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Scaring Up A Big Win

Jon Bell’s “The Moogai” was Saturday named winner of the Film Prize at Western Australia’s CinefestOZ festival. With a cash award of A$100,000, it is one of the richest film festival prizes in the world.

Sarah and Fergus, a hopeful young Aboriginal couple, give birth to their second baby. But what should be a joyous time of their lives becomes sinister when Sarah starts seeing a malevolent spirit that she is convinced is trying to take her baby. Fergus, can’t see it but desperately wants to believe her. He does not know if the child-stealing spirit real or is Sarah is in fact the biggest threat to the safety of their family. The film stars Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt.

It is produced by Kristina Ceyton, Mitchell Stanely and Samantha Jennings and coproduced by Alex White. International sales are handled by the U.

In an age of streaming wars that also compete with traditional television (which in itself is streamed through internet companies), in the middle, you have the live-streaming television apps — like PlutoTV, Plex, TubiTV, Roku Channel and Freevee — that simulate broadcast television with scheduled programmings of previously released content. These apps are free, but the catch is that they are ad-supported, which brings us full circle back to traditional television. Even further down the line, smart TVs feature their own list of streaming stations on default. These stations usually feature channels that are dedicated to a singular subject of content.

Deadline is now reporting that Distributor Banijay Rights will be unveiling a channel dedicated to Mr. Bean, the often-silent physical comedy character from British actor Rowan Atkinson. The Mr. Bean Channel is set to be available across 29 territories on Samsung TV Plus, LG, Plex, Rakuten TV and Tcl. The network will...

Exclusive: Mr Bean is moving into the Fast lane.

Distributor Banijay Rights has launched the first ever free ad-supported streaming TV (Fast) network solely devoted to Rowan Atkinson’s beloved comedy character. It will be available across 29 territories on Samsung TV Plus, LG, Plex, Rakuten TV and Tcl.

The channel will be dedicated to Mr Bean: The Animated Series, which is produced by Banijay’s Tiger Aspect Kids & Family. Mr Bean: The Animated Series was recently commissioned for a fourth 52-part series alongside deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Itvx.

The animation follows the antics of Mr Bean and Teddy, as they embark on a series of adventures, making plenty of mischief along the way.

Co-created by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, Mr Bean first aired more than 30 years ago and centers on “a child in a grown man’s body” as he solves various problems presented by everyday tasks and...

The animated version of Rowan Atkinson’s silent slapstick sitcom Mr Bean is to return to television for a fourth series in 2025.

Mr Bean must be one of the most well known comedy characters on the planet. Relying entirely on Rowan Atkinson’s rubber face, slapstick and visual humour, Atkinson first wrote the show with Richard Curtis and Robin Driscoll almost 35 years ago.

Premiering in 1990, Mr Bean ran for just 15 episodes, with stories typically following a formula of the hapless title character trying to accomplish a seemingly simple task and escalating it to farcical levels. Memorable moments include a dangerous diving experience, putting his swimming trunks on without removing his trousers and, perhaps the most iconic sequence from the entire series – getting a turkey stuck on his head. In 1997, the character went to America in the feature film Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie, which was directed by the much missed comedian Mel Smith.

A fourth season of “Mr. Bean: The Animated Series” is set to return worldwide in 2025.

Banijay’s Tiger Aspect Kids & Family has commissioned the series in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery and Itvx, via deals agreed by Banijay Rights.

Executive produced and voiced by Rowan Atkinson, Season 4 will comprise 52 x 11’ episodes, bringing the total number of episodes across all series to 182 x 11-minutes. It will air on Cartoonito and HBO Max across Europe, the Middle East and Africa on Warner Bros. Discovery’s kids channels and streaming services across Southeast Asia and South Asia, and on Itvx Kids in the U.K. and Ireland from 2025, which marks the 35th anniversary of the first live-action episode.

The animation follows the antics of Mr. Bean and Teddy, as they embark on a series of adventures, making plenty of mischief along the way. Produced by Tiger Aspect Kids & Family, managing director Tom Beattie is also an executive producer.

"You see... there was this bee." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a fun comedy series titled Man vs Bee, the return of kooky British comedian Rowan Atkinson making us laugh even more. "A comedy series that will get the whole family buzzing." Atkinson last made the Johnny English Strikes Again movie in 2018, and has been doing a few other Mr Bean comedies recently, including the "Handy Bean" series. In this one, he doesn't play Mr. Bean specifically, but it still looks fun as he gets into more trouble. A man finds himself at war with a bee while housesitting a luxurious mansion. Who will win, and what irreparable damage will be done in the process? In addition to Atkinson, the cast includes Jing Lusi, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Greg McHugh, India Fowler, Claudie Blakley, & Tom Basden. This actually looks much better than Johnny English or Mr Bean, and everyone can...

Exclusive: Rowan Atkinson’s Netflix comedy Man vs Bee has revealed cast, with Crazy Rich Asians star Jing Lusi leading the show that will launch on June 24.

Lusi plays Nina, the owner of the luxurious mansion that is being house-sat by Trevor (Atkinson), who finds himself in a battle with a bee as he avoids irreparable damage.

Lusi broke out playing Amanda Ling in 2018 global hit Crazy Rich Asians and on the small screen has starred in Gangs of London and Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, both for Sky. She is also se to appear in Tom Harper’s Netflix film Heart Of Stone with Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan for Netflix.

