EXCLUSIVE: Banijay Rights has acquired international distribution rights to 72 Movies’ four-part doc sequence on former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Channel 4 sequence, Boris (working title), chronicles the rise and fall of Johnson, who is without doubt one of the most divisive and perplexing characters in fashionable politics.
Boris is billed as “the definitive documentary sequence that reveals the occasions that formed Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, his meteoric rise to energy and his extraordinary premiership.”
Johnson, a Conservative and former London Mayor, grew to become the UK’s Prime Minister in 2019. He gained an enormous majority in a snap election that yr and took the UK out of the European Union a yr later. Nevertheless, he was deposed final yr after a number of scandals, lots of which associated him breaking the Covid-19 guidelines his personal get together put in place.
Grabbing the rights to Boris is one thing of a coup for Banijay, as rival super-indie Fremantle snapped up a majority stake in producer 72 Movies final yr. 72 is behind docs equivalent to The Trump Present, Crime & Punishmentand The Elon Musk Present.
The sequence guarantees “uncommon archive footage” and “entry to these with intimate data of Johnson through the years,” together with associates and enemies. It can chart his faculty days at Eton, college at Oxford and his rise as a Tory politician. 72’s Co-founder and Co-CEO David Glover is government producer.
Simon Cox, EVP Content material & Acquisitions, Banijay Rights, stated: “Boris offers a deep perception into one of many UK’s most mystifying and controversial political leaders, revealing how adolescence occasions formed Boris Johnson’s character proper as much as his tenure because the nation’s strongest man. We’re in little question 72 Movies’ extraordinary sequence might be an eye-opening account for worldwide patrons.”
Mark Raphael, Co-founder and Co-CEO, 72 Movies, stated: “If there’s one single individual whose life depicts the current historical past of Britain – it’s Boris Johnson. He led the Brexit marketing campaign, was each prime minister and in intensive care throughout Covid, and is related to each Russia and Ukraine. This documentary sequence tells the life story of one of many world’s most compelling characters.”
Banijay Rights has now subsumed the Past Rights catalog after Banijay acquired Past Worldwide in a deal price round $30M.
