London-based Cineflix Rights, the sales and acquisitions arm of Montreal-headquartered Cineflix Media, has acquired worldwide distribution rights for the six-part English- and Scandinavian-language crime drama Hildur.

Hildur, based on Satu Rämö’s crime novel series, is coproduced by Finland’s Take Two Studios for Nelonen Media’s streamer Ruutu and Iceland’s Sagafilm for Síminn, with financing from Finland and London-based investment fund manager IPR.VC.

The series stars Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir (Húsó), Lauri Tilkanen (Deadwind) and Rick Okon (Helsinki Syndrome) and follows a woman who, 25 years after the disappearance of her two sisters, works as a detective in her hometown.

Raven Banner

Toronto-based distributor Raven Banner Entertainment has acquired the worldwide sales and distribution rights to writer-director Woody Bess’ U.S. horror-comedy Portal to Hell.

The film is produced by L.A.-based prodco Little Shadows in association with Hello Moon, Ford Films, Dalmatian Cow and Baked Studios. Trey Holland (The Diabolical), who also stars in the film, is a producer alongside Lucas Ford, Tom Watts and Bess.

Also starring is Richard Kind (Argo), Keith David (The Thing) and Toronto-born actor Romina D’Ugo (I Like Movies).

Portal to Hell follows a debt collector whose life is upended by a portal to hell that opened up in his local laundromat.

The deal was negotiated between producers Ford and Holland; as well as Raven Banner’s general manager, Michael Da Silva and managing partner, Michael Paszt. Raven Banner also brought the film to Berlin at this year’s European Film Market, which ran from Feb. 13 to 19.

Portal to Hell will have its world premiere at L.A.’s Slamdance Film Festival on Feb. 22.

GRB Media Ranch

L.A.-based GRB Media Ranch has closed new licensing deals for its signature series Untold Stories of the E.R., as well as the wildlife docuseries Wild Zambezi.

Discovery USA has acquired the five most recent seasons of GRB Studios’ Untold Stories of the E.R., for which the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay-TV channel has been a repeat buyer.

The medical reality series, which features re-enactments of real-life events from hospital emergency rooms, has run for 13 seasons and been broadcast in more than 200 territories.

German broadcaster Quintus, meanwhile, has acquired non-exclusive worldwide FAST rights for Wild Zambezi, which journeys through Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park to show how the wildlife in the region is reacting to the ongoing encroachment of human civilization.

GRB Media Ranch is a joint venture between Montreal’s Media Ranch and L.A.’s GRB Studios. When the two companies formed the partnership in 2023, it created a portfolio of more than 5,000 hours of factual, unscripted and scripted programming, as well as a number of formats across various genres.

Fremantle

U.K.-based Fremantle has partnered with Roku to bring the eighth season of American Idol to the Roku Channel in Canada.

The deal represents its first single-territory live and simulcast deal, along with AVOD digital exclusive rights to the series.

American Idol season eight – the 23rd overall season which includes the 15 previous seasons that aired on Fox – will air on ABC in the U.S. on Sundays and Mondays before showing on Hulu the next day with a simulcast on the Roku Channel in Canada.

The reality competition series is produced by Fremantle along with 19 Entertainment, a part of Sony Pictures Television. Fremantle distributes the series worldwide.

With files from Realscreen

Image courtesy of Cineflix Rights; pictured (L-R): Rick Okon (photo by Nils Schwarz), Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir (photo by Dóra Dúna) and Lauri Tilkanen (photo by Ilkka Saastamoinen)