News

French actor and director Guillaume Canet has revealed he is feeling the pressure ahead of the release next week of his ambitious 70M production Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom.

Canet directs and stars in the film as iconic plucky Gaul Asterix in an all-star ensemble cast also featuring Gilles Lellouche as Obelix, Vincent Cassel as Julius Caesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović as Caesar’s bodyguard Antivirus.

The production is Canet’s eighth feature after 2006 breakout Tell No One, 2010 hit Little White Lies, Brooklyn-set, English-language debut Blood Ties and the smaller more personal pandemic-shot film Lui.

Long-time collaborator Alain Attal at Trésor Films produces with Pathé and Yohan Baiada at Les Enfants Terribles.

Pathé will launch Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom on 1,200 screens on February 1. Local media is hailing the release as the biggest film event of early 2023.

Canet has said he...

Pathe is relocating Guillaume Canet’s live-action movie “Asterix & Obelix” to France, instead of China where it was initially planned to shoot last year, and couldn’t do so due to the pandemic. Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined the cast.

Now titled “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom,” the movie is budgeted at 60 million Euros and marks the next installment of the blockbuster French comic book franchise. The pic is being produced by the French banners Les Enfants Terribles and Tresor Films, with Pathe co-producing and handling French distribution rights and international sales.

Pathe has already enlisted a flurry of buyers, including Netflix for several undisclosed territories, Leonine in Germany, Unicorn for CSI and Baltics, Blitz for ex Yugoslavia, Kinoswiat for Poland, and Rosebud 21 for Greece. Pathe will distribute in France and Switzerland.

The shoot will start April 12 with a stellar cast. Alongside Ibrahimovic, the cast includes Marion Cotillard,...

Pathé has finalized cast for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (previously known as Asterix & Obelix: Silk Road), the upcoming fifth live action film from the beloved children’s franchise.

Cameras are set to roll this spring, with cast including Guillaume Canet as Asterix, Gilles Lellouche as Obelix (it’s the first time in the five-film French-language franchise that Gerard Depardieu won’t portray Obelix), Vincent Cassel as Cesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Jonathan Cohen as Finalthesis. Also starring are Ramzy Bedia, Julie Chen, Linh-Dan Pham, Pierre Richard, and in his feature debut, soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Oneofus.

Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé wrote the screenplay, and Guillaume Canet is also directing. Project is produced by Trésor Films, Pathé Films and Les Enfants Terribles. The score will come from French musician Matthieu Chedid. The initial plan was to shoot in China but production will take place in France and Morocco.

Sam Worthington will lead the cast of CounterPlay, which Blue Fox Entertainment is launching at Efm. Project comes from the newly established Mam Media in association with BlackOps Studios Asia. Shoot will take place in the Philippines. Worthington will play a retired hostage negotiator who comes out of retirement to take on one last job. Also starring will be Alex Diaz. Pedring Lopez is directing, his credits include action pic Maria which was bought by Netflix.

Emerging European powerhouse Leonine has bought rights for Germany and Austria on Asterix & Obelix: The Silk Road, the upcoming fifth live action film from the beloved children’s franchise. Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé wrote the screenplay, and Guillaume Canet is directing and also playing the role of Asterix. Gilles Lellouche is attached to star as his companion Obelix. Project is produced by Trésor Films, Pathé Films and Les Enfants Terribles. Leonine struck the...

German media company Leonine has closed an all-rights licensing deal with Pathé Films on “Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road” for Germany and Austria.

The feature film, based on the characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, marks the fifth live-action adventure of Asterix and Obelix, and will take the two Gallic heroes to China.

The screenplay was written by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé, together with Guillaume Canet, who will also direct the movie and play the role of Asterix. Gilles Lellouche is attached to star as his companion Obelix.

The film is produced by Trésor Films, Pathé Films and Les Enfants Terribles.

Leonine, formed from the merger of Tele München Group, Universum Film, i&u TV, Wiedemann & Berg Film and W&b TV, will release the film theatrically via its own distribution outfit in Germany.