She is one of six cast members revealed by Deadline including Julian Rhind-Tutt (Bridget Jones’s Baby), who plays Nina’s husband Christian, Greg McHugh (Fresh Meat), who joins as the Gardener and White Lines star India Fowler, featuring as Maddy.

The BBC is to triple its investment in UK-made animation for 7-to-12 year olds over the coming years as kids chief Patricia Hidalgo talks up the potential for the corporation to produce the next generation of global hits.

The BBC’s goal is to air three UK original animations for this older children’s audience per year, up from just one as it currently stands.

Addressing the Manchester Animation Festival this morning, former Turner Emea kids boss Hidalgo described the move as a “significant increase,” which comes as the BBC delivers on “great content for this older target” in the factual-entertainment, drama and comedy spaces.

Additional animations will start appearing in around 18 months and in the meantime the BBC is looking to increase its animation mix through acquisitions and pre-buys. Last year’s content budget for older-skewing kids channel Cbbc was £58M ($78M), with £25M ($33.8M) spent on younger-skewing CBeebies.

Industry veteran Cathy Payne, former CEO of Endemol Shine, and currently CEO of Banijay Rights, is optimistic about production returning to normal in 2021. But she says the restart should have a pragmatic, Covid-safe approach.

Speaking at the Asian Television Forum, part of the Singapore Media Festival, on Tuesday, Payne said that the Indian version of “Big Brother,” “Bigg Boss,” hosted by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, is currently filming and “Peaky Blinders”-creator Steven Knight’s adaptation of best-selling book “Sas: Rogue Heroes” for BBC One is in the works.

“All these productions have a lot of Covid protocols built in at every stage from pre-production to filming to post,” Payne said. “Maybe there’ll be changes that saves some time, but we don’t know yet. So everyone’s being pragmatic in the way they schedule, which is how they should be. But definitely, everybody wants to get back into production.

The streaming landscape just got even more crowded: BBC Studios and ITV’s SVOD platform BritBox officially launched in Australia today.

Among the exclusive titles for the British-content streamer are A Confession, Appropriate Adult, Vera, Endeavour, Prime Suspect, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Father Brown, Victoria, Lewis, Murder on the Blackpool Express, Your Home Made Perfect, and The Curse of Ishtar. Police procedural The Mallorca Files will be available from December.

Also on the platform is the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small, featuring Nicholas Ralph, Rachel Shenton and Callum Woodhouse, and the service’s first commission, a revival of ’80s sketch comedy Spitting Image, from original creator Roger Law.

The launch coincides with ‘Doctor Who Day’, with the service offering the entire collection of the show from 1963 – 2019, with all 13 Doctors. Other classics will include Mr Bean, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Kingdom, The Vicar of Dibley, The Office, Top Gear, Luther,...

When Banijay closed its $2.2 billion takeover of Endemol Shine earlier this summer, it became the largest independent production player outside the U.S. The formation of the super-group, during a pandemic no less, raised questions about how it might leverage a monster 88,000-hour catalogue, and what its plans were for super-brands like Endemol Shine drama “Black Mirror” and Banijay’s iconic “Survivor” format.

In her first interview since assuming leadership of Banijay’s distribution arm, Banijay Rights, industry veteran Cathy Payne tells Variety that the combined business hopes to be “the world’s best producer and distributor of content.” And while there’s certainly enough scale in the library to support its own VOD offering, Ott plans aren’t yet in the cards.

“At the moment, we’re focusing on production and distribution,” says Payne, who acknowledges that a clear brand proposition for consumers is needed for major SVOD platforms...

It's been more than a decade since the 1990s ended, yet the Internet can't seem to go a day without a reminder of the neon slap bracelets that may have been banned from your school.

Yes, we get it. Times are tough and there's comfort in reflection, but enough is enough.

Below, a final goodbye to the 90s to end the nostalgia once and for all. (We're not kidding. There are 1990 items below.)

1. Scrunchies

2. "The Wild Thornberries"

3. Dawson and Joey

4. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"

5. Mr. Feeny

7. MTV playing music videos

8. Snick

9. The premiere of "Freaks and Geeks"

10. Levar Burton

11. "Daria"

12. "Arthur"

13. "The Powerpuff Girls"

14. "Smart Guy"

15. Comedy Central globe logo with buildings

16. "The X-Files"

17. Rosie O'Donnell

18. Bill Nye

19. "Dawson's Creek"

20. The Mighty Ducks"

21. "Are You Afraid of the Dark"

22. Cornholio

23. Rachel Green

24. Tim Allen

25. "All That"

26. "Beverly Hills 90210"

27. "Step by Step"

28. "The Ren & Stimpy Show"

29. "The Famous Jett Jackson"

30. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

Everyone has their eye on the Diamond Jubilee, and I have a giveaway for you to help celebrate with A&E Home Video‘s Crown Jewels of Comedy. One lucky winner will take home a megabundle of Britain’s best comedy. Take a look at what you’ll be getting below, and enter to win.

DVD sets in the bundle-

Benny Hill: The Complete Megaset – The Thames Years 1969-1989

The undisputed “Funniest Man on Television” Benny Hill pioneered a naughty new direction for the sketch-comedy variety show and pushed TV broadcasting to new levels of rowdiness as he electrified audiences all over the world with The Benny Hill Show. This show-stopping collection on 18 DVDs captures every classic comedic moment from the Merry Master of Mirth in his hey day!

Benny Hill: The Complete Megaset™ contains Benny’s raucous 20-year reign over television’s-sketch variety genre, from the naughty...