Paramount Plus announces new shows as it gears up to take on mainland Europe
Paramount Plus has announced a new slate of original content as it gears up to release in mainland Europe.
The streaming service has been live since March 2021 in the US and has thus far been rolled out across Latin America, Canada, Australia, and Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Now, though, we know Paramount Plus will launch in the UK along with South Korea, France, Germany, Austria and Italy this summer – and it’ll be bringing a swathe of new originals with it.
In terms of the streamer’s existing library, it’s not yet clear what content will be made available on the European version of the service, since many of the best Paramount Plus shows (like The Good Fight or Star Trek: Picard) currently have deals in place with other UK providers like Channel 4 and Prime Video.
An exciting array of new offerings, however, is a certainty, with Kenneth Branagh among the talent snared for the streamer’s first assault on mainland Europe.
What’s coming to Paramount Plus in the coming months?
Put simply: a lot. As Deadline reports, Paramount will green-light 50 new international scripted originals in 2022, and a first swathe has already been announced.
For instance, Hans Rosenfeldt, creator of The Bridge and Marcella, has been snared to create a new drama. He will adapt The Burning Girls, a CJ Tudor novel about a village haunted by a dark past.
Kenneth Branagh will lead a starry adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow, which is based on the Amor Towles novel of the same name. A period drama set in 1922 at the height of communism, Branagh will play Count Alexander Rostov who, after being named an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, is put on trial.
As well as that, a TV remake of Sexy Beast, Jonathan Glazer’s classic British drama which starred Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley as warring veteran criminals, is coming, too.
Paramount’s service will also arrive with a host of in-depth documentaries, including a lavish look at fashion houses Gucci, Versace and Burberry.
Analysis: Can Paramount become a player in Europe?
There’s no reason why not, but there is a lot of competition. Between Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video, Britbox and a myriad of others, European consumers are spoilt for choice in 2022.
Paramount are, however, stealing a march on Hulu and HBO Max, who are preferring to keep their powder dry by maintaining their existing deals with other broadcasters in mainland Europe. This move could help the former get in early, and, if they keep the US offering of $4.99 with the option of adverts, it’s the kind of money that will lead people to give the service a try.
Of course, like Netflix with its array of originals, Paramount Plus will need to keep the new stuff coming. But it sounds like that task is very much in hand.
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