News

France-headquartered global media giant Canal+ saw its annual revenue grow 3.6% in 2024 to €6.45bn with 26.9 million subscribers in 52 countries across three continents as the group continues its global expansion.

Ebita was also up for the year by 5.4% to€503m, according to the group’s annual results announced today (March 4).

It is the company’s first full-year results since listing on the London stock exchange (Lse) in December. Despite the solid financial picture, however, the company’s market value has declined sharply since the Lse listing, from £2.9bn initially to around £1.75bn currently.

In an interview with the Financial Times today, CEO...

The legendary Gauls are back! Astérix & Obélix: The Big Fight, a brand-new animated series, is coming to Netflix on April 30. Created by Alain Chabat, the writer and director behind the 2002 hit Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cleopatra, this new adventure brings the classic comic book heroes to life in a fresh and exciting way.

The story takes place in 50 BC, when the Roman Empire has conquered almost all of Gaul. However, one small village still resists, thanks to a powerful magic potion that gives its warriors incredible strength. But trouble arises when the village druid, who makes the potion, loses his memory. Without it, the villagers must find a way to stand up to the mighty Romans on their own.

The show is inspired by The Battle of the Chieftains (Le Combat des Chefs), the seventh book in the beloved Astérix comic series created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

“The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely! One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders …”

Thus begins the tale of Astérix and Obélix, beloved fixtures of the French comic book franchise created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in 1959. Since that time, the two Gaul warrors who take on the Romans with the help of a magic potion brewed by their druid have appeared in 40 volumes translated into more than 120 languages, and adapted into 15 films, including the 2023 Netflix live action movie Astérix and Obélix: The Middle Kingdom.

Now, the duo is back in Astérix and Obélix: The Big Fight, a new French-language animated series created by Alain Chabat, writer and director of the 2002 live-action hit Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. Chabat will also direct, along with Fabrice Joubert; he co-wrote the...

Netflix just debuted their massive TV series plans for 2025, including confirmed release dates for some of their hit shows including Squid Game season 3, Ginny & Georgia season 3, and more.

The streamer also confirmed that Emily in Paris, The Diplomat, Wednesday, Stranger Things, The Witcher, My Life with the Walter Boys, and moreamong other titles, will be released this year.

We’ve gathered up the full list of confirmed release dates so far for you to see here.

Keep reading to find out more…

Scroll down to see the release dates for all of Netflix’s TV shows being released in 2025, so far…

February

Apple Cider Vinegar – February 6

Sweet Magnolias S4 – February 6

Surviving Black Hawk Down – February 10

Cobra Kai S6 (Part 3) – February 13

Love is Blind S8 – February 14

American Murder: Gabby Petito – February 17

Court of Gold – February 18

Zero Day – February 20

The SAG Awards – February 23

Full Swing S3 – February 25

Running Point – February 27

March

With Love,...

Netflix has quite a large slate of new and returning series coming in 2025. The slate was previewed Wednesday at the streamer’s annual Next on Netflix event in Los Angeles, which was also streamed across the globe.

Some of the most anticipated projects include Stranger Things 5 and Wednesday Season 2, neither of which have premiere dates just yet. So far, Netflix has revealed a huge slate for February, as well as a smattering of series that are expected through August, but a large portion of the series the streamer says we’ll see this year haven’t been confirmed for a specific date yet.

Of the dates that were revealed, perhaps the biggest surprise is that the third and final season of Squid Game is coming sooner than audiences might have anticipated, premiering on June 27. June will also bring another season of Ginny & Georgia.

The year will also see another...

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the most acclaimed games of all time, having garnered hundreds of awards and widespread love from fans and critics alike. There are no shortage of reasons why; The Witcher 3 is simply a masterpiece of a video game. But ask anyone who's played it about their favorite way to kill time in the game, and it you're likely to get one answer: Gwent, the card game played across the Continent. Gwent is so addictive and fun that developer CD Projekt Red even made a standalone Gwent video game where players could compete with their favorite decks to earn renown and climb the ranks.

But I think the thing fans have most wanted are physical Gwent cards so that they could actually play with their friends and loved ones on game night. And now, at long last, the announcement has come: Gwent is getting a widespread physical release!

Laurent Tirard, the French screenwriter and director whose best-known works included adaptations of René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Little Nicholas and Nicolas on Holiday, has died after a long illness. He was 57.

