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Kylian Mbappé Inks First Look Deal With Skydance Sports
International soccer star Kylian Mbappé and his production banner, Zebra Valley, have signed a multiyear first-look deal with Skydance Sports, the sports content division of Skydance Media.
The star of Paris Saint-Germain Ligue 1 club and France’s national soccer team will work with Skydance Sports to develop and produce a slate of cross-platform scripted and unscripted projects that touch the worlds of sports, culture and identity. As part of the deal, Los Angeles-based Zebra Valley is expected to expand its output through all Skydance Media divisions to tell sports and non-sports stories alike. Zebra Valley was launched by Mbappé and business partner Kacy Grine in 2022.
“Kylian is a rare, transcendent football talent. It’s so exciting that he and the Zebra Valley team are now bringing that same level of commitment to engaging and inspiring audiences around the world, which is why we are so incredibly proud to have this team represent the first athlete-driven partnership signed by Skydance Sports,” Jesse Sisgold, president and COO of Skydance Media, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Zebra Valley, which along with Mbappé is represented by WME Sports, focuses on sports, music, art, technology, gaming, consumer products that aim to help young people find their voice. “I’m thrilled to be in partnership with Jesse, Jon and the Skydance team and look forward to making diverse and multicultural content that highlights people and stories from around the world,” said Mbappé in his own statement as he cited Jon Weinbach, president of Skydance Sports.
Mbappé, with his international reach and global brand, was born in Paris in 1998 and as a soccer prodigy at the age of 17 became a Ligue 1 champion in 2017 with PSG. A year later, Mbappé became the second teenager after Pelé to score in a World Cup Final, and scored four goals in that tournament.
Last year, Skydance launched a sports division as a studio for leagues, teams, elite athletes and A-List Hollywood talent to produce premium, sports-related entertainment. The Skydance Sports slate includes Prime Video’s Good Neighbors, a documentary series about the rivalry between the U.S. and Mexican national soccer teams.
The studio is also at work on an untitled film about the birth of the Air Jordan brand, to star Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Affleck will also direct for Prime Video.
Skydance Sports also has strategic partnerships with Meadowlark Media and Gotham Chopra’s Religion of Sports.