iQIYI acquires Clooney’s Catch-22 for China
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 20 February 2019

Digital entertainment service iQIYI has obtained the rights in China to stream Catch-22, a series directed and executive produced by George Clooney.

The Paramount Pictures series is expected to air in China immediately after its US premiere on Hulu later this year.

Adapted from Joseph Heller's iconic novel, Catch-22 tells the darkly comic story of Yossarian, a US Air Force pilot during WWII and his struggle with the absurdity of war and bureaucracy.

Clooney, who co-stars in the series, is joined by actors Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie and Giancarlo Giannini.

“iQIYI is proud to have exclusive rights to bring George Clooney's seminal limited series 'Catch-22' to the Chinese market,” said Michael Chen, vice president, iQIYI.

“As China’s largest streaming platform, iQIYI is increasingly becoming recognised as the premium option for introducing the highest quality entertainment content to Chinese entertainment fans.”

Jonathan Greenberg, senior vice president, regional sales, Asia Pacific for Paramount said: “We are delighted to be working with iQIYI to bring George Clooney's highly anticipated 'Catch-22' to audiences across China.

“This compelling limited series is exactly the kind of high-quality, premium entertainment that iQIYI users have come to expect and we look forward to delivering more world-class programming in the future.”

Catch-22 will be adapted as a six-episode, hour-long limited drama series from Paramount Television, Anonymous Content, George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Written by Luke Davies (Lion) and David Michôd (Animal Kingdom), Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) serves as producer and will direct two episodes. Clooney and Heslov will also each direct two episodes.