Tirard was a well-liked figure in the French film industry who made 15 features over the course of two decades.

They also included Molière (2007), starring Romain Duris as the historic playwright; Astérix & Obélix: God Save Britannia (2012) with Catherine Deneuve, Fabrice Luchini and Guillaume Gallienne; romantic comedy Up For Love with Jean Dujardin and Virginie Efira, and costume drama Return Of A Hero (2018), also starring Oscar-winner Dujardin.

He also directed early episodes of hit show Call My Agent!.

Tirard’s films rarely debuted at film festivals but regularly achieved healthy box office results at home and sold well internationally too.

“He had a talent for capturing and retelling human stories with a lot of humor and sensibility,” PR agency...

Alain Delon, an icon of European cinema, has passed away.

The actor died peacefully at his home in Douchy, France, according to his children in a statement to Afp, via Business Insider.

“Alain Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as (his dog) Loubo, are deeply saddened to announce the passing of their father,” the statement said.

Keep reading to find out more…

“He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family,” the statement continues.

Alain starred in major films of the ’60s and 70′s and beyond, including Le Samouraï, Rocco and His Brothers, and The Leopard. His biggest box office hit came when he played Julius Cesar in the 2008 comic book adaptation Asterix at the Olympic Games, which grossed more than $130 million worldwide.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the late star as a “French monument.”

“Alain Delon has played legendary roles and made the world dream,...

Alain Delon, the French actor who became a screen icon in Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai, has died aged 88.

Delon died “peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family”, according to a statement released to the Afp news agency by his family.

As well as his famous role as professional hitman Jef Costello in Le Samourai, Delon collaborated with Melville in 1970 heist The Red Circle and 1975 crime thriller Flic Story.

Delon’s career began after he was spotted at Cannes Film Festival in 1957 by US talent agent Henry Willson, recruiting on behalf of David O. Selznick.

The Annecy Animation Festival is a special place where the majority of attendees are animation students and young folks just getting their start in the industry. There is a palpable excitement and genuine desire to know how these projects are made that is simply not present at any other festival or convention. But, much like Comic-Con, the studio presence is increasing with every year and trying to overwhelm attendees' attention with flashy titles, known IP, and big name talent. Sometimes it works great, though, like in 2022 when Netflix gave a bunch of auteurs the space to realize their passion projects and showcased movies such as "Wendell & Wild" and Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio."

This year, Netflix returned to Annecy with another big presentation showcasing some of its upcoming titles, including Zack Snyder's animated show "Twilight of the Gods" and the many other titles it has coming out in the next year or so.

Mediawan Kids & Family is unveiling a raft of prestige animated feature projects at the Annecy Film Festival, including “Meow-woof” by Louis Clichy (“Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion”) and “Twisted” by Lino Disalvo (“Playmobil”).

Emmanuel Jacomet, who worked for over a decade alongside Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam on high profile IP’s such as “The Little Prince,” “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Playmobil,” took over the film division of Mediawan Kids & Family under a year ago with the ambition to develop a mix of mainstream franchise-based projects and auteur-driven 2D titles.

The executive, who lived in Los Angeles for a number of years, said also he aims at bringing together European and American talent and sensibilities on projects that are personal, yet boast an international appeal. Many of the filmmakers in business with the banner have a dual culture. Clichy, for instance, is French but previously worked for Pixar...

Studiocanal and Editions Albert René have signed an exclusive development agreement for the fifth live action movie inspired by the adventures of French comic strip hero Asterix.

The deal comes as French publishing house Éditions Albert René marks the 65th anniversary of the creation of the plucky Gaul warrior Asterix and his sidekick Obelix by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in 1959.

Since then, 400 million Asterix books in 130 languages and dialects have sold worldwide, with 40 albums of Asterix adventures published since 1961.

The Asterix & Obelix comic books are embedded in French culture and have inspired five live-action films to date: Claude Zidi’s Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar (1999), Alain Chabat’s Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann’s Asterix At The Olympic Games (2008), Laurent Tirard’s Asterix & Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012) and Guillaume Canet’s Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (2023).

They have had mixed fortunes...

Studiocanal and Editions Albert René have signed an exclusive development agreement for the sixth live-action film of the adventures of beloved French comic book character Asterix.

