FREEZING IN PORTUGAL
Formats, as we all know, are among the most global of products. But it is also true that some countries 'specialise' in certain genres and are masters of them. Japan, for example, is undoubtedly the country of comedy-action games: Hole in The Wall (Brain Wall - 脳カベ, Nōkabe - which was part of a larger format) is actually one of the funniest ever: take a short break and enjoy a piece of it here.
Now Freeze, a Japanese comedy game originally developed and produced by Fany Studio and Yoshimoto Kogyo for Prime Video, with Fremantle taking on the global production rights, premiered on 8 June on Portuguese private terrestrial broadcaster VTI to great success (it was the highest entertainment launch on TVI in 16 months).
In this fun and hilarious format, players enter an enclosed room and must 'freeze' until the host releases them. Along the way there are traps and tricks to provoke reactions from the players, such as flying mannequins and giant popping balloons, and those who move, laugh or react the most are eliminated. The player who stays still the longest is crowned the winner and receives a grand prize.
A concept that is only apparently simple: in reality, finding the right balance between the game and the ‘wacky’ part requires experience and taste. But if you succeed, the result is guaranteed.
LOOKING INTO SWEDISH FRIDGES
Not all reboots are the same. There are reboots of big franchises, dusted off in the hope of replicating their success many years later; and there are reboots that rediscover little gems from the past that are still perfectly contemporary. This is Your Fridge falls into the latter category.
The format - distributed by Belgian sales house Glow Media and produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production Sweden - will air on Sweden's Kanal 5 this autumn, with Tareq Taylor as host and chef (first pic). The concept is simple and straightforward: a presenter and a chef travel to the homes of celebrities and cook a three-course dinner using only the ingredients in the celebrity's fridge.
This Is Your Fridge was launched in the 1990s and has been produced in Germany (NDR), Denmark (TV2) and Norway (TV2), as well as in Sweden itself, where it was originally broadcast for five seasons on the public broadcaster SVT from 1992 under the title Här är ditt kylskåp (second pic) in which, however, the presenter and the chef were two different personalities.
SPAIN, COUNTRY OF FORMATS
According to K7's Tracking The Giants - The Top 100 Travelling Unscripted Formats 2023-2024 report, the top three markets for new imports last year were Germany, Spain and Belgium. But this year, Spain has certainly taken the lead, with a strategy of importing formats on a massive scale, particularly English and Dutch.
In previous issues we have talked about the Spanish adaptations of the Dutch game shows The Quiz with Balls and The Connection (the first for Atresmedia's Antena 3, entitled Juego De Pelotas, and the second for the public broadcaster La1, entitled La Conexión), the British comedy game A League of Their Own, entitled Invictus, ¿te atreves? (always for La1), and others.
To this list we can now add two acquisitions by Atresmedia, which is investing heavily in formats. The first is the Dutch game The Jump, from Talpa Studios, again for its main channel Antena 3. The Spanish version, called ¡Salta!, will be produced by Buendía Estudios and will be the third international version after the Netherlands (RTL4) and Hungary (RTL).
The second is the "psycho-reality" hit The Traitors, created in 2021 by IDTV (All3Media's production company) for RTL4 in the Netherlands, which will get a new local version after its run on HBO Max.
It should also be added That's My Jam: que el ritmo no pare (‘That’s My Jam: keep the rythm’) the adaptation of the internationally successful NBCUniversal music game of the same name created and hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The show is produced by RTVE in collaboration with Lacoproductora and will be broadcast on La 1.
And finally Spanish broadcaster Mediaset has acquired the rights to adapt Keshet International's Israeli game show 'Boom!', which until now was in the hands of its main rival Atresmedia, where has been broadcast in Spain for eight seasons on Antena 3, produced by Gestmusic, a production company owned by Banijay Iberia. In the new version, the local adaptation of the format will be in the hands of Spanish production company Mediacrest.
Un hurra por España!
NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
Big Brother Malta will air on public broadcaster TVM in 2025 with Greatt Company as local producer and a cash prize of €50,000 for the winner, marking the 70th international adaptation of the format
Love is Blind, Mexico is coming to Netflix on August 1. A new version of the show, filmed in the United Arab Emirates, titled Love is Blind, Habibi has also been announced
ITV Studios' quiz show The Chase is expanding with new local versions licensed in Slovenia for POP TV and Romania for Pro TV. Following its debut in Bulgaria and Slovakia in 2022, the format continues with versions in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia and more
Following ITV's announcement, M6 has also commissioned a French adaptation of the Belgian format 99 to Beat. Produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production France, the series will go into production this autumn with a view to airing in 2025
All3Media International has signed its first format deal for family game show Letterbox, as CNBC-e in Turkey orders a local adaptation, that will premiere 10th June hosted by actor Yiğit Kirazcı
GRB Media Ranch announced license deals for several factual programs and formats. Among them, 12 Star Hotel (a reality competition in which twelve celebrities take over a real hotel and perform all staff functions, from management to housekeeping, to serve the public for two weeks without outside assistance) has been optioned in the U.S. by River Rock Films