Award-winning independent producers Moi j’aime la télévision (MJTV) and Helion Pictures have secured three new partners for their $6million trilogy of feature-length live action films based on their hit long-running television half hour comedy series Genie in the House.
Moi j’aime la television and Helion Pictures Secure New Partners for Genie in the House Franchise
Press Release from Moi j’aime la Television, Helion Pictures
Wild Bunch Germany, Spain’s Maestranza Films and France’s Cyber Group Studios on board
Paris/London (September 20, 2010) – Award-winning independent producers Moi j’aime la télévision (MJTV) and Helion Pictures have secured three new partners for their $6million trilogy of feature-length live action films based on their hit long-running television half hour comedy series Genie in the House.
Wild Bunch Germany GmbH will co-produce and distribute the 3D movie in Germany, while Spanish production company Maestranza Films will also co-produce. Cyber Group Studios in France is on board as co-producer and will also handle international sales rights for the rest of the world with Estelle Lafoy from Happy Audience. Both Cyber Group Studios and Happy Audience are currently negotiating theatrical and broadcast distribution in the UK, France, Italy and Spain.
MJTV’s Managing Director Phil Ox says: “Wild Bunch, Maestranza Films and Cyber Group Studios are prestigious players and we are delighted to have secured them as partners on the Genie movies for France, Germany and Spain. With the success of the Genie TV series, the movie franchise is a natural extension of the brand and we are excited by the possibilities of taking a half hour show to a global feature-length 3D film.”
Marc Gabizon, Managing Director of Wild Bunch adds: “We look forward to turning Genie in the House’s phenomenal European success into a theatrical event movie for the whole family. It will be a visually attractive comedy with bang and a emotional twist, lot of special effects all filmed in stereoscopic 3D"
Antonio Perez, a veteran film Producer and the CEO from Maestranza Film is looking forward to the challenge: “It is a unique proposition, turning a fantastically successful European TV series into a truly cinematic moment in 3D stereoscopic. We will recreate the ‘The Thousand and One Nights’ world of Balamkadar using the breathtaking scenery of Andalucia and south of Spain. We want to deliver a really exciting family movie, European co-production at its best.”
“We are thrilled, at Cyber Group Studios, to be associated with the theatrical development of such an acclaimed international television property,” declares Pierre Sissmann, President Cyber Group Studios, who will act as coproducer and also share international TV sales in various territories and merchandising.
The 78 episode Genie in the House Television series has become a worldwide hit for commissioning broadcasters Nickelodeon UK and Canal J in France, and has sold to 110 territories worldwide including Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and across Africa and Asia.
The first Genie in the House movie starts shooting in summer 2011. The cast has been signed or all three movies and a director will be announced soon.
Managing Director of French production company MJTV Phil Ox will produce the films with his Helion partner Steven Bawol. Award-winning Grant Cathro and Lee Pressman have written the feature movie script. The original cast has been signed for all three movies and will include Adam Morris, Angus Kennedy, Jordan Metcalfe, Katie Sheridan and Victoria Longley who all star in the television series.
The Genie in the House feature movie will be a new 90-minute comedy adventure featuring The Norton Family and their bungling genie, Adil: when a handsome young lamp dealer from the legendary City of Balamkadar turns up on the doorstep, Emma, Sophie and Adil, the Genie, have little idea that this is the beginning of their greatest adventure yet – an epic quest, that will take them on a fantastic journey across deserts, seas and mountains, where they will fight mythical creatures, face magical foes (and even find time for romance and a song along the way).