Created in 1959 by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2024. The series follows the adventures of Asterix and Obelix and their friends who live in a small village in Gaul, the only outpost of resistance against Julius Caesar’s mighty Roman empire. Since the characters were launched, they have become a cultural phenomenon, both in France and internationally.

Some 400 million Asterix books in 130 languages and dialects have been sold. Since 1961, 40 albums of Asterix adventures have been published and five live-action films have been produced.

The Asterix live-action films are “Asterix and Obelix take on Caesar” (1999), “Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra” (2002), “Asterix at the Olympic Games” (2008) “Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia” (2012) and Asterix and Obelix : The Middle Kingdom...

Historically, the relationship between Hollywood and European comic books has been fraught with mutual distrust and cultural dissonance. Not to disparage Steven Spielberg — one of our national treasures — but his 2011 adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin was a bit of a disaster. And when La Femme Nikita director Luc Besson fulfilled a childhood fantasy in 2017 by bankrolling Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets out of his own pocket, the most expensive independent movie ever made landed with the thud of a global box office bomb.

But there’s hope on the horizon. European comic books — specifically, the Franco-Belgian school spearheaded by the Tintin character and his creator Hergé — are both a multimillion Euro industry and a sumptuous art form with dozens of successful franchises waiting to be developed. N

ow that the offerings of Marvel and DC are beginning to feel a tad fatigued, to say the least,...

The Barbenheimer phenomenon and Spider-Man helped boost European cinemagoing and box office in 2023.

“2023 proved to be a successful year for European cinemas thanks to smash-hit international titles including Barbie, Oppenheimer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Wonka, as well as a wide range of highly popular national releases,” the International Union of Cinemas (Unic) said on Wednesday, based on preliminary estimates.

With figures for several territories still to be confirmed, Unic estimated that European admissions increased by 21 percent last year and that total box office for the year reached around €7.1 billion ($7.6 billion), a gain of 24 percent in Europe and 25 percent in the European Union compared with 2022. The latter would see the figure for the year come in just 8 percent below the pre-pandemic results for the 2017-2019 period.

Unic, which represents European cinema operators and trade associations in 39 territories, said...

French exhibitors can start 2024 with renewed confidence as new figures released by the National Cinema Center (Cnc) show that audiences are heading back to the big screen.

The Cnc has recorded 181 million theater admissions for 2023, an 18.9 percent jump compared with 2022. However, the national film body states that the figure remains around 13.1% behind the average admissions in the pre-Covid years between 2017 and 2019. 2023 was the first year post-Covid with no health restrictions on cinemas in France.

U.S. films topped the French admissions charts in 2023, with Universal’s The Super Mario Brothers leading the way with 7.15 million admissions, followed by Wbd’s cultural hit Barbie with 5.80 million and Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water with 5.18 million. The only local title to sneak into the top five was Guillaume Canet’s Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, the latest in the comedy franchise. The film clocked 4.48 million in admissions. Christopher Nolan’s...

The episode of Revisited covering Hellboy II: The Golden Army was Written by Emilie Black, Edited by Ric Solomon, Narrated by Niki Minter, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Following the beloved Hellboy adaptation that was released in 2004 by Guillermo Del Toro, fans wanted more. As reviewed on a previous video, that one is excellent, so it was not surprising when the sequel was announced. Thus, in 2008, Hellboy II: The Golden Army (watch it Here) was released, and it ruled!

Let’s start with the rating here and it’s a complicated one for me. It’s actually hard to rate it because my reviewer brain, the part of me that is highly cinematically educated wants to give it an eight out of ten, which isn’t bad, but my heart wants to say it can’t be rated on a normal scale.

The French animation film is the second in a franchise sold internationally by Snd.

Viva Kids has picked up North American rights to French family animation hit The Jungle Bunch - World Tour from France’s Snd, the feature film arm of broadcasting group M6, and will release the film in theatres in the US in January 2024.

France’s Tat Productions produced the 3D film (titled Les As de la Jungle 2 - Operation Tour du Monde in French) directed by Laurent Bru, Yannick Moulin and Benoît Somville and written by David Alaux, Eric Tosti and Jean-François Tosti.

It is the...

The Western genre and animation have rarely intersected, with few feature films attempting to bring it to the animated form. Animated films that blend the Western genre with another genre, such as comedy or mystery, have been more common than fully embracing the spirit of the Western. Some standout animated Western films include "Scooby Doo: Shaggy's Showdown," "Lucky Luke: Ballad of The Daltons," and "Rango," which demonstrate a fun blend of Western themes with mystery, slapstick comedy, and introspection, respectively.

