Ricky Gervais's delight at deal

Netflix has bought the worldwide rights to David Brent: Life On The Road.

Ricky Gervais today revealed that the streaming giant will be showing The Office spin-off from next year.

The BBC-backed movie will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on August 19 this year, and there is also a distribution deal in place for Australia and New Zealand. Netflix will then have the rights for the rest of the world.

Gervais said he was delighted with the deal saying: 'I'd rather 20 million people see it than half a million people see it cinemas, do you know what I mean? Because I want to do tours off the back of it. So for me, it's great.'

He broke the news on SiriusXM's the Opie with Jim Norton Show today, saying: 'This is exciting news and this is top secret, so I'm going to say it now. Netflix has bought out the rest of the world again.

Netflix previously released Special Correspondents, in which he co-starred with Eric Bana as a radio reporting team who faked being in a South American war zone.

David Brent: Life On The Road is a mockumentary following the character's dreams of being a rock star.

Here is Gervais on SiriusXM:

And here is a trailer for the movie:

Netflix also today announced that it has acquired the film Handsome, written by novelist Andrea Seigel and Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin, who also directs and stars. He plays LA homicide detective Gene Handsome in what's described as a 'Columbo-style' mystery. Comic Eddie Peptone also has a role in the movie alongside Christine Woods, Natasha Lyonn and Amy Sedaris.

Published: 14 Jun 2016