(Virtual Press Office) Banijay International has acquired international distribution rights to the extremely successful Chilean reality format Opposite Worlds from Canal 13 Chile. Drawing audiences of more than 50% share on Canal 13, the much talked about format is to make a splash at MIPCOM in Cannes this October.
With licenses already closed with RCN Colombia and TV Azteca Mexico, and a number of other pre-sales set to close before the market, Opposite Worlds is a boundary-pushing competitive reality show which sees teams competing to live in the luxury of the future or the hardship of the past.
According to the position they obtain in a team competition, the mixed group of celebrities and members of the public will live week by week in either the past or future, with both areas of housing divided by a simple glass wall - each team can see every action of the other. Dependent on their performance, team nominations and popularity with the voting public, two contestants will be crowned The Man and Woman "of all times", receiving a substantial cash prize.
Karoline Spodsberg, Managing Director Banijay International said, "This show has one of the most outstanding track records I have ever seen. It's daring, thrilling and dangerously close to the edge of human limits. With our acquisitions manager now in situ in LA this is likely to be the first of many new acquisitions from North and South America."
Sergio Gálvez, Head of International Sales at Canal 13 Chile said, "We realise that we have something quite special in Opposite Worlds and have been looking for a distributor which could exploit it to its full potential. We have the utmost confidence that under Banijay International's wing our show will fly."
Banijay International will also debut a second high-rating Canal 13 reality format at MIPCOM. Year Zero sees two teams fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.
Following two further third party acquisition deals Banijay is also to represent Lighthearted Entertainment & Nippon TV´s big new entertainment show Spinsanity and Sky UK's original marriage of arts and competitive reality The Art of Survival.
Spinsanity is a wild, rollercoaster entertainment show that gives one pair of contestants every week the chance to win a fortune – by gambling using the world's biggest slot machine. They could wind up sumo-wrestling a well-known mathematician - or shooting hoops against a professional basketball player! Whether they win big, win small or lose it all – is up to the slot machine to decide!
The Art of Survival from the UK's Illuminations Media successfully aired on the Sky platform in the UK. It sees some of the country's most talented young artists from across all fields "dropped" in a location far from home with no cash, shelter, or mode of transport – in fact nothing to rely on except their talent. Working as teams, they must complete the international journey to their final destination using only their craft as a commodity.
From backstage rivalries to cutthroat on-set competition, Banijay will bring its nail-biting new studio quiz Trust to Cannes. In this suspense-filled format, two complete strangers must work together to correctly answer trivia questions. The more they get right, the more cash they amass... But there's a catch. There is no way of sharing this prize; at some point in the game, during a nerve-wracking face-to-face round, the partners are transformed into opponents and one of the two will double-cross the other, taking the winnings to date and leaving their former ally with nothing.
Also new to the Banijay slate at MIPCOM 2012 is a revamped version of the world's first music reality competition Popstars. Born out of New Zealand in 1999 it has been recreated in more than 40 territories. In 2012 Screentime's Popstars is back and the reboot will focus on the contestants' personalities, relationships with one another and intimate emotional journeys as they cope with being away from home in a shared house as well as striving to shine in challenges designed to mimic the reality of being a working pop musician. Banijay International is also relaunching Temptation Island, the classic and controversial reality series, to the international market at MIPCOM.
In the hilarious and feel-good reality show Ghetto Riders, a local champion in the national sport takes on the challenge of turning a group of young men growing up in urban immigrant communities into an elite cycling team! In a series of crazy and challenging training exercises – from racing local school kids to trying to balance in a velodrome – the team works towards the ultimate goal: cycling one of the most difficult stages of the Tour de France. There's a serious side to the format too as they will learn valuable lessons about their adopted country's national sport and culture, and viewers gain valuable insight to their country's eclectic new citizens.
Also launching at MIPCOM is high-rating lifestyle series Home of the Year; innovative docu-reality format Let's Get Out of Town; hilarious hidden-camera series Celebrity Undercover; the all-star sporting challenge from the Roman era The History Games: The Roman Edition; male revue casting format Strip Search; travel and interview show where a celebrity travels to meet an expatriate chef in their new home city Chef Around the World and Coming of Age in which two men who have until now shirked their responsibilities, take on the toughest tests of manhood practiced around the world.
Visit the Banijay Tent located at the main entrance of Le Palais des Festivals during MIPCOM 8 -12 October 2012.
For further information, please contact:
Laura Saldanha
The Lippin Company Ltd on behalf of Banijay International
T: +44 203 008 5407
laura@lippingroup.com
About Banijay International
Banijay International is a new global force in content distribution with exceptional vision and conviction. It is an extension of the major TV and multimedia content creator, Banijay Entertainment Group, which in two years has grown into a worldwide entertainment powerhouse.
Banijay International is the owner of a wide portfolio of programming rights, originating both from within the Banijay Group companies as well as the very best third party properties from the Nordic region and leading independents around the world. It is confident about its ability to exploit rights on a global scale and optimise the value of its programming operating with the nimble approach of a boutique distributor combined with the muscle of a large, cost effective group structure. Its portfolio is strong, relevant, bold and brash, spanning the genres of factual, compelling game shows, reality hybrids, serial dramas and finished programmes. Banijay International delivers content that's fresh and innovative, with wide appeal.
About Banijay Group
The Banijay Group is a content creation company for television and multimedia platforms. It comprises a network of leading international production companies and is engaged in strategic partnerships with innovative creative talent around the world. Banijay formats and programming, as well as acquired third-party content, is sold around the world by its global distribution arm, Banijay International. The Group's model relies on pooling the expertise and potential of its production and distribution companies, reinforced by the central development unit, Creative Factory. Its goal is to become a leader in each of the territories it operates.
The Banijay Group companies currently include Banijay Productions France and Air Productions (France), Cuarzo (Spain), Brainpool (Germany), Nordisk Film TV (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), Respirator (Denmark), Solar Television (Finland) and Bunim/Murray Productions (US). Banijay Group's lead shareholder is LOV Group, the family holding company of Stéphane Courbit, alongside Groupe Arnault, Ifil, DEA Capital and AMS Industries.