young Albertosaurus using cutting edge techniques. The new series will air later this year on the BBC, PBS and France Télévisions. Walking with Dinosaurs tells the dramatic story of an individual dinosaur per ep whose remains are currently being unearthed by world-leading dinosaur hunters. The 1999 original was hailed as ground-breaking, and is still considered one of the biggest production triumphs in natural history programming history. The news comes on the same day we revealed Sreya Biswas, the BBC’s head of natural history commissioning, is moving over to production with a newly-created role at BBC Studios Natural History Unit.

Chris Oliver-Taylor Exiting The ABC

The ABC’s Chief Content Officer,...

The Isle of Wight: known for its picturesque scenery, charming seaside towns, and… dinosaur footprints? In the series 29 finale of Antiques Road Trip, Catherine Southon and Ishy Khan conclude their friendly competition amidst this unusual backdrop. While the prospect of a decisive auction always looms, this concluding episode appears to offer a touch of […]

Antiques Road Trip “Walking with Dinosaurs”...

National Geographic is expanding its unscripted slate with four new series greenlights.

“These new unscripted series epitomize everything National Geographic stands for — bold, captivating storytelling rooted in world-class research and expertise,” said Tom McDonald, executive vice president of global unscripted and factual content for Nat Geo. “Whether it’s the cutting-edge innovation of ‘The Real Finding Nemo’ (working title), the storytelling panache of ‘Surviving Pompeii’ (working title), the sweeping ambition of ‘Meet the Planets’ (working title), or the unparalleled access in ‘Diana: One Day in Paris,’ National Geographic is building on its reputation as the home of the most distinctive factual series from the very best storytellers in the world.”

Full descriptions of the new series can be found below.

Nat Geo earned the most ever nominations in the brand’s history at last September’s News & Docs Emmys. Its 10 wins included those for shows like “Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller” with five wins,...

Whether you live in the U.S. or the U.K., you may have seen Big Cats 24/7, Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World with Public Enemy‘s Chuck D, Solar System or historian Lucy Worsley’s Holmes vs. Doyle. If not, chances are that you have heard about these popular TV programs. They may not be the latest Netflix obsession, the hot new HBO drama or the Disney+ series your friends are buzzing about, but they have drawn a crowd on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Making them all possible is a long-running relationship between two big public TV organizations, namely PBS in the U.S. and the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Studios in the U.K.

Executives involved in it say the co-production partnership that celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year has only become stronger and more ambitious. And no matter what...

Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Commercial, the commercial arm of the U.K. public broadcaster, has ambitious growth goals. He and his team have acquired production banners in various countries, bought full control of streamer BritBox International, and are targeting to double the business’ 2021/2022 revenue and profit by 2027/2028.

On Tuesday, BBC Commercial, which is mainly driven by BBC Studios, reported its latest fiscal-year results, which took a hit due to “softness in the commissioning and advertising sales markets.”

However, the company also touted the growth of its hit kids and family franchise Bluey, and the strength of other content brands, including Doctor Who.

Its CEO, who focuses on ensuring financial and creative planning and success, is a former CFO of production firm Shine who previously also worked for Harper Collins U.K. in various commercial director roles and as finance director for Random House in the U.K.

Fussell talked...

Exclusive: The BBC has tied with PBS on a Chris Packham-fronted series about evolution, as the corporation reveals it has doubled its number of blue-chip science shows.

Evolution will tell the story of the millions of generations that gave rise to animals today, tracking one animal per episode. Species in focus will range from the bat, whose ultrasonic hearing makes it one of the deadliest hunters on the planet, to the peacock and its magnificent feathers, to the kangaroo, which owes its impressive leaping not to its legs but to its teeth.

Packham, who also hosted last year’s Earth for the BBC, will take viewers back in time to chart evolution utilizing advances in genetic analysis and CGI.

“This is new, shiny and immediately accessible,” BBC Head of Science Tom Coveney told Deadline. “It’s full of animal-based facts but also because there are millions and millions of...

The Morning Show is bringing another power player into Alex and Bradley’s orbit.

Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) is joining the Apple TV+ series for Season 4, TVLine has learned. She will play Celine Dumont, who is described as “a savvy operator from a storied European family.”

More from TVLineDexter Prequel Casts Younger Versions of Batista, Laguerta and MasukaFrasier Enlists Patricia Heaton for Season 2 ArcTVLine Items: Yvette Nicole Brown Visits Frasier, Walking With Dinosaurs Returns and More

In addition to her Oscar-winning turn as Edith Piaf in 2007’s La Vie En Rose, Cotillard’s resume includes episodes of Extrapolations...