Leonine, the new producer/distributor formed via multiple acquisitions by private equity giant Kkr in Germany, has acquired all rights to Asterix & Obelix: The Silk Road for Germany and Austria.

The licensing deal with Pathé Films was unveiled Friday during the European Film Market in Berlin. 

The film marks the fifth live-action adventure based on the comic book characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo and takes the heroes to China. The characters have also been featured in animated movies.

The screenplay was written by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé (Looking for Teddy) together with Guillaume Canet, who will ...

Leonine, the new producer/distributor formed via multiple acquisitions by private equity giant Kkr in Germany, has acquired all rights to Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road for Germany and Austria.

The all-rights licensing deal with Pathé Films was unveiled Friday during the European Film Market in Berlin.

The film marks the fifth live-action adventure based on the comic book characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo and takes the heroes to China. The characters have also been featured in animated movies.

The screenplay was written by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé (Looking for Teddy) together with Guillaume Canet, who ...

Les Enfants Terribles, Pathé, Trésors Films plan June 15 start; China shoot in September.

The producers of Guillaume Canet’s upcoming China-set feature Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road have denied rumours in the French media that the shoot has been cancelled due to fears over the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic.

The live-action feature, inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters, sees the Gallic heroes head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet directs and co-stars as Asterix opposite Gilles Lellouche as Obelix.

After delivering two of the highest-grossing French films of last year, Alain Attal’s Paris-based production company Tresor Films is kicking off 2020 with its most ambitious project yet, Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Silk Road.”

Co-produced and financed by Jerome Seydoux’s Pathé, “Asterix & Obelix” is budgeted at $72.4 million, an exceptionally high budget by French standards. Attal, who is also producing the film with the banner Les Enfants Terribles, said the price tag was on a par with previous instalments of “Asterix,” and reflected the scope of the film and commercial potential of the comicbook franchise.

“It’s a costume film set 2,000 years ago, so we’ll be building a village, filming gigantic battles and that will require plenty of extras, and we’ll also need a lot of visual effects and of course a high-profile cast with some cameos,” said Attal. The most successful opus, “Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra,...

French filmmaker and actor Guillaume Canet has been hired to direct a new live action entry in the Asterix & Obelix franchise.

Canet will also star alongside Gilles Lellouche.

The Silk Road is based on an original story written by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé and will see the titular duo head to China.

The project is a co-production between Pathé Films, Les Enfants Terribles and Les Productions des Trésor. Shoot is set for 2020.

Pathé International is handling world sales and will be taking the film to the Afm.

The Silk Road is the latest property based on the much-loved French comics from writer René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo. The series has spawned numerous animated features, including 2018’s The Secret Of The Magic Potion, which grossed $46m globally, and live action features including 2002’s Asterix And Obelix Meet Cleopatra, which took $128m globally.

This morning, director Canet unveiled himself and...

Guillaume Canet, one of France’s most successful actors and filmmakers, is set to star in and direct “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road,” a live-action film that will mark the next installment of the blockbuster French comic book franchise.

Pathé is co-producing the film, budgeted at $60 million, with Les Enfants Terribles and Tresor Films. Pathé will also distribute the film in France and will represent it in international markets.

Now in development, “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road” is an original story penned by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé, based on the comicbook collection created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo and published by Les Editions Albert-René.

Canet, who also collaborated on the script, will star as Asterix alongside Gilles Lellouche (“Little White Lies”) who will play Obelix. Set to start shooting in the Spring, “Asterix & Obelix, the Silk Road” will follow the protagonists on a journey to China.

“Asterix and...

The China-set feature is based on an original script.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet is set to shoot a live action feature inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix.

Guillaume Canet is set to play the role of the plucky Gaul hero alongside Gilles Lellouche as his rotund companion Obelix.

Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road will see the Asterix and Obelix head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet revealed the casting via a...

The China-set feature is based on an original script.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet is set to shoot a live action feature inspired by the world of Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s iconic comic strip characters Asterix and Obelix.

Gilles Lellouche is set to play the role of the plucky Gaul hero alongside Guillaume Depardieu, who reprises his role as his rotund companion Obelix.

