Paramount+ is bulking up its streaming offerings with a long-term slate deal with French production heavyweight Gaumont, producer of Narcos, Lupin and Barbarians.
Under the slate deal, unveiled Thursday, Gaumont will produce several original series in association with Paramount’s international studio, VIS, earmarked to premiere on streaming service Paramount+ internationally.
Among the first shows greenlit under the new deal are French horror-thriller The Signal, an adaptation of the best-selling Maxime Chattam novel, with Lupin writer François Uzan acting as showrunner; the German dramedy Anywhere from Bad Banks writer Jana Burbach; the environmental thriller Impact, based on the Olivier Norek novel, from Oscar-winning documentarian Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Murder on a Sunday Morning, The Staircase) alongside Antoine Lacomblez (Laetitia) and Severine Werba (Spiral); and Desolate Future, a dystopian thriller set in Patagonia and created by writer-director Lucia Puenzo (XXY, The German Doctor), who will showrun the series together with her brother Nicolas Puenzo.
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“This long-term partnership with the storied and esteemed production company Gaumont is another example of our commitment to producing high-quality content that crosses borders and resonates with audiences worldwide,” said Raffaele Annecchino, Paramount’s president and CEO of International Networks, Studios and Streaming. “Our strong, multifaceted and creative global content strategy combined with strategic investments and deep-rooted history of bringing compelling global and local hits to our audience sets Paramount+ up for continued success.”
The Gaumont slate deal is part of Paramount+’s ambitious plan to greenlight 50 new international scripted originals this year. The streamer also recently picked up a Sexy Beast prequel and A Gentleman in Moscow in the U.K., as well as Simon Beckett’s The Chemistry of Death in Germany, the South Korean drama Yonder and renewed Mexican series Los Enviados and Cecilia.
Late last year, the company also struck a strategic partnership with South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM to “bring premium entertainment to audiences worldwide with a comprehensive global deal that includes co-productions for original series and films, content licensing and distribution.”