Yvette Nicole Brown is bringing some sibling rivalry to Frasier.

The Community vet will guest-star during Season 2 of the Paramount+ revival as the older sister of Toks Olagundoye’s character Olivia, our sister site Variety reports.

More from TVLineDexter Prequel Casts Younger Versions of Batista, Laguerta and MasukaFrasier Enlists Patricia Heaton for Season 2 ArcSarah Snook to Star in Peacock Missing-Child Thriller All Her Fault

Brown’s Monica is described as “part haughty professor, part Nancy Drew.” As Olivia’s “brilliant, biting, and delightfully deadpan” sis, “she has everything Olivia has and everything Olivia wants – and never misses a chance to remind her.

Twenty-five years after its debut, “Walking with Dinosaurs” is set to return in a fresh BBC Studios production, slated for a 2025 release on BBC and PBS.

The six-part series, co-produced with Zdf and France Télévisions, aims to be an immersive journey into the prehistoric era, uncovering the lives of the ancient giants.

This reimagined series will spotlight individual dinosaurs, with each episode focusing on the dramatic tale of a specific creature currently being excavated by top paleontologists. Enhanced by cutting-edge scientific insights, the show aims to depict the daily lives of these dinosaurs with unprecedented accuracy. Viewers can expect state-of-the-art visual effects to bring these ancient narratives to life.

Audiences will encounter a diverse cast of dinosaurs across varied landscapes: a Spinosaurus navigating ancient Moroccan rivers, a young Triceratops facing off against a T-Rex in North America, and a solitary Lusotitan searching for a mate in Portugal. With paleontology experiencing...

BBC Studios and PBS are teaming up to bring back Walking With Dinosaurs to screens 25 years after the series first aired.

In 1999, the BBC’s documentary-style mini­series became a cultural phenomenon thanks in part to its state-of-the-art CGI creatures. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, the show won two BAFTAs and three Emmys (Discovery Channel aired it in the U.S.), spawning a companion book and an arena show that toured the globe.

The new six-part series, co-produced with Zdf and France Télévisions, will take audiences on a “unique journey back through time, revealing the incredible life stories of these long-lost giants” across the land in Morocco, North America, and Portugal.

Arriving in 2025, each episode of Walking With Dinosaurs will tell the dramatic story of an individual dinosaur whose remains are currently being unearthed by the world’s leading dinosaur hunters. Thanks to cutting-edge science, experts can reveal how the creatures lived,...

The BBC and PBS are stomping back to Walking with Dinosaurs after 25 years.

The returning series, which is being co-produced with Zdf and France Télévisions, will land in 2025 and has already entered production.

The original series was a huge step for natural history. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh in the UK and Avery Brooks in the U.S., where it aired on the Discovery Channel.

The reimagining will tell the dramatic story of an individual dinosaur each episode whose remains are currently being unearthed by the world’s leading dinosaur hunters. Thanks to cutting-edge science, experts will reveal how these prehistoric creatures lived, hunted, fought and died more accurately than ever before, utilizing state-of-the-art visual effects. Species will include a Spinosaurus – the largest carnivorous dinosaur to ever walk the earth – roaming the rivers of ancient Morocco; a youthful Triceratops battling a ravenous T. rex in North America; and a...

Exclusive: Moulin Rouge! The Musical, based on Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 luscious pop classic movie starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Jim Broadbent, has recouped its costs — not only the $28 million Broadway price tag, but it also recouped sizable sums in London’s West End and Australia.

Luhrmann tells me that it’s “so gratifying that breaking even is such a big deal in the theater.”

As an antipodean, he’s especially gratified with Moulin Rouge!’s hit status in Australia.

“Australia, the English one, the Broadway one — they’ve all done it,” and “that’s down to the relentless drive that Carmen and her team in Australia, New York and London had to fulfill the dictum that the show must go on,” he says with brio in referring to Carmen Pavlovic, CEO of Sydney-based Global Creatures, the principal production company behind Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

“Check with Carmen,” Luhrmann suggests.

This article contains 65 spoilers.

65 is a movie about aliens crash landing on Earth during the age of the dinosaurs. Except that the aliens look an awful lot like they come from Earth, and the dinosaurs… don’t.

