Sony Pictures sells self-commissioned thriller ‘Alex Rider’ to 100+ territories

Alex Rider

Sony Pictures Television’s (SPT) coming of age spy-thriller Alex Rider has been sold into more than 100 territories, following last week’s deal with Amazon in the UK.

The show, which was first with ITV before being commissioned by SPT’s international production and distribution divisions on spec, has been acquired by Movistar+ in Spain, Nordic streamer Viaplay in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, along with Kinopoisk HD in Russia, Nova in Greece and DSmart in Turkey. AXN will broadcast the series across multiple European territories, including Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

MENA-focused Starzplay has picked up the series for broadcast in multiple territories across the region, while Showmax will air the series in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. Across Asia, buyers include Sony Liv in India, Korea Telecom in South Korea, and U-Next bringing the series to Japan. TVNZ are streaming the series in New Zealand.

Sales in more territories including the US, Spain, China and Australia are yet to be announced, while the show is to become available on Amazon in the UK from 4 June.

The show is based on Point Blanc, the second book from Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series of novels, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. It was produced by SPT-backed Eleventh Hour Films, whose former MD Nicole Finnan stepped down earlier this year, as revealed by TBI.

The story stars Otto Farrant as Alex Rider, a London-based teenager who has unknowingly been trained since childhood for the dangerous world of espionage. As he investigates his uncle’s death, Rider uncovers a dangerous plot at a remote boarding school called Point Blanc, which is attended by troubled teenage children of the ultra-rich.

The show also stars Stephen Dillane and Vicky McClure, while Horowitz serves as an executive producer alongside Jill Green, Eve Gutierrez, series writer Guy Burt, and Andreas Prochaska, who also co-directed the series with Christopher Smith.

Keith LeGoy, SPT’s president of worldwide distribution, said that the deal marked “a unique model, with our international production and worldwide distribution arms working hand-in-hand from greenlight through to final sale. It has been a fantastic collaboration, and a strategic risk we were confident to make with such popular IP we truly believed would have broad, worldwide appeal.”