The coming 12 months will be huge for the international entertainment landscape, with change certain on multiple fronts. Here, our overseas team make some bold predictions for 2025.
A New Entertainment Giant Is Born
‘The Traitors’ Season 3
Peacock
The international M&A story of 2024 was undoubtedly RedBird IMI’s acquisition of All3Media. While that deal will continue generating headlines as the new owner’s strategy sharpens, a trio of the Traitors super-indie’s biggest rivals are heavily rumored to be on the block. ITV, Fremantle and Federation Studios are all thought to be seeking buyers, merger or investment opportunities over the coming months and so 2025 could be the year that we witness the birth of another Banijay-Endemol Shine sized giant, or see another RedBird IMI dip into the content market. More details surely incoming soon but it’s not surprising to consider why consolidation is on the mind of these entertainment behemoths. The market continues to contract in difficult circumstances and landing big hits has become harder than ever. M&A brokers will be rubbing their hands with glee.
Elon Musk‘s X Will Be Banned From A European Country
Elon Musk ended 2024 in a rather different place to where he started it. By year’s end he had been put in charge of Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was preparing to donate riches to disruptive political parties like Reform UK, had been forced to pay a $5M fine to lift a suspension on X in Brazil and was slamming Australia’s proposed ban on social media for under 16s. At time of writing, the European Commission is wrapping up an investigation into X for breaching the new Digital Services Act. This year therefore feels like it could be the year an EU country takes action and places a full-scale ban on the controversial platform. With both Berlin and Venice chief Alberto Barbera ditching X, one wonders what ramifications this could have for the world of European festivals?
Internationalisation Of U.S. Awards & Cruise On The Croisette?
Image: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty
We’re coming off a record number of Golden Globe nominations for Cannes and Venice movies while five of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees in 2024 debuted at Cannes and Venice. The internationalisation of U.S. taste and U.S. awards continues apace (while correspondingly, have we been in a lull for great U.S. studio moviemaking?). Could we see a whopping six Cannes and Venice movies get nominations for Best Picture this year? It’s not out of the question. Meanwhile, speaking of Cannes, Tom Cruise took Top Gun: Maverick to the Riviera to kickstart the movie’s phenomenal box office run. Cruise is a big fan of the festival and Thierry Frémaux is always in the market for Hollywood royalty. Could we see Cruise return to Cannes with the next Mission Impossible instalment, which releases in May just as the festival wraps? We haven’t heard that this is on the cards yet, but it sure would be fun. Who wouldn’t want to see a Cruise stunt on the Croisette?!
A 2025 Breakout (English-Language) Series Will Come From a Spanish Studio
A peek at Netflix’s roster of most-watched shows underlines the popularity of Spanish-language drama. Spain has an enviable film and TV pedigree and long history of making great movies and series. Now, some of the country’s biggest players are pushing into English-language series. Mediapro has established a new U.S. and Canada studio with projects from 24 showrunner Evan Katz, John Turturro and various others. The Spanish arm of French production giant Banijay wants to make English-language fiction. Secuoya, which has a huge studio complex near Madrid and is making its own shows too, has all the while been hatching plans to build out its English capabilities. It all points to a big English hit… coming from Spain.
Sky To Face Existential Questions
Time was that Sky was the disruptor. Fast forward a couple of decades and it feels more disrupted. The combined threat of competition from deep-pocketed U.S. streamers and the mega expense required to retain top-tier sports rights means Sky is being tested. It has wound down its drama operations in Germany, although notched some original hits out of the UK with the likes of The Day of the Jackal and The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It has held onto HBO content, but only non-exclusively, and the clock on that high-profile deal is ticking down. The Comcast company has its work cut out to remain relevant in the brave – and brutal – new world of TV, and with its owner spinning off assets, existential questions will be posed in 2025.
Qatar: Gulf State To Up Cinema Game
Image: John Phillips/Getty Images for Ajyal Film Festival
Qatar looks poised to up its cinema game in 2025 with the announcement of the new Doha Film Festival from November 2025 replacing the locally-focused Ajyal family event. Qatar’s glitzy cinema drive petered out when the Doha Tribeca Film Festival was shuttered after four editions, but there are signs the country is pivoting back amid expectations the new festival will be closer in style to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Local players are also picking up the pace with Doha production house Katara Studios recently unveiling a slate of four features, including a thriller billed as the country’s first commercial movie. Meanwhile, Qatar’s beIN Media Group will also be in the limelight, with the release of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy on February 14, 2025, which is co-financed by Miramax in which it holds a majority stake. All the while, rumors abound that a film incentive is on the cusp of being unveiled.
An AI Drama Will Get Made… And It Might Not Be Too Bad
Depending on who you’re speaking with, rumors of AI’s mega impact on the entertainment industry have either been greatly over-exaggerated or greatly under-exaggerated. But could 2025 be the year that this growing, invasive tech creates its first watchable drama? The merits of Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, have been discussed more and more in 2024, and the program has just been expanded to the public nine months after touring Hollywood. Supporters of AI have always stressed that it can work in tandem with human creativity, but some remain deeply sceptical. The tech’s influence on the next generation of shows and movies may just tick up several notches in 2025.