The dinosaurs presented in writer-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ film might have some recognizable body parts, and some may even bear a passing resemblance to a few of the bigger names from the My First Dinosaur book you had as a kid, but for the most part, the giant killer reptiles we see in that movie are monsters, nothing more, and nothing less. At one point there is a baby dinosaur that looks like a cross between a T-Rex and an Ankylosaurus, a species so far unknown outside of one episode of the Lego Jurassic World animated series. And while the fossil record is incomplete, and there may have existed many species...

Prehistoric Planet season 2 is almost here, with Apple TV+ set to immerse viewers once again in the world of the late Cretaceous period. Returning are some fan-favorite dinosaurs from the unique docuseries’ first season, as is series narrator David Attenborough. The five-episode event series premieres May 22 on Apple TV+, with a new episode to be released every night.

The show follows in the tradition established by hit BBC docuseries like Planet Earth, focusing on different ecosystems with each episode to great and fascinating effect. Two major creative minds behind the series are executive producer Mike Gunton and showrunner Tim Walker, who together have managed to take what worked about the first season of Prehistoric Planet and flesh it out even more for season 2. From new creatures to a wider range of camera techniques, Prehistoric Planet season 2 has managed to improve upon the already fantastic original iteration.

Related: David Attenborough Proved...

Prehistoric Planet is currently one of the best dinosaur documentaries. While there have been many notable documentaries throughout the years, such as Walking with Dinosaurs, Planet Dinosaur, and Paleoworld, there haven't been as many in recent years. As a result, when Prehistoric Planet was released in 2022, it instantly became an unprecedented success. Its immaculate narration by Sir David Attenborough, mind-blowing music by Hans Zimmer, and stunning cinematography captivated many fans of the prehistoric age.

Prehistoric Planet is a British-American nature documentary series that premiered on Apple TV+ in 2022. The BBC Studios Natural History Unit created the series, with Adam Valdez at the helm, who previously worked on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Jungle Book. The groundbreaking documentary is scheduled to return shortly, and with the official trailer for the second season out, there's a lot to look forward to. That said, here's what...

Exclusive: Loud Minds, the indie behind NBC and Peacock’s upcoming Surviving Earth docuseries, has staffed up with execs from Wall to Wall and Pioneer Productions.

Walking with Dinosaurs creator Tim Haines’ outfit has signed Will Aslett as Head of Development for unscripted content and Emma Parkin as Development Executive, reporting to Aslett.

Aslett joins from Wbd-owned Wall to Wall, where he most recently showran Netflix natural disaster series Earthstorm, which has similarities with Surviving Earth – the big-budget docuseries that is being co-produced with Universal Television Alternative Studio for NBC and Peacock. Past employers include Cineflix Media, Nutopia and the BBC.

Aslett is tasked with overseeing the indie’s cross-genre factual slate, with Parkin joining him from Pioneer Productions where she was most recently AP on an unannounced feature documentary. She has previously worked on the likes of Channel 5’s Dinosaurs with Stephen Fry and Netflix’s Our Living World.

Exclusive: Veteran Shark Week host Nigel Marven has signed a deal with MagellanTV. The former BBC and ITV natural history presenter will produce and star in a documentary about volcanic activity in Central America, with three of his other docu-series comprising a key part of the global documentary streamer’s first Wild Week programming stunt.

Marven, who’s known for his no-fear approach to presenting shows such as the BBC’s Chased By Dinosaurs during a quarter-century on-screen career, is producing and starring in feature doc Wild El Salvador — In the Shadow of the Volcano with Nigel Marven. In the program, he will encounter creatures that live in the shadows of legendary volcanic regions of the Central American country.

He was host of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week for three years between 2000 and 2003 and hosted specials from the Discovery-BBC Natural History Unit series Walking with Dinosaurs.

Marven’s new...

Click here to read the full article.

NBC is getting into the dinosaur business.

The broadcast network has ordered an eight-episode natural history series titled Surviving Earth, which will use cutting-edge digital effects to delve into mass extinctions over the course of the planet’s life and the creatures that survived them.

The series comes from Universal Television Alternative Studio and Loud Minds, the production company behind the BBC/Discovery series Walking With Dinosaurs, its sequel Walking With Beasts and scripted series Primeval. A debut date hasn’t been set.

“This epic event series promises to be unlike anything we’ve seen before, with state-of-the-art technology recreating an immersive view of prehistoric Earth,” said Rod Aissa, executive vp unscripted content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “With a project of this magnitude, we’re in excellent hands with Universal Television Alternative Studio and Loud Minds on board bringing it to life.

