Sony Pictures Television (SPT) said Friday that Netflix has acquired U.S. rights to Lord of the Flies, the limited series adaptation written by multi-award-winning screenwriter Jack Thorne (Adolescence, His Dark Materials, Enola Holmes), produced by Eleven (Sex Education, Ten Pound Poms), and directed by BAFTA-winner Marc Munden (Utopia, National Treasure, Help).
“The U.S. sale leads a wave of distribution deals in territories across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America, and Asia-Pacific,” Sony said. The epic four-part series launched on the BBC in the U.K. and Stan Australia on Feb. 8 and will screen Friday night in the Berlin International Film Festival‘s Berlinale Specials Series program.
It marks the second year in a row that Sony Pictures has presented a series at Berlinale, following the gala premiere for The Narrow Road to the Deep North from Curio Pictures last year.
SPT emphasized that the Netflix deal is not all. The firm has also finalized new licensing agreements which will see Lord of the Flies come to Sky (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy), CBC (English Canada), Radio-Canada (French Canada), TVNZ (New Zealand), Syn (Iceland), U-NEXT (Japan), Yes (Israel), Globoplay (Brazil), Telia (Estonia), Telia Play (Lithuania), Tet+ (Latvia), and on HBO and HBO Max (across Central and Eastern Europe and Poland), and beIN (across the Middle East and North Africa). Additional deals, including further major European territories, are expected to be announced soon.
The four-episode series is the first-ever television adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel, which tells the story of a group of young boys who find themselves stranded on a tropical island.
“In an attempt to remain civil, the boys organize themselves, led by Ralph and supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy,” reads a synopsis. “But Jack, who is in charge of signal fire duty, is more interested in hunting and vying for leadership and begins to draw other boys away from the order of the group and ultimately from hope to tragedy.”
“Jack Thorne’s contemporary take on this timeless story is, in one word, powerful,” said Mike Wald, co-president, distribution & networks at SPT. “This first-ever television adaptation of the iconic novel delivers on every level, including its cinematic scope and transportive music.”
The series is an Eleven and One Shoe Films production backed by SPT for BBC iPlayer, BBC One and Stan. The series is written by Thorne, directed by Marc Munden, and produced by Callum Devrell-Cameron (Sex Education, Hanna). Series composer is Cristobal Tapia de Veer, with the main theme and additional music from Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve. The executive producers are Joel Wilson and Jamie Campbell for Eleven, Thorne for One Shoe Films, Munden and Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC, and Cailah Scobie and Amanda Duthie for Stan.
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