Asterix & Obelix, The Silk Road will see the Asterix and Obelix head to China for the first time in a story based on an original script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé.

Canet revealed...

With rom-coms like this, who needs warcrimes? This is the most cruel, most contrived romantic comedy I have ever had the displeasure to endure. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

With rom-coms like this, who needs warcrimes? Or cancer? Or toast that falls to the floor buttered side down? I hadn’t previously thought that there might be an arms race to find the most horrific concept possible that might be labeled, with a straight face, “romantic” and “funny,” but maybe such a race is on. If so, it has been won byA Perfect Plan, the most cruel, most contrived romantic comedy I have ever had the displeasure to endure.

The genre works — or doesn’t — because you get so enrapt in the possibility of happiness for a couple that you forgive all the strained...

Col*Coa is winding down, but you can still catch a few stellar films and see the award winners for free Monday, April 22, 2013.

Award Screenings at 6:00 pm: The evening will start with the rerun of two awarded films in the Renoir and Truffaut Theaters at the DGA. Films will be announced on Sunday April 21 on the Col*Coa website, on Facebook, Twitter and on the Col•Coa info line (310) 289 5346. Free admission on a First comes First Served basis. No RSVP needed.

You can stay and also see the Closing Night Films at 8:30 pm at the DGA. Reservations needed. Those are both North American Premieres of two very anticipated French films. The thriller Moebus by Eric Rochant will show for free as will the comedy Like Brothers by Hugo Gélin.

Being among the French filmmakers (and I saw way too few of the films) gave me such a surprising sense of renewal - again because of this upcoming generation. After seeing City of Lights, the short by Pascal Tessaud which preceded the classic Jacques Demy film Bay of Angels starring a platinum blond gambling-addicted Jeanne Moreau in Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo in 1963, we spoke at length about what is called "The New Vibe". City of Lights stars a deeply quiet young man from "les banlieus", the notorious "suburbs" surrounding Paris where the international mix of young (and old) proletariat population is invisible to the rest of France except when the anger erupts into riots. This first generation has the French education but not the money or jobs and it hurts. They have picked up the cameras and with no money are creating films which express their lives in many ways like the new Latin American filmmakers or the new Eastern European filmmakers. Tessaud gave me an entire education in the hour we talked and I will share this in time. For now, aside from his wonderfuly trenchant film which played like a feature, which captured the Paris this young generation recognizes as The City of Lights - dancing, the kitchen of a very upscale restaurant, the dreary streets filled with construction, there is another example of The New Vibe, started by Rachid Djaïdani (a story in himself) the film Hold Back (Rengaine) leads the pack of the 20-some-odd new films of The New Vibe. It is produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles) whose films are too numerous to name but include my favorite The Hedgehog which I wrote about at Col*Coa two years ago, Col*Coa's current Cycling with Moliere, 2002's Respiro and many many others. Hold Back took 9 years to make and most of the team was unpaid. The New Vibe makes films without the aid of the French system of funding; it is more guerilla-style, not New Wave, not Dogma but New Vibe. Hold Back took Cannes by storm when it showed last year in Directors Fortnight and went on to New Directors/ New Films in New York. The classic story of a Catholic and a Muslim who want to marry but whose family objects, this rendition the Juliet has a brother who marches throughout Paris to alert her 39 other brothers that she wants to marry outside her cultural and religious traditions. "This fresh debut mixes fable, plucky social commentary - particularly about France's Arab community - and inventive comic setpieces" (Col*Coa)

Hold Back (Rengaine) (Isa: Pathe) goes beyond the funny but "establishmant" film Intouchable which played here last year. It is the exact opposite of such films as Sister or even Aliyah (Isa: Rezo) which played here this year and also in Directors Fortnight last year. Aliyah is about a young French Jewish man who must make his last drug sale in order to escape his brother's destructive behavior. He escapes by immigrating to Israel. These films are made by filmmakers within the French establishment and describe a proletariat existence which exists in their bourgeois minds. They lack a certain "verite" which can only be captured by one who knows viscerally what such marginal existence is.

