StudioCanal S.A.S.[1] (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production, from 2001 until 2011 stylized as STUDIOCANAL, from 2011 to present stylized as STUDIOCANAL and also known as StudioCanal International,) is a French audiovisual international film & television production and distribution company. The company is a subsidiary of the Canal+. StudioCanal actives for the three main European countries like France, the United Kingdom and Germany as well as Australia and New Zealand. They distributed around fifty films each year in Europe (mainly France and United Kingdom) and Oceania as well as their own.
As of May 2024[update], the company has 14 production companies in Europe and the US, and holds around 9,000 titles in its extensive film library in which they ensure the preservation and restoration for home video releases and air them on channels worldwide.
On 1 January 1987, Canal+ Productions was founded as a cinema film co-production subsidiary of the cable channel which had been established in November 1984, Canal+. The subscription channel was co-founded by André Rousselet[2] and Pierre Lescure.[3][4] This was to reduce Canal+'s dependence on the American major studios by building its own library that the pay-TV channel could use on their own channels and internationally.[2]
By December 1990, Canal+ Productions rebranded to Le Studio Canal+, and released its first film, The Double Life of Veronique, by Krzysztof Kieslowski.[4] By the early 1990s, it became apparent that Canal+ was a major contributor to the French film industry, with its obligation to spend 10% of its income on French-made films, as well as being Europe's largest buyer of American film rights.[2] Canal+ also made investments in other companies. In 1991 it bought a five percent stake in the independent American studio Carolco Pictures.[2] However, in 1992, Le Studio Canal+ suffered financial difficulties after Carolco Pictures entered a corporate restructure.[citation needed]
Other films the company financed include U-571, Bully, and Bridget Jones's Diary. StudioCanal also funded the last third of David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive.[5] StudioCanal also financed French-language films, such as Brotherhood of the Wolf (which became the sixth-highest-grossing French-language film of all time in the United States) and Intimate Strangers. Films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day which grossed US$519 million, Basic Instinct which grossed US$352 million and The Tourist which grossed US$278 million worldwide, have been big box-office hits for StudioCanal.[6][7][8]
In January 1996, Le Studio Canal+ made a $56 million bid for Carolco Pictures' library. 20th Century Fox, which had originally agreed to buy the library for $50 million, had dropped their bid to $47.5 million and ultimately dropped out of contention, making this acquisition Canal+'s first foray into library acquisitions.[9][10]
Le Studio Canal+'s original plan was to build a pan-European distribution network. They made their first known acquisition into a foreign market in 1997 when they bought a 20% minority stake in Germany's Tobis Film; they would later increase the stake to 60% in February 2000, renaming the company Tobis StudioCanal.[11]
On 1 December 1998, all of Canal+ film, television, music, video production activities, etc., were grouped into a new entity, Canal+ Image, which was rebranded as StudioCanal in 2000.[4]
In February 2000, Le Studio Canal Plus announced that in order for them to grow a European distribution network they've expanded their stake in German film distribution company Tobis bringing their stake to 60% and had renamed to Tobis Studio Canal Plus giving Le Studio Canal Plus their own German division and had launched a joint venture production subsidiary with the remaining 40% stake will continued to be owned by the co-founder of Tobis Kilian Rebentrost and French film distribution company Pathé with ex-PolyGram executive Haig Balian joining Tobis Studio Canal Plus as their co-managing director.[12]
In December 2000, StudioCanal announced that they've partnered with Italian public broadcasting company RAI under the latter's cinema division to launch a joint venture distribution company in Italy, marking StudioCanal's first entry into the Italian film production and distribution market.[13] The name for the joint venture Italian film distribution company was revealed by StudioCanal and Italian public broadcasting RAI under the latter's cinema division Rai Cinema the following year in May which was titled as 01 Distribution.[14]
In July 2001, StudioCanal announced that they've entered the Spanish film distribution industry by acquiring a 45% stake of leading Spanish film and television production and distribution company Sogepaq from Spanish pay television company Sogecable (Vivendi Universal owned 21% of Sogecable at the time) for $36.2 million, also giving the company a 73% controlling stake in its Spanish subsidiary StudioCanal España and a minority stake in the joint venture Warner Sogefilms.[15][16][17] One month later in August of that same year, StudioCanal announced that they've acquired a controlling 52% stake in French television production powerhouse Expand.[18]
In May 2002, StudioCanal announced that they've expanded their Italian operations by setting up their Italian in-house production outfit based in Rome named StudioCanal Urania that will produce StudioCanal's Italian films annually.[19]
In late-September 2002, StudioCanal announced that they and BAC Majestic had parted ways, terms of the deal included the sale of their joint venture distribution subsidiary Mars Distribution to StudioCanal, thrus giving the latter their own in-house international distribution division to distribute StudioCanal's movies in their home country of France whilst their sister joint venture distribution company BAC Distribution which was majority owned by StudioCanal would be splitten from Mars and will be shut down and revert to BAC Majestic.[20][21]
