Lionsgate has acquired US and UK rights to Rise of the Raven, the ten-part Hungarian historical drama known at home as Hunyadi, from Beta Film, Variety reported on Tuesday 10 November; Beta Film’s own announcement followed. Neither company has disclosed the price, the platform or a release date in either territory.
The series, produced by the Hungarian-born Canadian producer Robert Lantos (Eastern Promises, Barney’s Version), has already sold to CBC in Canada, Rai in Italy and SBS in Australia. The US and UK are a harder sell: foreign-language series rarely travel there, Beta Film said, calling the deal an international milestone for a Hungarian production. How much public money went into it is disputed. The government and the National Film Institute announced HUF10.5bn ($32.0m) of state support in 2021, while the weekly HVG, citing the National Film Office’s register, has reported state support of close to HUF24bn ($73.1m).
Key facts
- Series: Rise of the Raven (Hunyadi), ten episodes, based on Mór Bán’s novels about the 15th-century commander János Hunyadi
- Buyer: Lionsgate, US and UK rights; seller: Beta Film (international sales)
- Terms: price, platform and release dates not disclosed
- Public money (disputed): HUF10.5bn announced in 2021 (about €28.8m, $32.0m); HVG later reported state support close to HUF24bn (about €65.7m, $73.1m), citing the National Film Office’s register
- Other buyers: CBC, Rai, SBS, Telekom Deutschland, LG Uplus, YES and broadcasters across the Middle East and North Africa
The deal
C21Media identifies the buyer as Lionsgate Television. Beyond the three public broadcasters, the series has sold to Telekom Deutschland in Germany, LG Uplus in South Korea and YES in Israel, as well as to unnamed buyers in the Middle East and North Africa, according to Beta Film, which co-produced the series and handles worldwide sales.
The sale caps a strong run at home. TV2 premiered the series in Hungary on 8 March 2025 with a double bill, and the weekly HVG reported that the opening two episodes drew 936,000 viewers and the third 816,000. Beta Film says the premiere set all-time ratings records for TV2 and that the series went straight to No. 1 on Netflix in Hungary.
The series
Gellért L. Kádár plays János Hunyadi, who devotes his life to defending Europe against Ottoman expansion amid intrigue between noble families from Italy, Poland, Austria, Serbia and Hungary. Vivien Rujder plays his wife Erzsébet, Franciska Törőcsik his first love Mara, who becomes chief concubine at the court of Sultan Murad, and Murathan Muslu the sultan.
Robert Dornhelm (Vienna Blood), Orsi Nagypál and Attila Szász directed, with the writer Balázs Lengyel as showrunner and director of the final episode. Lantos produced through Serendipity Point Films with Twin Media and HG Media in Hungary, MR Film in Austria and Beta Film in Germany; TV2 and the Austrian public broadcaster ORF are co-producers. Producers also include Tibor Krsko, Kinga Hazai, Cecilia Hazai and Ari Lantos. The National Film Institute (NFI) says many scenes were shot on a medieval set built for the series at its studio in Fót, outside Budapest.
Who paid for it
When the project was announced in 2021, the NFI said the government would provide HUF6.9bn of the state support by government decision and the institute a further HUF3.6bn from its own budget. That HUF10.5bn is about €28.8m ($32.0m) at the European Central Bank’s 11 November rate. FilmNewEurope, citing this week’s release, puts the institute’s financing at €28.3m and says Beta Film also financed the series.
HVG, which called Hunyadi the most expensive Hungarian television series ever made, reported in March 2025 that the state’s contribution had grown beyond what was publicly known. Citing the National Film Office’s register, it put total state support at close to HUF24bn (about €65.7m, $73.1m, at the same rate) and said only about HUF2bn of the production budget came from non-state sources. This week’s announcements give no budget figure.
Lantos, whose credits also include The Sweet Hereafter and eXistenZ, said in 2021 that, after six films made in Hungary, the series would be the first time he filmed a Hungarian story in Hungarian with Hungarian actors. FilmNewEurope says the project was in development for more than ten years.
What is not known
The reports do not say whether Lionsgate will place the series with a streamer it supplies, on its own channels or with a third-party broadcaster, or whether it will air dubbed or subtitled. A Lionsgate announcement had not appeared by 20:50 CET on 11 November.
Our reading
The sale matters more to Hungary than the ratings did. The NFI backed Hunyadi on the argument that a state-funded epic could travel, and a buyer for the US and UK, where foreign-language drama is a niche purchase, is the first hard evidence for that case. Set against the scale of public money HVG reported, though, one sale does not settle the argument; the return depends on where Lionsgate places the series and how widely it is seen.
The window is the next figure to watch. A major streamer would mean the public money bought reach as well as prestige; a niche service would make this a sale for the record. The deal lands in the same week that Beta Cinema, the Beta group’s feature-film sales arm, closed North America on Growth of the Soil and sold I Is Another to eight territories. See also our report on Prime Video and Scanbox’s Hamilton films and series, another European period franchise built for export.
Sources
- Variety, Lionsgate acquires US and UK rights to Rise of the Raven (10 November 2026)
- FilmNewEurope, Lionsgate acquires US and UK rights to Rise of the Raven (11 November 2026; NFI financing of €28.3m)
- C21Media, Lionsgate, CBC, Rai among buyers for Rise of the Raven (10 November 2026)
- Nemzeti Filmintézet (NFI), Új szintre emeli a hazai filmgyártást a készülő Hunyadi-sorozat (2021; HUF6.9bn government, HUF3.6bn NFI)
- NFI, Duplarésszel indul március 8-án a Hunyadi TV-sorozat a TV2-n (TV2 premiere, Fót studio)
- HVG, Hunyadi-sorozat: még annál is több állami támogatást kapott (13 March 2025; ratings; state support close to HUF24bn, only HUF2bn non-state, from the National Film Office register)
- European Central Bank, euro foreign exchange reference rates, 11 November 2026 (USD 1.1127, HUF 365.08)