Singapore – FOX International Channels (FIC), FOX Broadcasting Company and FX Productions have locked in an international partnership on M. Night Shyamalan’s new suspense-filled 10-episode event thriller, Wayward Pines. FIC will control all rights outside of the U.S. to be the exclusive first-window broadcaster in its 125-country network as well as the exclusive international sales arm.
Wayward Pines joins the ranks of The Walking Dead, The Bridge, the upcoming Outcast and other original development and global ownership deals FIC has closed recently in its pursuit of wholly-owned and controlled content. For the first time FIC has also assumed direct sales responsibility for all international television windows, non-linear and home entertainment rights. Simon Thomas, FIC’s London-based Executive Vice-President of Content Sales, will oversee all international third party deals.
Wayward Pines
Set to premiere on FOX globally during the 2014/15 broadcast season, Wayward Pines, starring Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, will follow the day and date release strategy currently practised by FIC to deliver original content promptly to viewers worldwide.
“This series has all the makings of an international hit — a spectacular, world-renowned cast, thrills crafted by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan, and a global FOX launch platform reaching more than 350 million viewers. We are also excited by the early interest the show is generating with potential buyers, and confident that these partnerships will amplify the scale and impact the series will have around the world,” said Hernan Lopez, President and CEO of FIC.
Based on a best-selling novel by Blake Crouch, Wayward Pines follows Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke (Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon), who arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, Idaho on a mission to find two missing federal agents. Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.
Developed for television by Chad Hodge (The Playboy Club) and executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), Hodge, Donald De Line (The Italian Job), and Ashwin Rajan (After Earth, Devil) Wayward Pines stars a high-profile ensemble cast, including Matt Dillon (Crash), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Toby Jones (The Hunger Games), Carla Gugino (Watchmen), Terrence Howard (The Butler) and Juliette Lewis (August: Osage County).