Some truly great films have come out of the rare intersection of animation and the Western genre. Despite the Western genre being one of the oldest in cinema, a shockingly small number of feature films have attempted to bring it to the animated form. It may be that the Western simply came around too early for such a union to be viable. There are plenty of examples of animated shorts which embrace a Western setting,...

A theatrical release is plotted for early 2024.

Signature Entertainment has picked up UK and Ireland rights to family animation The Jungle Bunch World Tour from Snd, the feature film arm of France’s M6 broadcasting group.

A theatrical release is plotted for early 2024.

The sequel to 2017’s The Jungle Bunch – The 3D Movie is directed by Laurent Bru, Yannick Moulin and Benoît Somville from a script written by David Alaux, Eric Tosti and Jean-François Tosti. Toulouse-based Tat Productions produces.

When a mysterious super-villain covers the jungle with a toxic pink foam that explodes on contact with water, the Jungle Bunch is called to the rescue.

Dead Romans is a historical fiction comic set during the height of the Roman Empire's power, written by Fred Kennedy with art by Nick Marinkovich. The story revolves around Arminius, a Germanic prince seeking revenge on the Roman Empire for its atrocities. The comic explores themes of love, duty, and the consequences of personal and political choices.

Dead Romans is set at the height of the Roman Empire's power as it conquered lands across the world. The comic focuses on Arminius, a Germanic prince who has sworn revenge on the Roman Empire for butchering his people. Arminius will gather the Germania tribes to ambush his own battalion, hoping to take back the throne for himself and his love, Honoria, who never asked to be queen.

Dead Romans is written by Fred Kennedy with art by Nick Marinkovich. The first five issues of Dead Romans are available now, and Dead...

Kenneth Branagh's 2011 film "Thor" is one of the more unusually situated blockbusters in recent memory. It was the fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but only the second after Disney's purchase of Marvel Comics in late 2009. It was also only the second MCU film after Disney had announced that it would be making a series of superhero movies that would culminate in a massive Avengers crossover event, a novelty at the time. As such, a film made by a notably iconoclastic and theatrical director became a commercial experiment, a test to see if audiences would see a really weird-ass movie about extraterrestrial deities and unusual, ineffable other realms, provided it linked to a film they wanted to see in the future.

As a preview for things to come, or perhaps the beginning part of a larger puzzle, "Thor" functions well enough. As a standalone picture, it's odd, cheap-looking,...

Guillaume Canet’s 2023 adventure comedy Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom is a movie that feels like a breath of fresh air amidst all the tension, drama, and sadness that the film industry has been releasing of late. Based on the world-famous Asterix comics by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the latest live-action movie stars some of the biggest names in French cinema, including Guillaume Canet, who plays Asterix; Vincent Cassel as Julius Caesar; and Marion Cotillard as Queen Cleopatra, among others. With an exciting adventure and an entertaining group of people, our heroes Asterix and Obelix go through a series of emotions on this journey as they try to save the day. Read on to learn more about this wholesome and light-hearted movie that’ll surely keep you entertained.

Spoilers Ahead

The Princess

It’s been a while since we, the audience, got to see a proper comedy movie...

This Unicorn: Warriors Eternal review contains no spoilers.

“Who are you?”

Genndy Tartakovsky is one of the most exciting storytellers in animation who’s responsible for totemic titles like Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Primal. Tartakovsky has a passion and respect for animation that’s palpable in his creations. Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is Tartakovsky at his most unleashed and it’s like he’s directed an animated version of Eternals or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with a hint of Tintin and 1930s Disney thrown in for good measure. Set in an alternate version of 1890s London, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal tells a remarkable sci-fi/fantasy adventure that pulls from all sorts of international animation influences, but at its core is really a story about identity, family, and the unbearable weight of destiny.

Tartakovsky’s work always searches for the emotional truths behind its grandiose action stereotypes and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal...

A more valid criterion will be to see how its influence survives today, or say, how at home we would be if we are somehow sent back to one of these civilisations?

On both these standards, ancient Rome, say in the late Republican period (1st century Bce), could well qualify.

