Mediawan Scores Key Licensing Deals on Bille August's ‘The Count of Monte Cristo' in U.S., U.K. and More Key Territories (EXCLUSIVE)
A lushly lensed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' iconic masterpiece, the series will have a gala premiere on closing night of Canneseries where it will play out of competition in the Lumière Theatre, in the presence of August, and his key cast, Sam Claflin ('Peaky Blinders') and Ana Girardot ('The Returned').
More from Variety
French Production Reached Near Record in 2024, While Streamers' Financing Skyrocketed by 60%
Canneseries Industry: Soo Hugh, Beau Willimon, Jane Tranter, Eric Rochant, Malin Sarah Gozin to Talk at First Edition
Canneseries Unveils Lineup, Including J.J. Abrams' 'Duster,' 'The Walking Dead: Dead City,' 'The Agency'
Produced by Palomar and DEMD Productions, two Mediawan companies, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' has lured PBS Masterpiece in the U.S. and UKTV in the U.K., along with TVE in Spain, RTS in Switzerland, and the Nordic PSB alliance which includes SVT, NRK, DR, YLE and RUV.
The eight-episode series will also be broadcast in Eastern European countries, including Poland with TVP, Hungary with TV2, and the Czech Republic with Ceska TV. Mediawan is also in negotiation to close more major territories.
Claflin stars in 'The Count of Monte Cristo' as Edmond Dantes, a nineteen-year-old sailor who was falsely accused of treason and is imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a grim island fortress off Marseille. After many years of captivity he finally escapes and, under the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, he plans to take revenge on those who have wrongly accused him.
'The Count of Monte Cristo' already premiered in Italy where it broke rating records. On Rai1, the miniseries was a massive success, attracting nearly 6 million viewers, a 30.5% market share. Mediawan said the ratings on Rai marked the broadcaster's highest score on that slot within the last three years.
The show was commissioned by France Télévisions in France and RAI in Italy, and distributed worldwide by Mediawan Rights in cooperation with CAA for North America and with the participation of Entourage Ventures.Valérie Vleeschhouwer, Mediawan Rights' managing director, said the show's 'global resonance underscores Mediawan Rights' enduring commitment to supporting the best talents and the best IPs.'
Vleeschhouwer said 'The Count of Monte Cristo' taps into the 'needs of a dynamic global market' for 'appealing premium content.'
Nicola Serra, Palomar CEO, praised the series' 'wonderful talents.' 'Their amazing work made this show a worldwide event for a global audience. We hope they will love the show as much as we loved to make it,' said Serra.
August, the revered Danish filmmaker whose credits include 'Pelle the Conqueror,' 'The Best Intentions' and 'Les Misérables,' shot the series on location in Europe over five-months.
'The Count of Monte Cristo' is the first international series of that caliber fully produced as well as distributed by Mediawan, and financed with Entourage.
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025
The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Elle
an hour ago
- Elle
All the Easter Eggs Taylor Swift Dropped About Doing the Super Bowl Halftime Show
THE RUNDOWN Fans have been clamoring for Taylor Swift to perform at the Super Bowl for ages, but rumors 2026 might finally be the year started swirling after the Eras Tour star appeared on boyfriend Travis Kelce's New Heights podcast this week. Swifties know that the singer loves to hide 'Easter eggs' hinting at her next move in all sorts of places—in her music videos, on her website, during live performances, and now, perhaps, when talking to Travis and his brother, Jason Kelce. To begin with, Swift openly referred to the Super Bowl Halftime Show, saying she has watched every single one, which means the topic is on her mind. But the other hints were not quite so obvious. A big one is that Swift joked that she thinks about sourdough '60% of the time.' The San Francisco 49ers are hosting the 60th Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium in 2026, and who is their mascot? Sourdough Sam. Both the number and mention of bread types was a big flag to Swift's fans. Speaking of numbers, Swift mentioned the number 47 during the episode, specifically thanking Jason for his intro and screaming for '47 seconds.' Levi's Stadium was Swift's 47th stop on her Eras Tour, leading some listeners to think she would be returning soon. And Swift has talked about 13 being her favorite number in the past, four plus seven is 13, and 2026 will be Travis's 13th NFL season. It all adds up! Finally, Swift has said before that she would not perform a halftime show at the Super Bowl before she owned or rerecorded all of her masters. The star finally bought the original masters back this year after rerecording several of her iconic albums already. And her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, is coming out in October, making a February Super Bowl show a perfect moment of public triumph.
