B-Reel Films, the Swedish banner behind “Midsommar,” is set to produce a thriller series based on Jonas Bonnier’s true crime novel “The Helicopter Heist,” and has attached Ronnie Sandahl (“Borg vs McEnroe”) as creator and writer.
Boasting offices in Stockholm and Los Angeles, B-Reel has secured the rights to the popular novel from Swedish literary agency Salomonsson, and is adapting it into an eight-episode, character-driven suspense series. Rights to the novel were previously acquired by Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories banner in 2016, where it was being developed as a feature, but the project fell through.
The plot is based on the true story of four young Swedes who orchestrated the one of the most spectacular daylight heists of all time in 2009 and used a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter to land on the roof of a G4S cash service depot building in in Stockholm. They stole more than $4 million in cash.
“For a long time I’ve been dreaming about writing the ultimate heist story. To me, this is the one: a feverish and playful Icarus tale about winning, or losing, it all,” said Sandahl.
Sandahl’s adaptation of the novel will include exclusive new material and details which will put the heist in a new perspective.
B-Reel has fielded a successful productions ranging from indie hit “Midsommar” starring Florence Pugh, to “I Am Greta,” “Thunder In My Heart,” “The Congregation” and “I Am Zlatan.”
Johannes Åhlund, who recently produced “The Congregation,” another gritty series based on Bonnier’s true crime novels, will produce “The Helicopter Heist” series.
“We have high ambitions with this and it will need a substantial budget but we can also see that this story and the creative team we are starting to build means it has a great potential to reach audiences worldwide,” said Åhlund, who added that B-Reel had been talking with Sandahl for years to find the right project.
The show will be executive produced by Ulf Synnerholm and Fredrik Heinig at B-Reel films. “We have worked systematically focusing on creativity and being a preferred partner for the best Scandinavian talent, and that has allowed us to follow up on the solid productions delivered in 2021 with a really strong slate of new projects coming up,” said Heinig.
Synnerholm said the company’s “ambition with ‘The Helicopter Heist’ and the collaboration with Ronnie Sandahl is to create something at the highest international level to make an impact across the world of television.”