The creator of the critically acclaimed BBC natural history series Walking with Dinosaurs has landed a new eight-part docuseries at NBC.

The broadcast network has ordered Surviving Earth that explores the bizarre and amazing creatures and breathtaking landscapes of a vibrant lost world.

The series is a co-production between Loud Minds, the UK production company founded by Walking with Dinosaurs creator Tim Haines, and Universal Television Alternative Studio.

It marks another interesting move in the world of high-end factual programming; the U.S. broadcast networks have generally shied away from big docuseries or natural history programming, leaving the genre to the likes of Discovery Channel and PBS, or more recently streamers such as Netflix and Apple.

However, it comes after NBC ordered ten-part documentary series from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the division behind Planet Earth and Blue Planet. The, as-yet-untitled series, which will explore the landscapes, creatures and wilderness of North,...

NBC is exploring how life survived prehistoric catastrophes in “Surviving Earth.”

The network announced a series order Tuesday for eight episodes that will transport audiences back to the lost world of prehistoric life, allowing viewers to witness how life finds a way to survive on a planet where meteors fall, super volcanoes erupt, seas boil and the land moves.

A co-production between Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group, and U.K. indie Loud Minds, the series hails from the creators of “Walking with Dinosaurs” and “Primeval.”

“This epic event series promises to be unlike anything we’ve seen before, with state-of-the-art technology recreating an immersive view of prehistoric Earth,” Rod Aissa, executive vice president, Unscripted Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, said in a statement. “With a project of this magnitude, we’re in excellent hands with Universal Television Alternative Studio and Loud Minds on board bringing it to life.

65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth as the dominant form of life on this planet. Unless you're a weirdo like myself and obsessively watched all those BBC "Walking with Dinosaurs" specials from back in the day, the somewhat less-than-realistic "Dinosaur" movie from 2000, or "The Land Before Time" animated movies/shows, or the recent Apple TV+ series "Prehistoric Planet," that's likely a version of the world most audiences haven't seen depicted on the screen. It seemed as if that would change in a big way with "Jurassic World Dominion," however, when Universal Pictures released an extended clip of a standalone "prologue" sequence that showed dinosaurs...

The post Why Jurassic World Dominion's Epic Prologue Was Cut From the Movie appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: BBC Studios Natural History Unit (Nhu), the UK production powerhouse behind Planet Earth and The Green Planet, has hired BAFTA-winning Mike Davis to lead a major push into CGI.

Davis is one of a number of Executive Producers set to join over the coming months as the Nhu continues to expand.

He will start this summer, soon after Prehistoric Planet, the Nhu’s CGI doc for AppleTV+, drops on the platform, and the unit has also been behind the BBC/HBO’s Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History CGI feature.

Davis, who started his career at Framestore working on the globally-renowned Walking with Dinosaurs, has spent the last two years as Executive Producer for Nhu stablemate the BBC Studios Science Unit. He was previously a Creative Director at Atlantic Productions, where he produced Sky’s BAFTA-winning David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive and series-directed BBC One’s Great Barrier Reef and Galapagos,...

Discovery and BBC Studios have inked a nearly $400 million programming deal that will see high-end natural history programming from the latter play on a new Discovery global streaming service set for launch by 2020. Under a decade-long deal, Discovery has acquired a raft of BBC content for its new Svod service and will work with BBC Studios, the U.K. pubcaster’s production and distribution unit, to develop new programming across natural history, travel, science and other factual genres.

Discovery CEO and president David Zaslav said the new, as-yet-unnamed streamer could launch for under $5 a month.

Separately, the two companies have untangled ownership of the UKTV channels group, with Discovery set to take the lifestyle networks and BBC Studios the entertainment channels in a deal that will see BBC Studios pay the U.S. firm £173 million ($226 million).

The announcement Monday of Discovery’s upcoming factual streaming platform comes as the...

Broadway is readying for a monster of a musical.

The long-gestating musical adaptation of King Kong will roar in the Broadway Theatre in fall 2018, producers Global Creatures and Roy Furman announced Wednesday.

The titular ape is manifested through a combination of animatronics and puppetry developed by creature designer Sonny Tilders, as similarly executed in the Walking With Dinosaurs and How to Train Your Dragon arena shows. The stage show is based on the novel of the original 1933 screenplay by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace, and is described as "a contemporary take on the classic tale of beauty and the beast." It is...