In Rome of this period, you would find yourself in a large sprawling city, where plush neighbourhoods with elegant villas are interspersed with more crowded areas full of multi-storey buildings, streets teem with people from all over the known world, there are markets and various services, common people eagerly follow and gossip over the foibles of the rich and famous, are swayed by sops and entertainment spectacles, stay keenly involved in governance which, however, is largely a preserve of professional politicians with issues over public works, food subsidies, corruption et al predominating.

Unlike most other ancient civilisations across Europe, Asia,...

’Avatar: The Way Of Water’ is now the biggest film of all time in France.

France’s box office is bounding back steadily with a nearly 40% jump in February year-on-year ticket sales, driven by Disney’s Avatar: The Way Of Water, Pathe’s Asterix And Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and Studiocanal’s Alibi.com 2. But admissions are still below the pre-pandemic 2017-19 average according to figures released by the Cnc.

Even as James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water broke records and the local-language blockbusters started strong, February’s ticket sales of 18.2m remain 21.3% below the 2017-2019 average.

Guillaume Canet...

French pay-tv giant Canal+ went on the offensive at a special event in Paris on Wednesday, promoting its historic role as the biggest supporter of local and international cinema in France and laying out its past track record and future plans.

The roadshow-style conference was part of an operation laying the ground for the launch of a new high-end, cinema-focused channel Canal+ Box Office which was teased at the end of the event.

“2023 will be the most beautiful year for cinema in the history of Canal+. We’ve never held an event like this before devoted only to cinema, but we felt the need to talk about this,” declared Canal+ Group Chairman and CEO Maxime Saada.

The exec said the banner year was due to three factors, topped by the agreement it signed with the French cinema guilds in early 2022, pledging to invest at least €200M (213M) annually in cinema over five years.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet has revealed he is feeling the pressure ahead of the release next week of his ambitious 70M production Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom.

Canet directs and stars in the film as iconic plucky Gaul Asterix in an all-star ensemble cast also featuring Gilles Lellouche as Obelix, Vincent Cassel as Julius Caesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović as Caesar’s bodyguard Antivirus.

The production is Canet’s eighth feature after 2006 breakout Tell No One, 2010 hit Little White Lies, Brooklyn-set, English-language debut Blood Ties and the smaller more personal pandemic-shot film Lui.

Long-time collaborator Alain Attal at Trésor Films produces with Pathé and Yohan Baiada at Les Enfants Terribles.

Pathé will launch Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom on 1,200 screens on February 1. Local media is hailing the release as the biggest film event of early 2023.

Canet has said he...

Pathé, which operates France’s leading cinema circuit, is planning to enter the Paris stock exchange in 2024, Variety has confirmed. The company’s president, Jérôme Seydoux, revealed the group’s long-gestated listing project in an interview with the French publication Les Echos.

Seydoux said the company suffered a loss of approximately €100 million during the financial years 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the fact that theaters in France were shut down for a total of 300 days during the pandemic. While it ruffled feathers by selling “Coda” to Apple at Sundance in 2021 in a splashy 25 million deal, the company was one of the rare French studios which maintained its release plans for major local productions during the health crisis, for instance Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre Dame on Fire.”

Entering the Paris stock exchange should allow Pathé to pursue its ambitious plans to...

French cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé, best known for the ‘Le Petit Nicolas’ (‘Little Nicholas’) children’s books, has died at the age of 89.

The mischievous schoolboy who is constantly getting into scrapes in and out of school but somehow always comes out on top was inspired by Sempé’s own childhood memories.

Sempé’s collaborations on the series with late Asterix co-creator René Goscinny sold millions of copies worldwide and have been adapted to the big screen on numerous occasions, especially in France.

The latest production inspired by the works, Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre’s Little Nicholas – Happy as Can Be won the top prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.

Sempé’s wife Martine Gossieaux Sempé told French news agency Agence France Press that her husband died on August 11.

Born in 1932 in the town of Pessac just outside of Bordeaux, Sempé left formal education at the...

Pathé may be one of France’s oldest film groups, but it is young at heart. The only French film company that is still fully involved in exhibition, production, distribution and sales, Pathé has been confronting the challenges wrought by the pandemic and the arrival of streamers with bold steps and ambitious new projects. During the Cannes Film Festival, the company will receive Variety’s Intl. Achievement in Film Award.

