France Televisions Unveils Animated Slate at Annecy

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Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentPathé, a driving force behind France’s biggest movies slated for 2022 including “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom” and “The Three Musketeers,” is developing an untitled two-part film about Charles de Gaulle, the legendary French army officer who led the French resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II and eventually became president of France.The film will be directed by Antonin Baudry, who made his feature debut with “The Wolf’s Call,”

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2, the venerable family-owned film group which operates a leading arthouse multiplex chain in France and Spain, is emerging from the pandemic stronger, cooler and more ambitious than ever.Nathanaël and Elisha Karmitz, who succeeded their father Marin at the helm of the company in 2005, have galvanized the MK2 brand with activities ranging from films, art, publishing, technology and lifestyle.

Rockstar owners Take-Two Interactive has acquired Dynamixyz, a facial animation studio based in France.Founded in 2010, Dynamixyz is made up of 15 employees with more than 40 years of combined experience in the field.

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Ben Croll If no distributor can ever handpick its audience, once Netflix sent its ribald and irreverent reframing of the U.S.’ foundational myth to the French animation festival, the streamer certainly came awfully close.Produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and directed by “Archer” producer Matt Thompson, the decidedly hard-R “America: The Motion Picture” played to a room primed to react when it screened in France as part of Annecy’s Midnight Specials sidebar this past Friday.Though the

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentUgo Bienvenu (aka Ugo), the popular French illustrator and comics author of “Préférence système,” is partnering up with veteran producer Valerie Schermann (“The Red Turtle,” “Paris, 13th District”) on his animated feature debut “Arco.”An ambitious science-fiction film, “Arco” is being co-developed and co-produced by Remembers, the outfit launched by Bienvenu and Félix de Givry, and Schermann at Akaba.

Ben Croll Speaking before a rapt audience at the Annecy Film Festival on Friday, director Pierre Földes, producers Tanguy Olivier and Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, and artists from France’s Miyu Productions premiered work in progress footage from Földes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,” a 2D animated adaptation of a handful of Haruki Murakami stories that looks to translate the Japanese author’s idiosyncratic style as no feature has to date.Murakami’s is a world of sex, surrealism and cigarettes, a

Jamie Lang On Friday afternoon at France’s Annecy Animation Festival, Nickelodeon gave the most detailed preview yet for the network’s second “Spongebob” spinoff, “The Patrick Star Show,” and looked back at 20 years of the global hit franchise.

Ben Croll Speaking at a Monday morning panel dedicated to emerging female talent in the French animation sphere, filmmakers Marine Blin (“What Resonates in Silence”), Mélanie Robert-Tourneur (“Hold Me Tight,” pictured above), and Kajika Aki Ferrazzini (“MOM”) spoke candidly about pet obsessions and shared approaches while breaking news of future projects.The Belgium-based Robert-Tourneur (who uses they/them pronouns) will build on their previous film’s visually symbolic and narratively oblique

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentUniversal Music France and Mediawan’s Method Animation (“The Little Prince,” “Miraculous”) are joining forces on “Jam,” a animated music anthology which will showcase the greatest talents in both music and animation.Co-developed with Universal Music France’s original contents department, the 15-part series will be directed by Michael Gracey, the revered helmer of “The Greatest Showman,” and is being created by Method Animation’s roster of talent,

Wild Bunch is getting deeper into animation with the launch of a new sales company it is setting up with French animation specialist Gebeka.

Over 15M viewers watched reigning World Cup champions France edge out Germany on France’s M6 Tuesday night in the first major head-to-head of Euro 2020 which runs through July 11 and is being played in various locations throughout Europe and the UK. That was good for a 57.5 share from 9PM local and included a peak of 17.4M viewers (by way of comparison, 12.6M watched France’s entry to the World Cup in 2018, giving TF1 a 69 share on a Saturday afternoon).

Jamie Lang On Tuesday afternoon, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival streamed a candid, hour-long conversation between four of the key minds behind Netflix’s second season of “Love, Death & Robots.” Creator and executive producer Tim Miller (“Deadpool,” “Terminator: Dark Fate”), executive producer David Fincher (“The Social Network,” “Fight Club”), supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (“Kung Fu Panda” 2 and 3) and visual effects supervisor Jerome Denjean from France’s Blur

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentDidier Brunner – producer of “The Triplets of Belleville,” “The Secret of Kells” and “Ernest and Celestine” – is readying his next production, ’Prends Garde à toi!,’ an adaptation of the ‘Carmen’ story led by one of France’s freest creative spirits: Sébastien Laudenbach.Laudenbach’s feature debut, “The Girl Without Hands,” an adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, was acquired by Gkids for North American distribution.

Lise Pedersen TeamTO is unveiling a trio of cosy winter story animation projects at Annecy after nabbing TV, film and licensing rights to three popular children’s books.TeamTO aims to produce three individual specials for the 2022-2023 winter season suitable for both at-home TV or platform viewing, as well as cinema screenings.The leading French studio has enlisted the skills of three young directors for the adaptations of best-sellers “Snowman” by Jacques Duquennoy (which becomes “Snowy and

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentWhile U.S. blockbusters deserted screens in 2020, French animated features had 10-year record-breaking performance at the local box office last year, according to a study conducted by the CNC (National Film Board) and unveiled on the opening day of Annecy Film Festival.