In July 2003, StudioCanal's parent company Canal+ under their division Studio Expand announced that they've sold their animation production subsidiary Ellipsanime to media entertainment conglomerate Média-Participations and had placed the acquired animation production subsidiary under their French-Belgian publishing arm Dargaud.[22]
In June 2004 following their sellout of Ellipsanime to Dargaud back in July 2003, StudioCanal's parent company Canal+ announced that they've sold their remaining Studio Expand assets which were Adventure Line Productions who was sold to Tele Images Group, DMD Productions, Calt and KM Production which was sold back to their founders (although the latter would eventually be reunited with Adventure Line four years later in 2008) and Starling was sold to American television production and distribution studio Sony Pictures Television.[23]
However, staff departures and its parent Vivendi Universal's debt forced StudioCanal to gradually sell off their interests in these companies:
Tobis StudioCanal was subject to a management buyout by CEO Kilian Rebentrost and shareholder Pathé in December 2002 and renamed back to Tobis Film, although the two companies maintained their business relations.[24][11]
Sogepaq was sold back to Sogecable in July 2003 for £48 million ($54.2 million).[25]
Mars Films split from StudioCanal in 2007 to become independent; StudioCanal would later buy a 30% stake in the company in September 2015 and begin controlling its library in August 2021.[26][27][28]
Three years later, StudioCanal announced that they're re-entered the international market by acquiring British film distributor Optimum Releasing in May 2006 as their first expansion into the United Kingdom, releasing their British film and television catalogue, including the EMI Films library, through the newly acquired company.[29] A year later in 2007, Optimum Home Entertainment and Lionsgate UK acquired Elevation Sales, a home entertainment sales and distribution company.[30][31]
In November 2006, StudioCanal announced that they've rebranded their distribution division Mars Distribution to StudioCanal Distribution with head of theatrical distribution Stephane Celerier will be stepping down of StudioCanal's distribution division and had hired former Warner Bros. France executive Philippe Desandre who will take over as their new head of theatrical distribution at StudioCanal. One year later in January 2007, StudioCanal announced that they've sold the Mars name to former head of StudioCanal's distribution division Stephane Celerier who will use the name to launch an independent French distribution company named Mars Films with Valérie Garcia joining them.[32][33]
In August 2007, StudioCanal announced that they've partnered with NBC Universal's international home entertainment division Universal Pictures International Entertainment (which their parent company Vivendi used to own Universal Pictures until 2004) to launch a joint venture home entertainment distribution subsidiary that would be France's leading home entertainment distributor which was called Universal Studio Canal Video which started it's operations the following year.[34]
In January 2008, StudioCanal announced that they've entered their second expansion into the international market with the acquisition of German-based film independent distributor Kinowelt, which had distributed StudioCanal's films there until then, marking a re-entry for StudioCanal into the German market.[35][4] Kinowelt also owned the DVD label Arthaus. Both Optimum Releasing and Kinowelt have since been merged into StudioCanal and both were rebranded as StudioCanal UK and StudioCanal GmbH respectively.[36]
In January 2012, StudioCanal expanded its European operations by acquiring a majority stake in Munich-based producer and distributor Tandem Productions, marking the company's first major move into television production. StudioCanal would later buy out the company's remaining shares in May 2020.[37][38]
In July 2012, StudioCanal announced that they've made a deal with Australian & New Zealans cinema chain Hoyts to acquire the latter's independent film distribution division Hoyts Distribution as their third expansion, marking StudioCanal's first acquisition outside of Europe with StudioCanal giving opportunities to make their productions in Australia and Hoyts Distribution CEO Robert Slaviero will continue to work the acquired Australian company within StudioCanal.[39] A year later in April 2013, StudioCanal announced that they've rebranded their Australian division Hoyts Distribution under the StudioCanal banner.[40]
In December 2013, StudioCanal announced its acquisition of a majority stake in the British independent TV production company Red Production Company, marking StudioCanal's entry into the UK television drama production industry.[41]
In May 2014, StudioCanal announced that they've expanded their operations into the Scandinavian market and further expanded their television production operations by joining forces with three key Scandinavian producers which were Danish screenwriter & author Søren Sveistrup, screenwriter Adam Price and film & television producer Meta Louise Foldager to launch a new Danish television production company based in Copenhagen named SAM Productions which named after three founders with Meta Louise Foldager becoming CEO of the new production company under StudioCanal.[42]
In September 2014, StudioCanal announced a first-look deal with the newly established American entertainment company The Picture Company, founded by former Silver Pictures employees Andrew Rona and Alex Heinemann. The deal was extended in May 2023, with StudioCanal acquiring a minority stake in the company alongside a new five-year deal.[43]
In May 2015, StudioCanal announced that they've collaborated with Japanese publishing company Kadokawa Corporation to restore the highly-acclaimed French-Japanese co-production Akira Kurosawa’s Ran in order to celebrate the film's 30th anniversary with French film processing company Éclair restoring the film in 4K under the supervision of the two companies ahead of the film's re-release in Japanese theatres before releasing it to French cinemas.[44]
