Hannibal heads to France, Canada

MIPCOM: Broadcasters in France and Canada have picked up Hannibal, the TV series about Thomas Harris’s big-screen baddie Hannibal Lecter.

Gaumont International Television has licensed the 13-hour series to Canal Plus in France for pay-TV and CityTV in Canada for free-TV. The show has already sold to ProSieben in Germany.

Starring Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne and Mads Mikkelsen, Hannibal is being made for NBC in the US and AXN worldwide. Bryan Fuller (Heroes) is exec producing, with David Slade (Twilight Eclipse) directing. The show is expected to launch in mid-season on NBC.

“As evidenced by these sales, Hannibal is proving to be an incredibly successful and sought-after title across all forms of media in all parts of the world,” said Erik Pack, head of international distribution and coproduction for the distributor.

Gaumont International Television, the sales arm of French film studio Gaumont, will be in Cannes next week shopping Hannibal as well as Netflix commission Hemlock Grove and its reworking of 1960s movie Barbarella for Canal Plus.