onLINE COMICS
“7Fates: CHAKHO,” the online comic created by digital comics platform Webtoon, HYBE and K-pop sensation BTS, has surpassed 15 million views in just two days of global launch. The title is now the highest viewed title ever launched by Webtoon. “7Fates: CHAKHO,” has taken first place on Webtoon’s new and trending chart and all genre charts. South Korean boy band Enhyphen’s “Dark Moon: The Blood Altar,” released Jan. 15, took second place in the new and trending chart and placed fourth in the fantasy genre chart.
Another South Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together‘s “The Star Seekers,” placed third in the new and trending chart on Webtoon’s English, German, and Spanish services within a day of release. The comics have also earned high fan review scores around the world.
The BTS online comics collaboration with Webtoon and HYBE was revealed in Nov. 2021.
“This project, in collaboration with HYBE, is an industry-first, simultaneously launching a webcomic and a web novel in 10 languages, with strong fan fractions for all three works,” said Ken Kim, CEO, Webtoon Entertainment. “These are pop idols that fans truly love, so we’re thrilled to see fans celebrate the dynamic storytelling and unique illustrations for these webcomics and webnovels. These stories are helping people around the world discover webcomics, and giving existing Webtoon users an exciting new way to imagine their favorite idols.”
CASTING
Leading Scottish actors Lorn Macdonald and Henry Pettigrew will take on the roles of Utterson and Dr Jekyll in “The Levelling” director Hope Dickson Leach‘s hybrid adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” They will be supported by Tam Dean Burn, Caroline Deyga, Lois Hagerty, David Hayman, Scott Miller, Alison Peebles, Peter Singh and Ali Watts.
The adaptation will kick off as a theatrical live experience, where audiences will enter a live filmset built within the atmospheric setting of Edinburgh’s historic Leith Theatre, over Feb. 25, 26 and 27, 2022. Following the final performance on Feb. 27, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” will be livestreamed to selected Scottish cinemas.
The show will then be screened “as live” — meaning that it will be performed as though live but broadcast after a short delay — during the week of Feb. 28 in U.K. cinemas. The footage captured during the performances will subsequently be edited into a full feature film, which will be broadcast on Sky Arts in the fall of 2023.
The project is presented by the National Theatre of Scotland and Selkie Productions in association with Screen Scotland and Sky Arts.
FUNDING
Screen Australia and Google Australia have revealed the recipients of this year’s Skip Ahead initiative who will share in A$480,000 ($347,000) of production funding. Luke Goodall and Marc Gallagher will receive coin for “The Followers,” a true crime parody about a wellness cult in the Aussie bush, which will air on the Goodall & Gallagher YouTube channel. In series “Quantum Experiments At Home,” physicist Mithuna Yoganathan will demystify quantum mechanics and the project will release on YouTube channel Looking Glass Universe. Saksham Sharma‘s thriller series “Unknown Filter” centers on a university student who goes viral on his YouTube live stream and will show on the Saksham Magic channel. Honor Wolff and Patrick Durnan Silva‘s “Hot Department: Dark Web” comedy series will explore the strangest parts of the internet and will release on the Grouse House channel.
APPOINTMENT
FilmRise, the New York-based film and television studio and streaming network, has appointed Emilia Nuccio to the newly created position of VP, international sales, reporting into Melissa Wohl, senior VP, head of sales. Nuccio will oversee all international deals, be responsible for selling the FilmRise catalogue and new release and FilmRise co-productions into the international marketplace. The executive’s previous roles have included senior VP of sales at Dynamic Television and president of international sales at Echo Bridge.
SERIES
Victorian era-set family adventure series “Dodger” will air on CBBC and BBC iPlayer from Feb. 6. Written by Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery, the series follows Dodger, Fagin and his gang through the tough London streets trying to keep one step ahead of the police as they embark on their latest madcap scheme – whether it’s acting in a haunted theatre, sneaking into Madame Tussauds or posing as a long-lost boy.
The cast includes Christopher Eccleston, David Threlfall, Rhys Thomas, Saira Choudhry, Sam C. Wilson and Billy Jenkins as Dodger. Guest stars include Colin McFarlane, Alex Kingston, James Fleet, Frances Barber, Danny John Jules, John Thomson, Tanya Reynolds, Phil Cornwell, Simon Day, Alexei Sayle, Catherine Shepherd, Samantha Spiro, Nadine Marshall, Cheryl Fergison, David Fleeshman, Julian Barratt, Andy Nyman, Paul Reynolds and Tim Downie.
“Dodger” is produced by Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Mark Freeland is executive producer for Universal International Studios. The commissioning editor for the BBC is Amy Buscombe.
