Mediawan’s Pierre-Antoine Capton on Buying Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Doubling Down on Hollywood Amid Consolidation (EXCLUSIVE)

After buying Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment in 2022 and Peter Chernin’s North Road earlier this year, Mediawan has enlisted another major Hollywood player, Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine.

As with its previous acquisitions which were financed partly through stock, Mediawan is bringing Witherspoon into its shareholder base, joining a stellar roster of talent and producers who have invested in the Paris-based group, including Pitt, Chernin and Plan B partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, as well as See-Saw’s Iain Canning and Emilie Sherman. The company also launched LuckyChap International, the London-based arm of Margot Robbie’s company, last November.

“For our 10th anniversary today, we’re working with Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Reese Witherspoon — all three of whom are extremely creative and recognized as such — it defines the company’s DNA in terms of its independence, its commitment to talent and its creativity,” said Mediawan co-founder and chairman Pierre-Antoine Capton in an exclusive interview with Variety less than a day after unveiling the deal.

Mediawan also managed to pick up Hello Sunshine at a fraction of the $900 million valuation the company had when Blackstone-backed Candle Media acquired a majority stake in 2021.

Variety understands that Mediawan paid on the lower end of tens of millions of dollars, although Capton declined to disclose the exact figure or financial terms.

“I can’t confirm. The bottom line is that we acquired 100% of Hello Sunshine along with Reese and Mediawan, from Candle Media, and the money we’re investing is going toward development and content creation. It’s truly being invested in the company,” said Capton, who credited Chernin and Jesse Jacobs, former shareholders in Hello Sunshine, for bringing the opportunity to Mediawan.

The momentum has shifted in favor of European companies, as traditional Hollywood power players are under pressure to cut costs, streaming platforms are becoming pickier and U.S. indie producers are eager to work in Europe, where they can produce at lower costs and own IP. While Mediawan has made a name for itself in Hollywood in the last five years, another European giant with French roots, Banijay, which just merged with British powerhouse All3Media, is also looking to invest in the U.S. scripted market where it hasn’t yet broken through.

The acquisition of Hello Sunshine by Mediawan also illustrates how much the business has changed since the streaming boom that fueled Hello Sunshine’s previous valuation. Candle Media, founded by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, had bet heavily on Witherspoon’s star power, social media presence and book club, but that model became more difficult to monetize in recent years.

On whether Hello Sunshine will fare better under Mediawan than it did under Candle, Capton pointed to the prestigious track record of Witherspoon’s company, notably “Big Little Lies,” “The Morning Show” and the Apple TV series “Lucky,” adapted from a Reese’s Book Club selection.

“They’ve really excelled creatively. That said, unfortunately, from time to time, there are investment deals with companies that may be perceived as financial strategies. That’s not the case for us,” said Capton, who worked on the deal alongside Mediawan CEO Elisabeth D’Arvieu and Guillaume Izabel, head of strategy and M&A. “With Reese, we’re really looking for creativity, independence and vision. That’s what interests us, so we don’t put financial pressure on it. It’s truly an editorial, artistic and creative addition that we’re seeking.”

Capton also said Mediawan intends to bring Reese’s Book Club internationally, including through potential productions in France and elsewhere in Europe.

“For all Mediawan producers — whether they’re Italian, German, British or Australian — access to all the IP that Reese can leverage through her book club is something very rare,” Capton said. “Yesterday, when we announced Reese and Hello Sunshine’s arrival at Mediawan, all our producers called us asking: ‘How can we work with them? How can we access the IP? How can we co-produce with them?’ There was a very strong desire from all our producers.”

“The goal isn’t for Reese to produce more herself, because she’s already produced a lot, but for this to also to fuel and create co-productions with our various producers. That’s what we’re hoping for,” he added.

Asked about the skepticism surrounding the Hello Sunshine deal, similar to the doubts raised when Mediawan acquired Plan B, Capton pointed to the latter’s recent hits.

“Plan B has produced ‘F1’ and ‘Adolescence’ last year. They’ve announced a pretty incredible lineup of series and films, so we’re very happy,” Capton said. “We had to trust each other, and it also took time to show what Mediawan was all about.”

Capton also sees further avenues for Mediawan to expand its footprint in the U.S. “We’re going to continue. Peter Chernin’s arrival at the group has helped us become more ambitious, and with KKR’s support and the help of our local teams, we’re going to do something quite unique.”

While he declined to address rumors that Mediawan was one of the companies circling Lionsgate, he said, “In our model, the more we can distribute worldwide, the better off we’ll be. So, we’re looking at all possible opportunities.”

The French executive, who splits his time between Los Angeles and Paris, is also optimistic about the prospects for groups like Mediawan following the recent Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, even as Skydance prepares to make massive cuts.

“Skydance has committed to producing a certain number of films each year. I believe we have a company built on the creativity of our talent, and so, together, we’ll continue to develop and produce even more,” he said, pointing out that “Backrooms” (North Road), “Adolescence” (Plan B) and Florian Zeller’s “Bunker” (Blue Morning Pictures), starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, were made by producers who are part of Mediawan. He also revealed that the company will soon announce a major deal on vertical formats. “I’m convinced that these successes will only grow with our global consolidation,” Capton concluded.