Exclusive: Redford, Chan to narrate English and Mandarin versions of BBC documentary sequel; Goldcrest handles sales.

Robert Redford and Jackie Chan have been set to narrate the English and Mandarin versions of documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to 2007 box office hit Earth.

Directed by Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) and Richard Dale (The Human Body) the film is currently in post-production at the BBC Earth Films’ studio.

Script comes from Frank Cottrell-Boyce (The Railway Man) while score is overseen by Alex Heffes (The Last King Of Scotland).

The Mandarin-language version will be co-directed by Lixin Fan (Last Train); screenwriter Geling Yan (Flowers of War) and music producer Roc Chen (Chinese music consultant on Kung Fu Panda 3) are also on board.

The film will tell the story of one day in the life of the planet, “celebrating the billions of real-life dramas that occur in the natural world every day”.

A co-production between...

Global Creatures, the outfit behind Walking With Dinosaurs — The Arena Spectacular, announced this morning that it’s signed up a top-rank duo of director Alex Timbers (Rocky – The Musical, Peter and the Starcatcher, Here Lies Love) and writer John Logan (Spectre, Skyfall, Red) to develop Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 pop fantasia Moulin Rouge! into a stage musical. Timbers most recently made news when Disney dropped him as director of its forthcoming Broadway adaptation of the…...

Baz Luhrmann‘s 2001 hit “Moulin Rouge!” may soon be can-canning its way to the stage. Tony-winning playwright John Logan (“Red”) is writing the book for the new stage production, and two-time Tony nominee Alex Timbers (“Rocky,” “Peter and the Starcatcher”) is on board to direct. The stage production is currently in development, Global Creatures CEO Carmen Pavlovic announced Thursday. Global Creatures is an Australian-based international theater touring companies whose past projects include large-scale shows involving giant animatronic creatures like “Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular” and “How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular.” Also Read: Baz Luhrmann on 'The Get Down':.

Intense action; smart, funny nods to its roots while moving in a new direction; and explicit confrontation of a problem always at the heart of Star Trek. I’m “biast” (pro): totally devout Trekkie

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

The United Federation of Planets starship Enterprise visits a place of my science fiction dreams in Star Trek Beyond, and it is a place I didn’t even know I longed to spend time in until I saw it here: Starbase Yorktown. Forget the toy-tops-in-space that were the starbases of the 1960s TV show. This Yorktown is a gemlike sphere floating in infinity, with no up or down except as dictated by the local gravity of the many curved planes that crisscross its internal bubble: it’s those wheeled-city-in-space illustrations of the 1970s expanded into a whole artificial world, a...

Two fun characters played by two great actors with fantastic chemistry together go in search of a movie, and — spoiler! — never quite find it. I’m “biast” (pro): love Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling; like Shane Black

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Holland March (Ryan Gosling: The Big Short, Gangster Squad) is a private eye in 1977 Los Angeles; he’s not very bright yet somehow has an apparently thriving business, perhaps because he’s stupidly charming. World-weary Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe: Fathers & Daughters, The Water Diviner) beats people up for money, including, sometimes, private eyes, if the pay is good enough. That’s how these two meet, and end up, for convoluted and not very convincing reasons, working together on a case that isn’t what the script thinks it is. No, what happens in The Nice Guys...

Exclusive: Goldcrest boards sequel to doc which took more than $110m worldwide; film is first under UK-China co-pro treaty.

Goldcrest Films has boarded world sales rights (excluding China, Germany, Hk, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and UK) to BBC Earth Films and Smg Pictures’ nature documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to Earth, the 2007 box-office hit that grossed more than $110m worldwide.

Goldcrest cut the all-rights deal with BBC Worldwide and while some key territories are off the table Goldcrest will crucially handle sales in Us, where the original made more than $30m, and France, where it scored more than $11m.

BBC Worldwide will retain rights in all excluded territories to the standalone feature.

The film is directed by Oscar-nominated Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earing) and BAFTA nominee Richard Dale (The Human Body). The film will tell the story of one day in the life of the planet, “celebrating the billions...

Leading names from both sides of the Atlantic will come together this April in London to develop a new musical. Tony Award-nominated singer amp actress Melissa Errico will star in the workshop of The Gold Room which features original music by five-time Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein and book amp lyrics by Walking With Dinosaurs writer Warner Brown. Conceived originally by Brown, The Gold Room explores a night behind closed doors in the life of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton.

