Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and Leone Film Group AnnounceTwo New Film and Series Adaptations from Wattpad
“The Locker Exchange” and “Love Me, Love Me” expand Leone’s existing partnership with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios
LOS ANGELES AND ROME - April 26, 2023 - Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, the fan-driven global entertainment and publishing arm for WEBTOON and Wattpad, and Leone Film Group, the leading Italian independent production and distribution company, today announced two new adaptations based on hit Wattpad webnovels. The Locker Exchange, a romantic mystery, based on the Wattpad webnovel by Ann Rae with over 26 million reads, will be adapted into an English and Italian-language film. Stefania S.’s 12 million-read webnovel Love Me, Love Me will be adapted as an Italian-language series by Lotus Production, a Leone Film Group company.
In The Locker Exchange, Brynn is assigned a new locker where she finds something peculiar: a note from a secret admirer. She’s firmly convinced that it’s Sterling, the most popular boy in school and her biggest crush. But when Sterling suddenly goes missing, Brynn teams up with Kyler, the school’s resident bad boy and Sterling’s best friend, to figure out what happened to him. At first, the two hate each other, but the deeper they get into their investigation, the closer they get. However, falling for Kyler comes with more danger and drama than she realizes.
Aron Levitz, David Madden and Lindsey Ramey will produce The Locker Exchange for Wattpad WEBTOON Studios alongside Raffaella Leone and Andrea Leone for Leone Film Group. Marco Borromei (Game of Love), Michela Straniero (Out of My League) and Alessandra Martellini (Don Matteo) are attached to write the project.
Love Me, Love Me follows sixteen-year-old June who becomes entangled in a love triangle with James, a boy as fascinating as he is dangerous, and his best friend William. However, June soon realizes that in her new life there are hidden truths that she never could have imagined, and nothing – and no one – is as it seems.
The series will be produced by Levitz, Madden and Sera Tabb for Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and Raffaella Leone and Andrea Leone for Leone Film Group. Writers for the series are Daniela delle Foglie (Summertime), Serena Tateo (Sbratz) and Veronica Galli (Tutta colpa di Freud).
Bego Robles from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios will oversee both projects.
After building global fandoms on the Wattpad platform Love Me, Love Me will be published in paperback on May 2, 2023 by Sperling & Kupfer’s Gruppo Mondadori in Italy. The novel was No.1 on Amazon Pre-order’s in Italy upon opening sales in April 2023. The Locker Exchange was published by Wattpad Books in 2022.
The Locker Exchange and Love Me, Love Me are the latest in a slate of upcoming webnovel adaptations from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and Leone Film Group. In 2022, the companies announced a partnership to develop and produce viral, fan-driven original fiction stories from the Wattpad platform for international distribution, starting with a film adaptation of Blair Holden’s Wattpad webnovel The Bad Boy’s Girl with 224 million reads.
“We are very excited to continue our collaboration with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and to be able to announce two more titles that we will develop together: The Locker Exchange and Love Me, Love Me,” said Andrea Leone, President and CEO of Leone Film Group. “These projects will enrich and reinforce this partnership, which is very strategic for us, with one of the leading social storytelling and digital comics platforms in the world. In this competitive scenario, it is very important to select the right content that will appeal to our target audience, and we are confident that with Wattpad WEBTOON Studios we are on the right way.”
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Leone Film Group, a company that deeply understands the power of engaging with international fandoms,” said Aron Levitz, President of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. “Both of these titles have had amazing success on the Wattpad platform and we know that fans will love how we are able to bring these stories to life on-screen for them.”
With passionate reading communities across Europe, Wattpad WEBTOON Studios has established partnerships with some of the biggest entertainment companies in the region, including Fremantle, Leone Films (Italy), and Mediawan (France).
Wattpad WEBTOON Studios has more than 100 projects in development or production worldwide. The studio’s recent hit film Perfect Addiction, adapted from Claudia Tan’s wildly popular Wattpad webnovel, was released internationally on Amazon Prime in March 2023 and is in the top ten of the most-watched movies on the platform this year, according to FlixPatrol. The company also produced the Netflix sensation A través de mi ventana (Through My Window), based on Ariana Godoy’s Wattpad smash hit of the same name. The sequel, A través del mar (Through My Window: Across the Sea) will stream on Netflix on June 23. Other high-profile upcoming US and international projects from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios include Rachel Smythe’s 1.2 billion-view WEBTOON sensation Lore Olympus with The Jim Henson Company; The QB Bad Boy and Me by Tay Marley with Creator+ and starring social media phenom Noah Beck; A.Rasen’s nightmare-filled WEBTOON hit Gremoryland with Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment; Beauty Newbie, an adaptation of the 1.4 billion-view WEBTOON My ID is Gangnam Beauty! with Thailand’s GMMTV; Spanish Wattpad hit Sigue Mi Voz, also written by Godoy; Perfectos Mentirosos (125 million reads on Wattpad) from Alex Mírez; Flor M. Salvador’s 93 million-read webnovel Boulevard; and Mala Influencia by author teensspirit with 42 million reads.