In the past two years, the family-owned film group, which is led by the visionary businessman Jérôme Seydoux, saw its “Coda” win three Oscars for family drama; greenlit the country’s biggest-budgeted movies in recent history, “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” (75 million) and the two-part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece, “The Three Musketeers — D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers — Milady” (75 million); it ventured into TV series; and forged bonds with streaming services, including Netflix and Apple TV+.

“When theaters were shut down,...

Variety will honor French entertainment giant Pathé with its Intl. Achievement in Film Award on May 20 at the Cannes Film Festival.

Pathé – which is the only French film group still fully involved in exhibition, production, distribution and sales – is family-owned and run by Jérôme Seydoux. Earlier this year, “Coda,” the remake of the company’s “La Famille Bélier,” took three Oscars, including for best picture.

In the past two years, the company has greenlit big budget features “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” and the two-part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece, “The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady.”

Pathé is venturing into television production and signed pacts with Netflix and Apple TV+.

During the pandemic, Pathé forged ahead with films for theatrical release, and Seydoux, who has been involved in greenlighting big-budget epics, wants to maintain the company’s high standards whether in film or TV.

Pathé...

Top European industry players including senior executives from Pathé Films, Mikros, Wild Bunch Distribution and Warner Bros. have joined forces to launch a one-stop-shop production banner called N9ne Studio. The outfit plans to invest over €30 million (31 million) over the next five years to fully finance content development.

The pan-European hub is being launched in association with Ikav Group, a thriving asset management company chaired by Constantin von Wasserschleben and headquartered in Germany with offices in Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the U.K., the U.S. and France. Advised by Cinecapital, Schubert Collin, Rbb and Taylor Wessing, N9ne Studio will focus on the development and co-production of films and TV series.

The company is being created by Gilles Gaillard, the co-founder of Mikros Animation who collaborated on

“Sponge Bob” and ”Asterix;” the financiers Stéphane Marchi and Terry Keeley, producers Vincent

Roget, the former bosses of Pathé Films Romain Le Grand...

The franchise revolves around a group of misfit jungle animals on a mission to save the animal kingdom.

French sales company Snd has acquired worldwide rights to feature animation The Jungle Bunch – World Tour, the sequel to 2017 hit The Jungle Bunch - The 3D Movie.

It is the latest spin-off from the popular children’s animated show about a group of misfit animals with a mission to protect the animal kingdom, created by French animation company Tat Productions.

In the new instalment, a mysterious supervillain covers the jungle in a toxic pink foam that explodes on contact with water. The...

Alain Guiraudie’s “Nobody’s Hero,” which opened the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, is lighter than his last two films, the critically adored “Stranger By the Lake” (a Hitchcockian tale of murder and cruising) and its less loved follow-up, “Staying Vertical.” But one thing it shares with them is its abundance of naked flesh and candid sex.

The wry opening scene introduces Médéric (Jean Charles Clichet), an unattached thirtysomething who lives in Clermont-Ferrand in central France. The gray, rainy town is presented as being resolutely ordinary, and so is Médéric, a freelance computer programmer who is always either sucking on his e-cigarette or jogging up and down the hilly streets in unflattering running gear. He isn’t wholly conventional, though. After a moment’s hesitation, he marches up to a fiftysomething prostitute (Noémie Lvovsky) and announces that he wants to have coffee with her. True, he wants to have sex with her,...

Recognizing that international productions would often shoot a handful of sequences in France before moving post-production responsibilities abroad, the French government passed a series of reforms to the country’s tax rebate scheme in early 2020 meant to spur on and encourage foreign investment.

Since April 2020, France’s Tax Rebate for International Production (Trip) scheme now offers a 40% rebate on all eligible expenses – including for live action spends that are not VFX related – for international projects whose VFX expenses surpass €2 million ($2.27 million) spent on local soil.

The recent addition marks a 10% increase on the longstanding 30% rebate. In order to qualify, a live-action production must shoot (at minimum) five days in France while partnering with a local production service company to handle digital processing and rendering for any and all onscreen elements.

“The goal is to develop the French VFX sector,” explains Mathieu Ripka, who heads the Cnc’s France Film Commission.

Federation Entertainment is set to co-develop and co-produce an adventure comedy TV series adapted from the bestselling Lucky Luke comics franchise with popular French actor Michael Youn attached.

The company has teamed with French banner Un pour Tous Productions to acquire the audiovisual adaptation rights from Luke Comics, which revolves around a gunslinger in the American Wild West.