Plus: Erik Lomis exits TWC, joins Annapurna; and more…

San Francisco’s Golden Gate 3D will produce the large format film Cuba (working title) in association with BBC Earth, which will support marketing and promotion. Giant Screen Films will distribute globally.

Neil Nightingale (Walking With Dinosaurs, One Life, Tiny Giants, Wild Africa) is on board as executive producer. Production is currently underway with a release target of early 2017.

Erik Lomis has become the latest high-ranking executive to leave The Weinstein Company, where he served five years as head of domestic distribution. Lomis has joined Annapurna Pictures in an unspecified role. A spokesperson confirmed Lomis had joined Megan Ellison’s company but did not elaborate. Reports speculated Ellison is launching a distribution arm.The Orchard has acquired all North American rights from Submarine Entertainment to Michal Marczak’s documentary All These Sleepless Nights. The film from Endorfina Studio and Pulse Films earned the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award in...

Stuart Ford’s Los Angeles-based company will handle international sales and broker Us deals on animation projects developed by Sega subsdiary Marza Animation Planet and Pigmental Studios.

The first two under the arrangement are Household Pests from Despicable Me co-creator Sergio Pablos and Mean Margaret (pictured) from Mulan director Barry Cook.

Household Pests is based on an original idea by Pablos about an imaginative boy and his battles with the monsters that lurk beneath his bed.

Pablos of Spa Studios and Pigmental Studios founder and CEO Marina Martins producers. Pre-production will occur in Spain and Pigmental’s studio in Washington DC in collaboration with Marza in Los Angeles.

Mean Margaret is based on the National Book Award children’s book nominee by Tor Seidler. The Nut Job producer Jay Ahn will produce and Chuck Williams will manage creative oversight at Marza.

Cook, who directed Walking With Dinosaurs that Im Global sold several years ago for parent company...

Jurassic World introduced us all to the Indominus Rex, the franchise’s first genetically modified hybrid dinosaur. A bunch of scientists, including B.D. Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu, took DNA from a bunch of different dinos and merged them together to create Mother Nature’s angry accident baby. As such, she’s a fearsome foe, but the coolest part about Indominus is that her look is based on an actual dinosaur. Jack Horner, a paleontologist and a scientific advisor on Jurassic World, spoke to Yahoo Movies about the creation of Indominus Rex and it all leads back to the Therizinosaurus. He said: I started the process with a dinosaur called Therizinosaurus that has big grasping arms. That was the most important thing — the grasping arms and its color. It’s white. BBC aired a special event called Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their ...

There simply aren’t enough dinosaur movies. Even with Jurassic World in theaters right now (and Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur just a few months away), I still feel like we’re owed at least three or four more by next week. Like there’s some gnawing hole in the world that won’t be satisfied until the coolness factor of your average dinosaur (extremely high) matches with the amount of enthusiasm Hollywood has for crafting high-quality dinosaur films (middling at best). It hurts. And if you’re a fan of really big extinct lizards, you’re probably hurting too (especially given the state of the last few dinosaur flicks to hit theaters — Land of the Lost, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie. Come on, people). So let’s do a little walkthrough of dinosaur movie history, with two goals in mind: 1. Figure out why those who love dinosaur...

National Geographic Channel’s Sunday-night special T Rex Autopsy takes guts … and turns them into geek-out, gruesome fun wrapped up in a hefty education in all things Tyrannosaurus rex. Mixing cutting-edge CGI effects with top-notch science — and scientists — the network will reveal how the 65-million-year-old, teeny-armed rock stars of the dinosaur world lived, the challenges they encountered and why they died. Billed as “part gruesome monster film and all real science,” T. Rex Autoposy “stars” an impressive 43’ x 13’ beastie nicknamed Edwina lovingly created over 12,000 hours by Crawley Creatures of Walking with Dinosaurs fame. And they spared the scientists no detail of … Continue reading →

The post Grossly engrossing! National Geographic Channel unveils the world’s first T rex Autopsy appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

London, England. Something horrible has happened on TV Stage 2 at London's Pinewood Studios. Trails of sticky blood lead to and from the stage. Lurid, red fingerprints spot the doors. On the actual stage itself, the source of the carnage evident. A tyrannosaurus rex rests prone on a shiny metal platform, chest open. A sluice tray holds a stomach, curling innards and still more blood. A pair of drenched white rubber boots sits gory and ensanguinated, vacated by their owner. Science! *** *** When a network known for fact-based programming ventures into the realm of the speculative, the slope is a slippery one.  It will be years before Animal Planet and Discovery Channel recover from "Mermaids: The Body Found" and it will also probably be years before the competition stops twisting that particular knife. It's mid-April at Pinewood Studios outside of London. It's a location most associated with a fictional British spy with a license to kill,...

