YouTube Red Originals Slate Includes Step Up Series

SANTA MONICA/LOS ANGELES: The film franchise Step Up, which grossed $650 million at the global box office, is getting a series spin-off on the YouTube Red subscription platform.

Lionsgate will produce the series for YouTube, with the producers of the original films, Adam Shankman, Jennifer Gibgot and Meredith Milton, on board as executive producers. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum, who starred in the original film, will also executive produce. The show focuses on dancers at a contemporary performing arts school. It is due to air next year.

“I’ve been a fan of the Step Up movies for years and always believed the films would translate into an awesome original series,” said Susanne Daniels, global head of original content at YouTube. “We know that dance is a hugely successful global category on YouTube, so I’m excited to have a series rooted in such an enormously popular genre on our platform.”

“Step Up is an incredible property with the global appeal to launch both a blockbuster film franchise and an exhilarating, high-energy series,” said Lionsgate Television Group’s chairman, Kevin Beggs. “After five exciting and successful movies, we’re proud to partner with YouTube Red, a major new force on the programming landscape, to adapt the films into an adrenaline-filled original drama series driven by its non-stop energy, spectacular dancing and A-list creative talent.”

Also in the works for YouTube Red are the scripted comedy Rhett & Link’s Buddy System; a documentary with YouTube comedy stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester; Vlogumentary from Morgan Spurlock, Maker Studios and Shay “ShayCarl” Butler; an animated comedy from 3BLACKDOT and its top YouTube creators SeaNanners, TheMrSark and VanossGaming; and a new educational series from Vsauce creator Michael Stevens.

The platform has given second-season renewals to Maker Studios’s Scare PewDiePie and Awesomeness.TV’s Foursome, and has slated a new Smosh movie.

YouTube Red is currently available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, with further international expansion eyed for this year.