Created by the Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946, the Lucky Luke collection comprises 46 graphic novels which sold 300 millions units around the world. Morris collaborated for two decades with French writer René Goscinny (“Asterix & Obelix”) on Lucky Luke.

The untitled series, which is being co-developed by Federation and Un pour Tous Productions, will feature all the colorful characters of Lucky Luke, including Les Dalton, Calamity Jane, Pat Poker and Rantanplan. Youn is on board as co-creator, artistic producer and director of the series.

“As a big fan of the comics, I’m very excited...

Directed by and starring Guillaume Canet, the indomitable Gauls' new adventure features an all-star cast including Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and Zlatan Ibrahimović. “The year is 50 BC; Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans... Well, not entirely! Because one small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders, and will do so forever.” The famous introductory spiel from the comic-book adventures of The Adventures of Asterix, created by duo René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, which have sold more than 325 million copies all over the world, will once again emanate from the big screen in Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom by Guillaume Canet, which will kick off principal photography on Monday 12 April. This new opus (which boasts a budget of €60 million) will be the fifth live-action feature inspired by the comic-book series, following Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (15.9 million admissions worldwide,...

Pathe is relocating Guillaume Canet’s live-action movie “Asterix & Obelix” to France, instead of China where it was initially planned to shoot last year, and couldn’t do so due to the pandemic. Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined the cast.

Now titled “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom,” the movie is budgeted at 60 million Euros and marks the next installment of the blockbuster French comic book franchise. The pic is being produced by the French banners Les Enfants Terribles and Tresor Films, with Pathe co-producing and handling French distribution rights and international sales.

Pathe has already enlisted a flurry of buyers, including Netflix for several undisclosed territories, Leonine in Germany, Unicorn for CSI and Baltics, Blitz for ex Yugoslavia, Kinoswiat for Poland, and Rosebud 21 for Greece. Pathe will distribute in France and Switzerland.

The shoot will start April 12 with a stellar cast. Alongside Ibrahimovic, the cast includes Marion Cotillard,...

Netflix has partnered with Hachette’s Les Editions Albert René and playwright Alain Chabat to create the first-ever animated limited series based on the iconic French comic book The Adventures of Asterix.

The 3D animated series will be made in France and streamed on Netflix around the world in 2023. Chabat, who wrote and directed 2002’s Mission Cléopâtre, will serve as showrunner.

Mission Cléopâtre was the most successful of Asterix’s numerous screen appearances and the third highest-grossing feature film in French history, according to Dominique Bazay, Netflix’s director of original animation.

Each of Asterix’s 38 volumes features the pugnacious warrior and his irreverent village companions keeping a tiny corner of ancient Gaul free from bumbling Roman invaders.

The Netflix series will be based on Asterix and the Big Fight, where the Romans, after being constantly embarrassed by Asterix and his village cohorts, organize a brawl between rival Gaulish chiefs...

Dimitri Rassam is joining forces with Pathé on a €60 million ($73 million) two-part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ is classic French masterpiece “The Three Musketeers.” The star-studded cast includes François Civil, Eva Green and Vincent Cassel as D’Artagnan, Milady and Athos.

The two sprawling feature films, titled “The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady,” will be directed by Martin Bourboulon, who recently helmed “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey. Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière (“Le Prenom”) wrote the script of both films based on Dumas’ classic.

Now in pre-production, the pair of films will shoot simultaneously at the end of this summer in France. Germany’s Constantin Film and Spain’s DeAPlaneta have come on board to co-produce and have already acquired rights for Germany and Spain.

This marks the most ambitious film project announced in France, if not in Europe (excluding the U.K.

Asterix is in mourning.

Albert Uderzo, the artist who co-created France’s most celebrated cartoon character, Asterix, with the writer René Goscinny, has died at 92.

“Albert Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly, after a heart attack that was not linked to the coronavirus. He had been extremely tired for the past several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told Agence France-Presse news agency on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Often called “the Disney of France,” the artist’s comic work was translated into over 100 languages and sold over 370 million copies worldwide.

In addition to six decades of...

Albert Uderzo, the celebrated French illustrator and writer who created the beloved “Asterix” franchise with René Goscinny more than 60 years ago, has died. He was 92. Uderzo’s family told the French newswire Afp that he died in his sleep of a heart attack at his home in Neuilly, near Paris.