At the opposite end of the contemporary spectrum of films today, a real establishment film is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Alain Renais (you have to be a Renais fan to love it who was so avant-garde in his day). Those old New Wave films one could see here stand out in beautiful contrast to today's New Vibe: Renais' Stavisky or the 1963 film The Fire Within (Le feu follet) by Louis Malle again starring the beautiful Jeanne Moreau. I missed them both to my regret. When I miss a film I always tell myself I can see it when it's released or on DVD or Mubi, but rarely do I get to see it. Instead I can only read about it as here written up by Beth Hanna on Indiewire blog ToH. The Fire Within was part of Wes Anderson's choices, one of the various showcases of Col*Coa. Says Hanna: "Anderson's taste is impeccable: He has selected Louis Malle's 1963 lyrical depression drama The Fire Within." It was made after the classic Elevator to the Gallows (1958) which Miles Davis scored and which also starred the young Jeanne Moreau. She also could be seen her in Col*Coa in the classic 1963 Jacques Demy-directed Bay of Angels.

Col*Coa really offered something for everyone this year. Another of my favorite film genres, the Jewish film, was represented by Aliyah and The Dandelions (Du Vent dans mes mollets) (Isa: Gaumont), Stavisky, and It Happened in St. Tropez (Isa: Pathe), a classic French comedy -- though a bit dark and yet still comedic, about romance, love and marriage switching between generations in a neurotic, comfortably wealthy Jewish family. The Dandelions was, according to my friend Debra Levine, a writer on culture including film and dance, (see her blog artsmeme), "darling, so touching, so well made, so creative ... i really liked it. Went into that rabbit hole of little girls together ... Barbie doll play. Crazy creative play. As looney as kids can be."

Ian Birnie's favorite film was Becoming Traviata. Greg Katchel's favorite originally was Rendez-vous à Kiruna by Anna Novion, but when I saw him later in the festival his favorite was Cycling with Moliere (Alceste a bicyclette) (Isa: Pathe), again produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint and directed by Philippe Le Guay who directed one of my favorites, The Women on the 6th Floor. Greg also liked Three Worlds though it was a bit "schematic" in depicting the clash of different cultures which were also shown in Hold Back.

Of the few films I was able to see, the most interesting was Augustine by Alice Winokur. It is the French response to David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and the British film Hysteria. All three were about the turn of the century concern of psychologists or doctors with female hysteria. This one concerned Jean-Martin Charcot and the neurologist's belief that hysteria was a neurological disease and he used hypnosis to get at its roots, whild in A Dangerous Method it was seen by Freud and Jung as a mental disorder and in Hysteria by Tanya Wexler (Tiff 2011) in which Dr. Mortimer Granville devises the invention of the first vibrator in the name of medical science.

Take a look at Indiewire's own article here for more on Los Angeles's greatest French attraction, the second largest French film festival in the world.

Several American distributors will present their films at Col•Coa before their U.S. release: Kino Lorber – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, co-written and directed by Alain Resnais (Focus on a Filmmaker); Mpi Media – Thérèse, the last film of director/co-writer Claude Miller starring Audrey Tautou; Cohen Media Group – In the House, written and directed by François Ozon and The Attack, co-written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; Distrib Films for two documentaries: Becoming Traviata and The Invisibles; Film Movement for two thrillers: Aliyah and Three Worlds; The Weinstein Company - Populaire.

Below you can see the international sales agents for the current features showing.

11.6 / 11.6 (Isa: Wild Bunch)

Directed by: Philippe Godeau

Written by: Philippe Godeau, Agnès De Sacy

A Few Hours Of Spring / Quelques heures de printemps (Isa: Rezo)

Directed by: Stéphane Brizé ♀

Written by: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon

Cast: Vincent Lindon, Hélène Vincent, Emmanuelle Seigner, Olivier Perrier

Aliyah/Alyah ✡ (Isa: Rezo, U.S.: Film Movement

Directed by: Élie Wajeman

Written by: Élie Wajeman, Gaëlle Macé

Armed Hands / Mains armées (Isa: Films Distribution)

Directed by: Pierre Jolivet

Written by: Pierre Jolivet, Simon Michaël

Augustine / Augustine (Isa: Kinology, U.S.: Music Box)

