Reese Witherspoon and European studio Mediawan have teamed up to buy Hello Sunshine back from Candle Media.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement unites Hello Sunshine with Mediawan and its network that includes Chernin Entertainment and Plan B Entertainment. Candle Media acquired Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, which produces series like Big Little Lies and The Morning Show, in a deal valued at $900 million in 2021.
The new partnership with Mediawan aims to allow Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine to explore a broader range of storytelling formats and distribution models. “Mediawan has built a global, independent studio by putting creators first. That has always been my vision for Hello Sunshine,” Witherspoon, founder of Hello Sunshine, said in a statement.
“I’m investing alongside Mediawan and joining Pierre-Antoine Capton and his teams because this is the perfect home for this new media landscape. It’s also a homecoming. Peter Chernin and Jesse Jacobs believed in Hello Sunshine from day one. I’m deeply proud of what our incredible team has built, and grateful to Blackstone and Candle Media for their partnership and unwavering support. The best is still ahead,” she added.
Founded in 2016 with backing from Chernin and Jesse Jacobs through The Chernin Group, Hello Sunshine has film credits that include The Morning Show, now in its fourth season, Where the Crawdads Sing, Little Fires Everywhere, Daisy Jones & The Six, From Scratch and The Last Thing He Told Me. For Hello Sunshine, Reese’s Book Club will remain a core holding, including for discovering and developing original stories.
For Mediawan, the acquisition brings Hello Sunshine under a production banner that includes Chernin Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment, See-Saw Films, Kinetic Content, Wiedemann & Berg and other production companies in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and beyond. The combined group films and shows include Adolescence, Backrooms, F1, Slow Horses, Call My Agent!, Apex, Miraculous, Love Is Blind, New Girl, The Greatest Showman and the Planet of the Apes franchise.
“Mediawan has thrived by bringing together the best creative companies and giving them the resources, scale, and independence to tell great stories,” Pierre-Antoine Capton, co-founder and CEO of Mediawan Group, said in his own statement. “Led by a generational talent in Reese, Hello Sunshine has an extraordinary track record of telling premium stories through film and TV and forming strong connections with audiences through Reese’s Book Club. Bringing these creative brands together, giving producers access to a broader pool of talent, IP and resources, while preserving their independence is what differentiates Mediawan. It strengthens what we can offer both talent and buyers, and Hello Sunshine brings a distinctive creative identity and a direct audience relationship that makes the whole group stronger.”
The stake sale of Hello Sunshine also raises questions about the future of Candle Media, which counted Witherspoon’s company as one of its flagship properties. Candle’s biggest holding is Moonbug Entertainment, the kids content factory behind brands like CoComelon and Blippi.
The 2021 blockbuster deal for Witherspoon’s banner came as Candle Media, backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone’s private equity business, had grown through pricey acquisitions, including for Moonbug, Fauda maker Faraway Road Productions and a stake in Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.
But those buys left Candle Media saddled with debt — Bloomberg pegged the debt figure at $1 billion as of the end of 2023 — just as the era of Peak TV went bust and demand by global streaming players for original content has plateaued. The result was a company looking to cut operating costs as part of other internal initiatives to better monetize big-ticket acquisitions.
Kevin Mayer, the Candle co-founder, has also lamented that digital creators are the future of Hollywood, which could put pressure on some of Candle’s holdings, which have tended to rely on Hollywood veterans like Witherspoon.