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 of real-life dramas that occur in the natural world every day”.
A co-production between BBC Earth Films (as Earth Film Productions Limited) and Chinese outfit SMG Pictures, it is the first feature film to be produced under the UK-China film co-production treaty.
Stephen McDonogh (Walking With Dinosaurs) produces while Neil Nightingale (Walking With Dinosaurs) is executive producer and Myles Connolly (Enchanted Kingdom 3D) will serve as supervising producer.
The original film is second on the all-time list of highest-grossing nature documentaries, behind March Of The Penguins, and seventh on the all-time worldwide documentary chart.
Goldcrest will launch the film to distributors at the forthcoming Cannes Marché. Production is underway and the producers have already concluded deals in Germany with Universum and Shanghai Media Group for mainland China.
Pascal Degove, managing director of Goldcrest Films, commented: “BBC Earth Films are the undisputed leaders in factual feature films and we’re very excited to be bringing this extraordinary visual spectacle to our distribution partners – we know they are going to be thrilled.”
Slated for theatrical release in 2017, the film will launch a decade after the release of Earth.
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