Directed by: Alice Winocour ♀

Written by: Alice Winocour

Aya Of Yop City / Aya de Yopougon (Isa: TF1)

Directed by: Clément Oubrerie, Marguerite Abouet ♀

Written by: Marguerite Abouet

Bay Of Angels / La Baie des anges (U.S.: Criterion)

Directed by: Jacques Demy

Written by: Jacques Demy

Becoming Traviata /Traviata et nous (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S. Distrib Films and Cinema Guild)

Directed by: Philippe Béziat

Written by: Philippe Béziat

Cycling With MOLIÈRE / Alceste à bicyclette (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Philippe Le Guay

Written by: Philippe Le Guay, based on an original idea by Fabrice Luchini and Philippe Le Guay

Fly Me To The Moon / Un plan parfait (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Pascal Chaumeil

Written By: Laurent Zeitoun, Yoann Gromb, Philippe Mechelen

Haute Cuisine / Les Saveurs du palais (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: The Weinstein Company)

Directed by: Christian Vincent

Written by: Etienne Comar & Christian Vincent, based on the life of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch

Hidden Beauties / Mille-Feuille (Isa: Other Angle Pictures)

Directed by: Nouri Bouzid

Written by: Nouri Bouzid, Joumène Limam

Hold Back / Rengaine (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Rachid Djaïdani

Written by: Rachid Djaïdani

In The House / Dans la maison (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: François Ozon

Written by: François Ozon

It Happened In Saint-tropez / Des Gens qui s’embrassent (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Danièle Thompson ♀

Written by: Danièle Thompson, Christopher Thompson

Jappeloup/ Jappeloup (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Christian Duguay

Written by: Guillaume Canet

Le Grand Soir / Le grand soir (Isa: Funny Balloons)

Directed by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Written by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Little Lion / Comme un Lion (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Samuel Collardey

Written by: Catherine Paillé, Nadège Trebal, Samuel Collardey

Moon Man / Jean de la lune (Isa: Le Pacte)

Directed By: Stephan Schesch

Written By: Stephan Schesch, Ralph Martin. Based on the book by: Tomi Ungerer

Populaire / Populaire (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: TWC)

Directed By: Régis Roinsard

Written By: Régis Roinsard, Daniel Presley, Romain Compingt

Rendezvous In Kiruna / Rendez-vous à Kiruna (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Anne Novion ♀

Written by: Olivier Massart, Anne Novion, Pierre Novion

Sons Of The Wind / Les Fils du vent (Isa: Wide)

Directed by: Bruno Le Jean

Written by: Bruno Le Jean

Stavisky / Stavisky (1974) (Isa: StudioCanal)

Directed by: Alain Resnais

Written by: Jorge Semprún

The Attack / L’Attentat

France, Belgium, Lebanon, Qatar, 2013

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

The BRONTË Sisters / Les Soeurs Brontë (Isa: Gaumont, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: André Téchiné

Written by: André Téchiné, Jean Gruault, Pascal Bonitzer

The Dandelions / Du Vent dans mes mollets ✡

Directed By: Carine Tardieu ♀

Written By: Carine Tardieu, Raphaële Moussafir, Olivier Beer

The Fire Within / Le Feu Follet (1963) (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Janus Films)

Directed by: Louis Malle

Written by: Louis Malle

The Invisibles / Les Invisibles (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Distrib Films))

Directed By: Sébastien Lifshitz

The Man Who Laughs/ L’Homme qui rit (Isa: EuropaCorps)

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Améris

Written by: Jean-Pierre Améris , Guillaume Laurant

THÉRÈSE / Thérèse Desqueyroux (Isa: TF1, U.S.: Mpi)

Directed by: Claude Miller

Written by: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter

Three Worlds / Trois mondes (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Film Movement)

Directed by: Catherine Corsini ♀

Written by: Catherine Corsini, Benoît Graffin

To Our Loves / À nos amours (1983) (U.S. Janus)

Directed By: Maurice Pialat

Written By: Arlette Langmann, Maurice Pialat

True Friends / