Good afternoon and welcome to another addition of the International Insider. Max Goldbart here for the final time for a few weeks. Read on. And please do sign up here – the support means so much.

Netflix‘s $500M Zombie Gamble

Old meets new in mega ‘Walking Dead’ deal: This one is quite the deal, and it’s zombie-fied. Not many TV show pacts are worth this much but Netflix is going big on one of the most recognizable international franchises of all time, and executives will sure be hoping this pays off. Netflix paid $500M to AMC Global Media for a five-year renewal of co-exclusive rights to the world-famous comic book adaptation, with 371 episodes of the original series and its six spinoffs now streaming on Netflix in the UK, Italy, Australia., New Zealand and other new territories along with the U.S., where it has been (on DVD and online) since 2011. As part of the deal, the show remains on AMC+, starting next year. The pact is a meeting of minds between an old school American network and one that has become a byword for TV’s streaming era. By betting big bucks on a franchise so recognizable, Netflix could have less to spend on wholly original content. AMC boss Kristin Dolan said “a lot of major players” were interested but “the opportunity to license everything to everybody” proved attractive, with her comments coming as AMC reported second-quarter results below Wall Street expectations. Our business guru Dade Hayes notes that the Walking Dead renewal comes amid heightened investor scrutiny of engagement on Netflix, with question marks over ratings declines in the second seasons of original shows. But when it comes to bringing new relevance to library content, the “Netflix effect” remains a potent phenomenon, Dade notes, and The Walking Dead is a prime example. However the land lies, Christmas has come early for Walking Dead fans the world over.

The Scottish Festival

Crowded events calendar: The UK television industry events calendar has its biggest revamp in decades coming up next year, as the Edinburgh TV Festival prepares to move to Greater Manchester. The final Edinburgh takes place in a few weeks and it is no exaggeration to say this is the end of an era after more than five decades. But organizers in the Scottish capital are refusing to rest on their laurels. Deadline revealed Tuesday that early-stage plans are already afoot to launch a new TV festival in Edinburgh. These plans have been in the offing for many months, with the expectation from many that the Scottish capital would lose its role as host city to Greater Manchester, home of new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. The shape of any new fest is still to be decided. We spoke to several executives in a nation where the TV industry has always punched well above its weight, and they were split on what a new event should look like. “The world comes here in August,” one said, referring to the power of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe, who talked up Edinburgh’s position as a city that can attract the best talent in the world. With Content London, the London TV Screenings and newer fare like the Creative Cities Convention, along with the soon-to-launch TV Festival in Greater Manchester, the UK TV industry events calendar is a crowded beast. Whether it has room for another remains to be seen, but organizers in Edinburgh are hopeful.

The Insider Interview: Ngozi Onwurah

Ngozi Onwurah’s Welcome II the Terrordome attracted a litany of negative reviews when it premiered in the mid-1990s but critical attitudes have softened in recent years. Empire magazine even removed its negative review of the film, stating that “its content absolutely does not align with our values.” 

Now, the movie that introduced the world to afrofuturism but was maybe just a bit ahead of its time has been painstakingly restored and is returning to U.S. cinemas. Ngozi spoke to Deadline about the restoration, blazing a trail, and why white audiences initially deemed her groundbreaking movie “too extreme, violent, and nihilistic.” >>>Read The Interview

Global Breakouts: When Wham! Went to China

When Wham! became the first Western pop group to play in communist China in 1985, the goal was wider than simply introducing Chinese audiences to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s hit pop duo were on a mission to succeed in the U.S., and they felt that making a splash in China could be the key. Luckily, there was a film crew and Oscar-winning director in tow, and the eventual result 40 years on has been BBC feature doc Wham! 10 Days In China, which was given a rare one-day theatrical release on 1,000 screens worldwide earlier this week. >>>Read The Breakout

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Happy Old Year, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the author of I’m Still Here, is being adapted by Netflix.

🌶️ Another: A24 continues its UK optioning mission, picking up Josh Silver’s debut adult novel Fruit Fly after a hot contest.

🖕 Accused: Jared Leto was accused of criminal sexual conduct by four women in a BBC doc, which he denies. The EP told us this is a “bellwether moment” for Hollywood.

📖 Analysis: Paramount will terminate its 50% stake in distributor United International Pictures in order to force through WarnerMount. Here’s what we know.

🤝 New role: Katie O’Connell Marsh was named Fremantle’s CEO, Global Scripted Hub.

🚒 France is battling a series of devastating wildfires across the country. George and Amal Clooney have evacuated their home.

📉 Results: Banijay Entertainment revs were down slightly in its first financials since the All3Media merger, while ITV posted solid if unspectacular figures as the Sky deal nears completion.

🤝 Done deal: Pathé has acquired a 50% stake in Benelux distributor The Searchers to help with activities in the territory.

🏆 World Cup: FIFA is now looking unlikely to win its vote for controversial plans to sell stakes in tournaments to private firms including one run by Joshua Kushner.

⛺ Fest latest: Elsinore starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman will open the London Film Festival.

🍿 Box office: Spider Man: Brand New Day’s projected $465M global debut is expected to be the second biggest of all time for Sony.

International Insider was written by Max Goldbart and edited by Jesse Whittock. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to jwhittock@deadline.com and mgoldbart@deadline.com

The Alan Cumming-backed Block the Merger coalition has submitted evidence to the UK Culture Secretary over why the Paramount-Warner mega-merger should be blocked.

Four of the groups that make up the coalition said they provided Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy with “market data and first-hand professional evidence as she determines whether to intervene.”

UK parliament is now in recess for the summer and Nandy, who has already said she is “minded to intervene,” will not deliver her decision until September 1 at the earliest. Since the recess, the $110B merger has slammed the brakes in the U.S. after 12 States sued.

The Block the Merger organizations, which are the  Archival Producers Alliance, the International Documentary Association, the UK’s Documentary Film Council and Democracy Defenders Fund, complained WarnerMount become the third largest linear broadcaster in the UK before HBO Max’s “rapid growth” is even taken into account.

They also put forward the argument that for the first time the CNN and CBS News archives, two of America’s most historically significant broadcast news archives, will be under a single owner, “directly impact UK documentarians’ ability to tell diverse stories.”

“As the coalition has made clear, this merger is not a done deal, and filmmakers, journalists, archive producers, unions, and consumer advocates on both sides of the Atlantic will keep working to make sure it never is,” the organizations said.

The news comes two weeks after The Traitors host Cumming posted a vid backing Block the Merger in which he said WarnerMount would “all [be] answering to a giant conglomerate beholden to Donald Trump, autocrats and oligarchs.”

A few days later he co-authored an op-ed with Benedict Cumberbatch describing the deal as a “calamity.”

The UK opposition to the deal has been vehement as both American congloms have a far-reaching footprint, including linear network 5 (previously Channel 5) and numerous production outfits. The European Union gave the merger the greenlight last week.