News

Paris-based production and distribution company Superprod Group has acquired a majority stake in leading French animation company Watch Next Media, in a move that will consolidate both their positions in the animation sector.

Under the partnership, Watch Next Media will continue to operate independently with CEO and founder Philippe Alessandri at the helm. At the same time, his company will benefit from Superprod’s expertise in premium CGI animation as well as wider financing opportunities and access to a larger talent pool.

Created by French execs Clément Calvet and Jérémie Fajner in 2010, Superprod has been on an expansion streak in recent months.

The company acquired top Luxembourgish animation companies Studio 352 and Mélusine Productions in April and then went on to join forces with former Netflix Emea Head of Animated Series Alexi Wheeler on new UK-based company Wheels In Motion in June.

Further partner companies include Milano-based Red Monk Studio...

"The ladies here are quite special..." Rialto has revealed an official international trailer for a French comedy titled Mr. Blake at Your Service! in English. The other French title is Complètement Cramé (which means Completely Burnt Out) that was also translated to Well Done! at first, until they went with the more playful Mr. Blake title. John Malkovich stars in this as Mr. Andrew Blake, a widowed British businessman who takes the job as a butler of a manor house in France to feel closer to the memories of his late French wife. His life takes a turn as he navigates the eccentric behavior of the three ladies of the manor and the staff. It is based on the novel of the same name (Complètement Cramé), with the writer of the novel taking a shot at directing his very first feature film. It also co-stars Fanny Ardant, Émilie Dequenne, Philippe Bas,...

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. Today we’re talking to French execs Clément Calvet and Jérémie Fajner, founders of Paris-based production and distribution company Superprod Group. The group is on the rise with a recent high-profile company acquisition, an eclectic multi-format slate and embrace of cutting-edge Usd pipeline technology pioneered by Pixar which is giving it the edge.

It’s hard to define Paris-based content company Superprod. Launched in 2010 with an accent on animation, the group has since branched out into live action, working on original in-house content and commissions across all formats.

The company’s eclectic slate spans hit animated series Batwheels and Paddington and the upcoming update of iconic Dutch children’s character Miffy as well as French live action drama series Panda and feature...

The champagne may be flowing at the kickoff for the 27th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival – for more reasons than one.

This year’s event in California’s wine country will open with the U.S. premiere of Widow Clicquot, directed by Thomas Napper, a narrative feature about the Grande Dame of Champagne. Actress Haley Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, “who against all odds advanced her late husband’s techniques to create the recipe for modern-day champagne.”

Siff, running from March 20-24, will showcase 43 narrative features, 16 documentary features, and 48 short films representing more than 25 countries, according to a release.

Maya Hawke in ‘Wildcat’

The festival’s Centerpiece Film is Wildcat, directed by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke as renowned Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. The Closing Night Film is Luc Besson’s crime drama Dogman, starring Caleb Landry Jones. A Closing Night...

Producer is France’s Ts Productions, whose credits include Golden Bear-winner ’On The Adamant’.

France TV Distribution has taken worldwide rights to Giulio Callegari’s debut feature Robot T-0 now in production in France. It is selling the film at Rome’s Mia film market this week.

Callegari is best known in France for co-writing and co-creating Canal+ hit series All the Way Up (Validé) and as a co-writer on French anthology film Selfie that explored humans’ relationship with technology.

Robot T-0 is set in a near future where robots have replaced humans in every household. The film follows a...

Sales to kick off this week in Venice.

France TV Distribution has boarded Sylvain Desclous’ sensual French thriller The Victoria System (Le Système Victoria) and will kick off sales in Venice.

Based on popular French author Eric Reinhardt’s best-selling novel of the same name, Desclous’ third fiction feature is currently in production and stars Damien Bonnard and Jeanne Balibar, who also shared the screen in Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominated debut feature Les Misérables.

The passion-filled story of power, sex and capitalism follows a man (Bonnard) overseeing the construction of the highest tower ever built in France whose life is...

Exclusive: France tv distribution has unveiled a first round of deals for best-selling French writer Gilles Legardinier’s feature directorial debut Mr. Blake At Your Service!, reuniting John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant on the big screen.

The film has been acquired for Germany and Austria (Mfa+ Film Distribution), Italy (Adler Entertainment), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Switzerland (Praesens Film), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), Poland (Best Film), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film) as well as for Australia and New Zealand (Rialto Distribution).

The comedy-drama is adapted from Legardinier’s 2012 best-selling French novel Complètement Cramé! which sold more than one million copies sold in France and was translated into 17 languages across 22 countries.

Malkovich stars as Andrew Blake, a recently widowed British businessman who takes a job as a butler in a faded manor house in northern France, close to where he and his late wife spent the early days of their romance.

Malkovich and Ardant previously appeared on the big screen together in the 2015 period drama Casanova Variations.

France tv distribution has released a first image of John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant in Gilles Legardinier’s comedy-drama Mr. Blake At Your Service! as it gears up to launch sales on the title at Cannes later this month.

The film is adapted from Legardinier’s best-selling French novel Complètement Cramé! and sees Malkovich stars as a recently widowed British businessman who takes a job as a butler in a manor house in northern France, in a bid to get closer to the memory of his late French wife.