Created in 1959, the “Asterix” comic strip series comprises 38 volumes that have been translated into more than 100 languages and sold around the world.

It has also inspired several TV series and some of France’s highest-budget and most successful live-action movies, notably Alain Chabat’s 2002 film “Asterix and Obelix: Meet Cleopatra.” A new movie, “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road,” set to be directed by Guillaume Canet, is currently being co-developed by Pathé and will be partly set in China. Asterix is also the mascot of the French amusement park Parc Astérix which is located in the outskirts of Paris.

“Asterix” follows...

Albert Uderzo, the famed French comic book artist, has died at the age of 92.

French wire Afp reported that Uderzo had a heart attack and his death was not coronavirus related.

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“Albert Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly, after a heart attack that was not linked to the coronavirus. He had been extremely tired for the past several weeks,” his son-in-law Bernard de Choisy told the agency.

The illustrator created the Asterix comic book series with René Goscinny after they met in 1951. Eight years later, the duo became editor (Goscinny) and artistic director (Uderzo) of the French magazine Pilote, and it was in those pages that they first introduced Asterix,...

Albert Uderzo, the French comic book artist and scriptwriter best known for his work on Astérix, has died. He was 92. 

French news agency Afp on Tuesday quoted his son-in-law as saying: "He died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for several weeks."

The son of Italian immigrants had retired from drawing in late 2011.

Astérix, which has a cult following, particularly in Europe, has also become a major film franchise, both in animated and live-action form. The property has spawned ...

After delivering two of the highest-grossing French films of last year, Alain Attal’s Paris-based production company Tresor Films is kicking off 2020 with its most ambitious project yet, Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Silk Road.”

Co-produced and financed by Jerome Seydoux’s Pathé, “Asterix & Obelix” is budgeted at $72.4 million, an exceptionally high budget by French standards. Attal, who is also producing the film with the banner Les Enfants Terribles, said the price tag was on a par with previous instalments of “Asterix,” and reflected the scope of the film and commercial potential of the comicbook franchise.

“It’s a costume film set 2,000 years ago, so we’ll be building a village, filming gigantic battles and that will require plenty of extras, and we’ll also need a lot of visual effects and of course a high-profile cast with some cameos,” said Attal. The most successful opus, “Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra,...

The lack of a blockbuster English-language film from Luc Besson has been cited as a cause.

French cinema generated 40.5m admissions internationally for overall box office receipts of $272.5m (€244.4m), according to provisional figures released by French cinema export agency Unifrance on Thursday.

The figure of 40.5m is in line with last year’s provisional figure of 40m but down 7% on the definitive 2018 figure of 43.7m admissions, which is traditionally published in October. The 2018 performance in turn represented a 50% drop on 2017 when international admissions stood at 82.6m.

The final outcome for 2019 remains to be seen but it is expected to...

The lack of a blockbuster English-language film from Luc Besson has been cited as a cause.

French cinema generated 40.5m admissions internationally for overall box office receipts of $272.5m (€244.4m), according to provisional figures released by French cinema export agency Unifrance on Thursday.

Although final figures will not be confirmed until later this year, this is down 7% on the definitive figure of 43.7m admissions generated by French films around the world in 2018. This in turn represented a 50% fall on the 82.6m international admissions notched up in 2017.

The decline of the last two years is due mainly to the absence of...

Guillaume Canet, one of France’s most successful actors and filmmakers, is set to star in and direct “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road,” a live-action film that will mark the next installment of the blockbuster French comic book franchise.

Pathé is co-producing the film, budgeted at $60 million, with Les Enfants Terribles and Tresor Films. Pathé will also distribute the film in France and will represent it in international markets.

Now in development, “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road” is an original story penned by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé, based on the comicbook collection created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo and published by Les Editions Albert-René.

Canet, who also collaborated on the script, will star as Asterix alongside Gilles Lellouche (“Little White Lies”) who will play Obelix. Set to start shooting in the Spring, “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road” will follow the protagonists on a journey to China.

“Asterix and...

The China-set feature is based on an original script.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet is set to shoot a live action feature inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix.

Guillaume Canet is set to play the role of the plucky Gaul hero alongside Gilles Lellouche as his rotund companion Obelix.

Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road will see the Asterix and Obelix head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet revealed the casting via a...