Outgoing M6 Boss Slams “Absurd” French Competition Laws & Says “Collective Measures” Needed To Improve Streaming In France

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic SPOILER ALERT: The following essay discusses key plot points, including the ending. Last weekend, I took in “Le Samouraï” for what must have been the sixth or seventh time, relishing the new 4K restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece (now playing at Laemmle theaters in Los Angeles). As I exited the screening, I discreetly eavesdropped on my fellow audience members. Most seemed impressed.

French filmmaker Xavier Gens has directed a shark thriller titled Under Paris for Netflix. Check out the film’s first trailer above. 

EXCLUSIVE: MGM+ has cast Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark) as the female lead opposite Alexander Ludwig in Earth Abides, a limited series that promises to offer an imaginative new take on George R. Stewart’s classic sci-fi novel of the same name.

The boss of Mediawan has praised the “very smart” buying community who in recent years have moved on from a domineering TV rights position.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France tv distribution has boarded international sales for “Deep Blue Horizons – Exploring the Seas,” a documentary series hosted by journalist and explorer Diego Buñuel. A reboot of France Televisions‘ iconic wildlife format “Thalassa,” the factual title is being unveiled to buyers at Mipdoc in Cannes.

loves both.First, there's the ‘90s revival, with its baggy jeans and layered cuts. Then, there’s "quiet luxury" with its expensive-looking fashion and matching beauty statements.With her latest , Leni Klum manages to capture both these trends at once.

Studiocanal has signed the person responsible for setting up Netflix production hubs around Europe as its new TV boss.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With one week to go before the press conference unveiling the 77th Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, director Thierry Fremaux is pledging to remain zen — despite wrestling with submission delays, reverberations of Hollywood’s double strikes and high expectations after last year’s edition unveiled Oscar winners “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” This year’s edition is already heating up, with George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” confirmed to premiere at the festival and Quentin Dupieux’s “A Second Act,” starring Léa Seydoux, set as the opening night film. In his first and only interview ahead of the lineup reveal, Fremaux tells Variety all about this year’s edition, including his hopes to welcome back Francis Ford Coppola with “Megalopolis” and Yorgos Lanthimos with “Kinds of Kindness,” his appeal to Ted Sarandos to lure Netflix back on the Croisette, his stance on France’s new #MeToo reckoning, the presence of female directors at the festival and how geopolitical turmoil may shape the Official Selection. Last year was a milestone year for the Cannes Film Festival. How did you approach this year’s lineup, and how many films have been selected so far? The unanimous feedback we got is that 2023 was a really great year.

Annika Pham On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on Viaplay’s premium Nordic scripted content.

Ellise Shafer “The Killing” star Sofie Gråbøl will serve as the president of this year’s Canneseries competition jury, it was announced on Tuesday. The Danish actor kickstarted her career with the 1986 film “Barndommens gade” (“The Streets of My Childhood”) and is known for her TV roles including “The Killing,” “Nikolaj og Julie” and “Taxa.” Joining Gråbøl on the jury are “Madame Hollywood” director, screenwriter and producer Olivier Abbou; “Four Daughters” composer Amine Bouhafa; “City of God” actor Alice Braga; “Blancanieves” actor Macarena García; and “Samber” actor Alix Poisson.

Ashley Tisdale is pregnant and expecting her second child with her husband Christopher French!

Former French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand, who was a high-profile and sometimes controversial figure on France’s cultural scene, died on Thursday at the age of 76, his family announced.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s bitter legal battles following their divorce are still underway. With the former couple going head to head in court over the French winery Chateau Miraval, the Benjamin Button star has reportedly taken a loss.The former couple bought Chateau Miraval in Correns, France, back in 2008, and they even married there in 2014.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Underscoring the growing ties between France and Taiwan in the film and television sector, French and Taiwanese producers CinéFrance, Alef One and Yoosonn Entertainment have presented two new series co-productions at Series Mania. “Fly,” co-produced by Paris-based CinéFrance and Taipei’s Yoosonn Entertainment, is a spy drama series adapted from Taiwanese author Chang Kuo-Li’s original IP that is set to shoot in France and Taiwan.

Ben Croll Facing greater international competition alongside smart TV interfaces that grow all the more convoluted, France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte issued a clarion call to Gallic broadcasters: It’s time to launch a new shared streaming platform that could offer a single point of access for local programing. ‘We’re stronger together,” said the public broadcasting exec.

French commercial broadcast giant TF1 is taking its streaming service international. CEO Rodolphe Belmer told Series Mania on Thursday that TF1+ will start rolling out in the middle of this year before a wider series of launches in 2025.

Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, the CEO of France Télévisions, has called the collapse of the French broadcaster-backed streamer Salto “a strategic mistake.”

HBO was built on the back of showrunners such as David Chase, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and Jesse Armstrong but is now facing a new dilemma involving directors.

Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“

EXCLUSIVE: AGC Television is dropping a hot TV project into this week’s Series Mania market in Lille.