Prime Video and Scanbox Develop New Hamilton Films and Series
Prime Video and Scanbox Entertainment are developing a new set of films and TV series based on Jan Guillou's Hamilton books, Variety reported on Monday 9 November.
The plan covers two kinds of screen work. Theatrical films are movies made for cinemas, and streaming series are shows made for subscribers to watch on demand at home. Both are in active development, which means the projects are being shaped but are not yet in production. Casting and directors are expected to be announced in the coming months.
Two production companies will make the work. Dramanation, a Swedish banner that is part of Scanbox Entertainment, and Odeon Fiction, a German company that belongs to the Mediawan group, will produce it. Patrick Nebout will executive produce for Dramanation, and Britta Meyermann will do the same for Odeon Fiction.
Scanbox is part of Vuelta, a European distribution group. Thor Sigurjonsson is chief executive of Scanbox Entertainment. On the streaming side, Brad Morley is head of content acquisitions for the Nordic countries at Prime Video, the video service run by Amazon.
The source material is well known in Scandinavia and beyond. Guillou's Hamilton novels have sold more than 10 million copies internationally. The books follow Carl Hamilton, a Swedish intelligence agent, and the character has been on screen before. Stellan Skarsgård, Peter Stormare and Mikael Persbrandt have all played him in earlier productions.
What makes this one stand out is the mix of formats. A single franchise is being planned for both cinemas and a streaming service, which means the same characters could reach audiences in two different ways. Films released in cinemas usually arrive first on the big screen, while series can be watched all at once on a streaming platform. The companies have not said how the two will be sequenced.
For readers who know the books, the news is that the story is moving again after a long run of earlier screen versions. For everyone else, it is an early stage announcement. The names of the cast, the directors and the release dates will come later, and each of those choices will shape how the franchise looks on screen.
