News

“Cat and Dog” is a comedy movie written and directed by Reem Kherici starring Franck Dubosc, Reem Kherici and Philippe Lacheau.

This movie is a mix of human actors where only Reem Kherici stands out. She’s inspired, cheerful, and fluid in her role. The two male protagonists just do their job. However, the film introduces two true stars to save the day: a dog and a kitten, two computer-generated characters that truly steal the show.

The script is simple and unassuming. The special effects are nothing outstanding, but the puppy and kitten are so charming that it’s worth overlooking the film’s cinematic shortcomings and simply bask in the cuteness and charm of these two new pals.

Plot

As Monica and Jack prepared for takeoff, they suddenly realized that their respective pets, Diva and Chichi, were missing on the tarmac. Monica’s famous influencer cat and Jack’s...

Vivendi saw its revenues rise by 9.5% to €10.5 billion ($11.4 billion) in 2023, bolstered by the performance of Canal+ Group and Havas, as well as the integration of French media and publishing giant Lagardere in December. Vivendi also posted a net profit of $443 million (€405 million).

Canal+ Group, which comprises pay TV giant Canal+ and the production-distribution company Studiocanal (“Paddington”), is pursuing its international development, particularly in Asia, the Nordic countries and Africa. Canal + Group has just increased its stake in leading Chinese streamer Viu to 30%, and also owns a 30% stake in South African streamer MultiChoice, along with a 29.33% stake in Viaplay in the Nordics. Vivendi said it will make a mandatory offer for MultiChoice by April 8.

Canal+ has also increased its subscriber base to 900,000 new subs, both in France and abroad in 2023. The group currently boasts 26.4 million subscribers in nearly 50 countries. In mainland France, Canal+ also recorded a net growth of 290,000 subscribers over the past twelve months,...

Newen Connect has signed a pact with international sales company The Yellow Affair to have the company handle global distribution for independent films produced by Newen Studios.

Newen Studios and Yellow Affair are already related though Anagram, which is label of Newen and a shareholder Yellow Affair, along with Visiorex, Helsinki-filmi and Marianna Films. Newen, meanwhile, is owned by France’s leading commercial network group. The European banner handles co-production, co-financing and international sales through its commercial arm, Newen Connect.

Unveiled during the Goteborg Film Festival, the three-year deal will see Newen Connect continue handling mainstream titles and French movies, while The Yellow Affair will focus on indie pics produced by Newen Studios’ international labels under the new brand The Yellow Affair by Newen Connect.

The inaugural roster of the new label include Constanze Klaue’s “Punching the World,” produced by Denmark’s Nimbus and Germany’s Flare Films, based...

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...

New Spanish outfit has also acquired four high profile titles for distribution.

Beta Fiction Spain (Bfs) is to remake hit French comedy Alibi.com in Spanish, and has also acquired four high profile titles for distribution in Spain.

Coartadas S.L. (which translates as Alibis S.L.) is being written by Curro Velázquez, scriptwriter of Spanish hit Brain Drain and cop comedy series Paco’s Men. The director is still to be determined.

The second instalment of Philippe Lacheau’s film series, Alibi.com 2, was released through Studiocanal on February 8 in France and currently ranks second in the overall 2023 French box office...

Philippe Lacheau’s comedy sequel is in top three best peforming films at French box office this year.

Philippe Lacheau’s French box office hit Alibi.com 2 has inked multiple international sales through Newen Connect as the film continues its theatrical reign at home.

Newen has sold the comedy sequel to 2017’s Alibi.com across Europe including Zdf for German-speaking territories, Flins & Piniculas in Spain, Eagle Pictures in Italy, Lusomundo in Portugal and Estin Film for the Baltic States. The film is also headed to Shoval in Israel, Red Apollo in China, New Select in Japan and Skeye Inflight & Air France.

The trio behind Mediawan, the French company which recently acquired a majority stake in Brad Pitt’s Plan B, have made an offer to buy Cgr Cinema, France’s second biggest multiplex chain, Variety has confirmed.

The bid has been made by Pierre-Antoine Capton and French telecom tycoon Xavier Niel, the co-founders of Mediawan. Capton and Niel are being backed by a consortium which includes Matthieu Pigasse, a big-time financier who is the third co-founder of Mediawan, among others. The offer values Cgr Cinemas below €500 million ($300 million), according to a source closed to discussions.

The British fund Aermont Capital has also made an offer, according to the French news site “L’informé.”

Cgr Cinemas comprises 74 multiplexes and represented an estimated 12% market share of theatrical admissions in 2022, according to the Cnc.

Cgr Cinemas’s owners, Luc Raymond and Charles Raymond, put the exhibition chain on the market in 2021. Along with the exhibition part of the business,...

’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.

Denis Imbert’s hiking drama has sold to Canada, Spain and Germany.

TF1 Studios-owned Newen Connect has unveiled new sales on Denis Imbert’s hiking drama On the Wandering Paths and Philippe Lacheau’s wacky wedding comedy Alibi.com 2.

On The Wandering Paths stars Jean Dujardin as a celebrated writer who decides to hike alone across France after falling from a building and waking up from a coma.

Following market screenings at Unifrance’s January Rendez-Vous in Paris, Newen has sold the film to Tva in Canada, Vercine in Spain and X Verleih in Germany and Austria, New Cinema in Israel,...

TF1 Studio has unveiled a raft of major pre-sales on “Superwho,” an action-packed comedy directed by Philippe Lacheau, in the run up to the Pre-Cannes Screenings, where the film will have its virtual world premiere on June 23.

Lacheau, who stars in his movie, is behind some of France’s biggest comedy hits in recent history, including the “Babysitting” franchise, “Alibi.com,” “City Hunter,” “All Gone South,” as well as Amazon’s French adaptation of “Lol.”

Tfi Studio has closed about 100 territories since introducing the project to buyers at the EFM, including Germany (Splendid), Japan (New Select), Latin America (Bf Distribution), South Korea (Activers), Benelux (Alternative Films), Switzerland (Pathé), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Cei (Exponenta), Portugal (Lusomundo), Poland (Monolith), Southeast Europe (Prorom), Middle East & North Africa (Nstars) and Vietnam (Viettel Media Company).

Lacheau headlines the film along with his regular co-stars, Tarek Boudali, the actor-director of “30 Days Max,” Julien Arruti and Elodie Fontan. Chantal Ladesou...

Colcoa is keeping up with the times. Now in its twenty-first year, the lauded French film festival, sponsored by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, has added a pair of forward-thinking new categories for its newest edition. This year will include a virtual reality program and a web series competition, in addition to its Cinema, Television and Shorts competitions.

“These two new popular formats offer more opportunities to showcase the creativity of French producers and filmmakers as well as the diversity of French production,” said François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. “While entertainment is still the key word for the program, with a balanced mix of comedies and dramas, several topical issues will cover the program this year, including the environment, discrimination, racism, terrorism, and the role of the artist in society. More than ever, Colcoa will offer a unique opportunity to see these universal topics from different angles.”

Read...