European production powerhouse Mediawan has bought a majority stake in Misfits, the prestige U.K. company whose anticipated documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will play at the Sundance Film Festival.
The London-based production company, founded in 2016, is run byAndee (Dee) RyderandIan Bonhôte, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker-producer duo behind “McQueen,” the critically laureled documentary about the fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. The company’s thriving track record in the non-fiction space also includes“Rising Phoenix,” a documentary about the Paralympic movement which won a pair of Emmy Awards, and “Kingdom of Dreams,” a four-part premium non-fiction series about the fashion industry which sold across 169 territories, as well as“The Contestant”which premiered at last year’s Toronto and sold to Hulu for a 2024 release.
Aside from being a key player within the feature documentary landscape, the banner recently expanded into fiction with “Alleycats,” a high-concept thriller directed by Bonhôte and is currently developing four feature films.
The acquisition of Misfits marks a new milestone in the strategic development of Mediawan into English-language markets. The company, which is also the owner of Brad Pitt’s Plan B, comprises several companies with topnotch pedigree, including in the U.K. with scripted outfit Drama Republic (“The English,” “One Day”) and animation banner Wildseed Studios (“Dodo,” “Tuff Pom”).
“This new partnership represents a significant opportunity to strengthen Mediawan’s international footprint and grow our premium documentary slate,” said Elisabeth d’Arvieu, Mediawan Pictures CEO.
“Mediawan has had big hits in the documentary genre in the last few years, including ‘The Stadium’ (a Black Dynamite production for Paramount +), ‘Orelsan – Don’t Ever Show This to Onyone’ (a Troisième Oeil production for Prime Video), “Gregory” (an Imagissime production for Netflix),” said the executive.
D’Arvieu pointed out Mediawan is already working with high profile creatives, notably Oscar-winning producer and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, through his joint Venturewith Plan B. “The excellence of their creative vision, as well as their reputation as producers are in complete alignment with our ambition and our commitment to the careful nurturing of top talents,” she continued.
Ryder and Bonhôte said it “was apparent to (them) early on in (their) conversations that Mediawan shared our ambition and vision for the future of Misfits Entertainment.”
“With our genre agnostic approach to filmmaking, we are proud of what we have achieved in the first few years of our company in the international marketplace,” the pair continued. They added that this partnership with Mediawan “will help us to grow our documentary team and support us to make bigger strides in the scripted global marketplace to align with what we have achieved in documentary.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” directed by Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, captures Reeve’s rise to stardom with his role in “Superman” and depicts how he became a real-life superhero after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic.
Copyrights: Erik Tanner, Christina Solomons