It's not quite the end to another month, although we're just 3 days away; it's also a time when Netflix's usual monthly purge of films from its streaming library happens. So if any of the below listed movies is of interest to you, now is the time to watch them, because, on February 1, 2015, they'll be gone! By the way, for a list of films that will be added to Netflix's streaming library next month, click here. Here's the complete list of titles that will disappear on February 1 (maybe you'll find a few to add to your weekend watch-list): "A Bit Of Fry And Laurie" (1987-1995) "Airheads" (1994) "Allosaurus: Walking With Dinosaurs Special"...

Netflix is expiring a slew of movies and TV shows in February -- but don't panic! As we previously reported, several BBC series including "Doctor Who" and the original British "The Office" that were once set to leave Netflix on Feb. 1 are staying put. However, several other BBC titles will be disappearing Feb 1. According to Variety, bid a sad toodle-doo to "Fawlty Towers," "Blackadder" and "Mi:5." (Don't worry, "Sherlock" isn't due to expire anytime soon.)

As for movies, the clock is ticking on "Zodiac," "Batman Returns," "Apocalypse Now," and "Mad Max," which will also be pulled in the monthly purge.

Here's the complete list of titles that will vanish from your streaming list (pending any sort of meddling time-travelers):

Netflix Titles Expiring February 1, 2015

"A Bit Of Fry And Laurie" (1987-1995)

"Airheads" (1994)

"Allosaurus: Walking With Dinosaurs Special" (2001)

"Apocalypse Now" (1979)

"Apocalypse Now Redux" (2001)

"Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State" (2005)

"Batman Returns" (1989)

"Blackadder...

Elle Fanning, Chloe Moretz, Hailee Steinfeld and Peter Beale from EastEnders are all on the X-Men: Apocalypse shortlist, it seems

Bryan Singer is homing in on new additions to the X-Men cast for his upcoming movie, X-Men: Apocalypse. The film will centre on the X-Men: First Class cast (and pick things up after X-Men: Days Of Future Past), but it'll also be introducing younger versions of characters we've already seen in previous X-Men adventures. As such, the search is on for acting talent to play the young versions of Cyclops and Jean Grey.

So who's on the short list?

For Jean Grey, The Wrap is reporting that Elle Fanning (last seen in Maleficent), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) are on the shortlist. Meanwhile, the younger Cyclops could be taking the form of Ben Hardy (Peter Beale in EastEnders, no less), Charlie Rowe (Walking With Dinosaurs) and...

This kid will make your day ... seriously. Noah Ritter -- also known as "Apparently Kid" -- became an internet sensation with his adorable review of a ride at the local county fair.The funny five-year-old took the mic during a segment for a Pennsylvania news channel and -- after stressing that he'd never been on live TV before -- said, "Apparently sometimes I don't watch the news because I'm a kid, and apparently Grandpa just gives me the remote and I have to watch the Powerball." He added, "It's great, because apparently you're spinning around, and apparently every time you get dizzy."Yeah, he really liked the word "apparently."Now, Noah is making his talk show debut on an upcoming appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Thursday, where he reveals his new favorite word. "This is my first time on a talk show," he says before revealing to Ellen that he "got over" the word,...

Im Global has hired Emil Elmer to head up its UK office as David Jourdan moves back to La to oversee acquisitions for the Apsara label, among other tasks.

Swedish-born Elmer (pictured at right) becomes svp of international sales and acquisitions based in London.

He most recently served as svp at Focus Features International and prior to that was a full-time consultant at financier Silver Reel. He started as director acquisitions at Miramax before joining Pathe as head of acquisitions.

Jourdan (pictured at left), a four-year employee at Im Global, returns to the company’s Los Angeles headquarters to serve as svp of international business development and operations.

He will work closely with Im Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford and COO Chris Bosco on strategic initiatives in Asia and Latin America.

In his Apsara role, Jourdan will report to president Jonathan Deckter. Apsara has several upcoming releases in 2015 including Selfless, American Ultra and...