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
Selena Gomez Shares Candid Summer Photos With Benny Blanco and More
THE RUNDOWN On Friday, Selena Gomez shared a new carousel of photos on Instagram from her summer, including intimate photos at home and with her fiancé, Benny Blanco. The carousel opened with a stunning picture of Gomez in a pale pink slip with red lace detail around the neckline and hem. She had her hair down and wore a pair of red frame glasses. In the background, Gomez appeared to be watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother. In the photo with Blanco, Gomez is having dinner outside with the music producer and their friends, enjoying a massive plate of oysters and prawns, as well as some cold white wine. The singer included shots promoting various Rare Beauty products, plus scenes from working at home and hanging with pals in the backyard and at events. It seems like it has been a spectacular few months for the Only Murders in the Building star. In the comments, Blanco wrote, 'wait … i'm gonna marry u.' Last weekend, Gomez shared photos with Blanco at the wedding of friends Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco. Blanco worked with Dave star Lil Dicky on his show and they have remained close friends. For the event, Gomez wore a sleeveless red halter dress with a mock turtle neckline and a fuzzy black coat. Blanco wore a dark blue suit over a black button-down, open at the neck to reveal his layered gold necklaces. Gomez captioned her carousel of pictures from the ceremony and reception: 'About last nights wedding 💒' She and Blanco have been engaged since December 2024, but on the August 7 episode of the podcast Therapuss with Jake Shane, Gomez shared that the wedding is not happening anytime soon. 'There's so much happening at the moment,' she explained. 'He's working on some projects that he has to wrap up, and we just have things we want to finish and our own personal endeavors before we get into all the nitty-gritty. I just have really never felt so sure about something, and I also don't want to jinx it by saying that.'
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Today's NYT ‘Connections' Hints And Answers For Sunday, August 17th
Looking for a little help with your Sunday Connections puzzle? The New York Times has set a pretty solid challenge with today's puzzle, so if you're looking for extra clues – or the answers – you've come to the right place. Below you'll find an extra set of clues, the categories for each group and, finally, the solution to today's puzzle. Looking for Saturday's Connections? You can find our guide right here. New York Times Connections Guide Sunday August 10th It's another lovely weekend in August, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't itching for some cooler weather at this point. It's been hot with nary a cloud in the sky, and all I'm asking for is a little rain. Or a lot of rain. Moisture of any kind would be lovely. Then again, in a few months when snow is piled high and it's too cold to go outside, I'll be pining for summer sun. We always want what we can't have. Be sure to check out my streaming guide if you're looking for some new shows or movies to check out this weekend. There's a lot of good stuff out at the beginning of the month. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Alright, Connectioneers, we have a Connections to solve, so let's group some words! Connections is the second-most popular NYT Games puzzle game outside of the main crossword itself, and an extremely fun, free offering that will get your brain moving every day. Play it right here. The goal is to take a group of 16 words and find links between four pairs of four of them. They could be specific categories of terms, or they could be little world puzzles where words may come before or after them you need to figure out. And they get more complicated from there. There is only one set of right answers for this, and you only get a certain number of tries so you can't just spam around until you find something. There are difficulty tiers coded by color, which will usually go from yellow, blue/green to purple as difficulty increases, so know that going in and when you start linking them together. You pick the four words you think are linked and either you will get a solve and a lit up row that shows you how you were connected. If you're close, it will tell you that you're one away. Again, four mistakes you lose, but if you want to know the answers without failing, either come here, or delete your web cookies and try again. If you want to play more puzzles, you can get an NYT Games subscription to access the full archives of all past puzzles. These are the hints that are laid out on the puzzle board itself, but after that, we will get into spoiler territory with some hints and eventually the answers. First, here are today's Connections words: Alright, the full spoilers follow here as we get into what the groups are today: The full-on answers are below for each group, finally inserting the four words in each category. Spoilers follow if you do not want to get this far. The Connections answers are: I definitely had a hard time with this puzzle, using up three bad guesses in the process. Weirdly, I ended up solving it in reverse order, or at least the reverse of how I normally solve these. I got the purple group first, then the blue, then the green, then finally the yellow. I chock this up to my bad guesses, and how they clarified what I was actually looking for. I was reasonably, but not entirely, sure that I was dealing with signs of some sort and things having to do with envelopes, but I also thought maybe some of the words were geared toward speeches or gatherings. With this in mind, I made a few wrong (but close!) guesses before I realized at least one group must have to do with freedom of speech, and that got me thinking about the First Amendment, which honestly we should always be thinking of in these censorious times. That led me to ASSEMBLY, PETITION, PRESS and SPEECH and my first group. I was pretty sure that my hunch about signs was correct. I had guessed EXIT, OPEN and WELCOME were all part of this group but PUSH had eluded me before. Then that old Far Side comic popped into my head. The one where the guy is pushing on a door that says pull – and the sign above says 'School for the gifted.' From here, I turned to the idea of an envelope and got ADDRESS, STAMP, ENVELOPE and NAME. I was worried this was too literal in the beginning, and that ENVELOPE was actually the other use of the word, as in something that envelopes something else (though this is what an envelope does to a letter). That only left the yellow group: ACCESSIBLE (which I thought was a sign earlier) grouped with CLOSE, HANDY and NEARBY. All done, with just one guess to spare! All told, a reasonably challenging puzzle! How did you do? Find more guides to Wordle, Strands and the Mini Crossword on my blog where you can also follow me for TV and movie and video game coverage. Read my weekend streaming guide right here.
