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Scoop: Production firm behind “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and “Full Swing” looks to raise $30M
Box to Box Films, the U.K.-based production company behind some of Netflix’s biggest sports hits, is looking to raise roughly $30 million, sources told Axios.
Why it matters: The explosive success behind several of Box to Box Film’s shows has not only inspired more streamers to consider sports docuseries, but it’s fundamentally changed the popularity of several sports.
- Netflix has renewed Box to Box Film’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” for a sixth season, which is set to debut early next year, and its popular golf docuseries “Full Swing” for a second season.
- “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” launched F1 into America’s cultural zeitgeist, leading to sold-out races and record viewership.
Details: The company, which was co-founded in 2016 by Paul Martin and James Gay-Rees, is looking to bring on a minority investor to help fuel its next stage of growth, according to sources familiar with the matter.
- The company is projecting roughly $11 million in revenue this year, and it’s profitable, a source told Axios.
- The firm has expanded its portfolio to new sports series, including “Make or Break,” a surfing documentary on Apple TV+, and a new Netflix series on the Tour de France.
- Box to Box Films did not comment.
Be smart: The market is ripe for sports production companies, especially now that the Hollywood writers and actors strikes have put scripted programming on pause.
- Omaha Productions, the sports production firm founded by Peyton Manning, raised $10 million in May from Peter Chernin’s new content studio The North Road Company at a $400 million+ valuation.
- Boardwalk Pictures, the documentary production firm behind sports docuseries such as “Last Chance U” and “Race: Bubba Wallace” on Netflix, sold a minority stake to Shamrock Capital in February.
- Religion of Sports, the sports media production company co-founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and filmmaker Gotham Chopra, raised $50 million last June.
- SpringHill, the production company co-founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter and sold a minority stake valuing it at $725 million in 2021.
Even the NFL is trying to get in on the action. The league announced in 2022 it would partner with “Top Gun: Maverick” studio Skydance Media on a sports-related content venture.
- Most of the content will be produced through Skydance Sports, a sports documentary arm that produced Amazon Studios’ hit movie “Air.”
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