In September 2015, StudioCanal announced that they've acquired a 30% stake in Paris-based French independent film production and distribution company Mars Films thrus marking one of StudioCanal's first major acquisitions since Vincent Bolloré became the chairman of StudioCanal's then-parent company Vivendi with Mars' CEO Stephane Celerier returning to StudioCanal after nine years now becoming StudioCanal's vice president as part of the deal. In that same date, StudioCanal also announced that they've hired president of Canal+'s film division Didier Lupfer as their new chairman and CEO of StudioCanal with former chairman CEO of StudioCanal Olivier Courson stepping down and exiting the company.[45][46]
In April 2016, StudioCanal had announced that they've expanded their television production activities by acquiring a 20% minority stake in two London-based British film and television production companies which were Benedict Cumberbatch's film and television production company SunnyMarch TV and Johnny Capps & Julian Murphy's television production company Urban Myth Films. They also announced that they've returning to the Spanish film and television market after 13 years by acquiring a 33% stake in Spanish television production company Bambú Producciones, thrus marking StudioCanal's re-entry into Spain since selling back Sogepaq to Sogecable in July 2003 whilest Teresa Fernandez-Valdes co-founder of Bambú productions continued being president of Bambú under StudioCanal.[47][48]
In June 2016, StudioCanal who previously produced the first Paddington movie back in 2014 had announced that they've acquired the intellectual rights to the Paddington Bear brand, along with Paddington & Company and The Copyrights Group, the franchise's merchandise licensing agent. StudioCanal then announced that it would be producing three more Paddington films, including a show on the Nick Jr. Channel in 2020.[49]
In July 2021, StudioCanal announced its acquisition of German production company Lailaps Films.[50]
In June 2022, StudioCanal announced that it entered into the Netherlands film and television distribution industry by acquiring a majority stake Utrecht-based Dutch independent film production and distribution firm Dutch FilmWorks, thrus marking an expansion into the Benelux countries for StudioCanal.[51]
In October 2022, StudioCanal announced that they're re-entering the Italian film and television production market by forging a partnership with Rome-based Italian film production company Elsinore Film to jointly co-develop and co-produce a slate of scripted and unscripted content for the international market.[52]
In March 2024, StudioCanal announced that they've launched their first in-house production label which was an unnamed film & television production genre label dedicated to horror, thriller and sci-fi action movies and had hired former StudioCanal UK executive Jed Benedict who will rejoin StudioCanal to run the new production label as their CEO of the label.[53][54]
In April 2024, StudioCanal had announced that they've launched a new production label dedicated to publishing book-to-screen adaptations called StudioCanal Stories.[55]
As of May 2024[update], the company has 14 production companies in Europe and the US.[56]
In July 2024, StudioCanal announced that they've expanded their American operations by launching their second American office based in New York City and had promoted former global distribution sales chief Anne Chérel to oversee their new office based in New York City as StudioCanal's American CCO and will support StudioCanal's development in the US.[57]
In September 2024, StudioCanal had announced that they're rebranding their merchandising and licensing company The Copyrights Group as their own children's division renaming it to StudioCanal Kids & Family in order for StudioCanal to expand their kids and family brand portfolio and they will also lead on worldwide brand development, licensing and retail services including their own IP Paddington Bear, with their CEO Francoise Guyonnet continuing to be the CEO of the renamed division.[58][59]
In October 2024, StudioCanal announced that they've signed an exclusive multi-territory international distribution deal with American independent film production company River Road Entertainment to exclusively acquire and internationally distribute River Road Entertainment's 9 feature films and 2 documentaries on TV, SVOD and other media platforms including theatrical.[60]
People
Anna Marsh was CEO of Studiocanal in 2019 until October 2022, when she was Deputy CEO of Canal+ Group. She had joined Studiocanal in 2008, and been formerly held positions such as head of international sales and managing director of StudioCanal UK.[61]
Film library
StudioCanal acquired film libraries from studios that either became defunct or had merged with it over the years; as a result, the company's library is one of the largest in the world.[citation needed]As of 2024[update], the company holds more than 9,000 titles.[56]
StudioCanal owns the libraries of the following companies:
From the 1990s to early 2000s, Warner Home Video formerly handled distribution of select StudioCanal titles through the Canal+ Image label in the United Kingdom on VHS and DVD until 2006 when StudioCanal opened its own distribution unit in the UK, with titles distributed through Optimum Releasing (via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment from 2006 to 2007 and Elevation Sales since 2007).[29]
StudioCanal had the European home video distribution rights to 550 titles from the Miramax library from 2011 to 2020,[76][77] when ViacomCBS bought a minority stake in Miramax.
On 13 October 2021, StudioCanal announced that its global distribution deal with Universal would expire in January 2022. Later that year, they started distributing their home media releases through Plaion Pictures in Germany. In early 2024, they started distributing their home media releases in France through ESC Distribution.[78]
Selected films produced by StudioCanal or associated companies
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