Skybound Entertainment & Fifth Planet Games acquire Icelandic ‘The Minister’ firm Sagafilm

The Minister

Skybound Entertainment and Fifth Planet Games have jointly acquired Sagafilm, the Icelandic production company behind The Minister.

Sagafilm is currently working on the second season of the political drama, which has been sold by Cineflix Rights to Viaplay in the UK and Germany. Other upcoming titles include the feature thriller Operation Napoleon, while the firm was also behind 2017’s Stella Blómkvist.

Thor Tjorvi Thorsson will take over as the new CEO of Sagafilm, while the existing leadership team, including managing partner, Kjartan Thor Thordarson, and chairman, Ragnar Bjorn Agnarsson, will remain with the company, with all three becoming partners in Skybound Entertainment and Fifth Planet Games.

Under the terms of the agreement, BetaFilm Nordics, which took a stake in the company in 2020 will also remain a minority shareholder.

“This acquisition signifies a substantial foray into the European TV market for Skybound by leveraging Sagafilm’s exceptional track record for producing premium content and strong presence in the Nordic region,” said Rick Jacobs, managing partner of linear entertainment at Skybound.

Skybound was founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and producer David Alpert in 2000. The firm is behind shows including Amazon Prime Video’s superhero animation Invincible.

“Gaining access to Skybound’s extensive roster of intellectual property gives us all the opportunity to develop localized as well as English-language adaptations anchored in Europe,” added Thordarson.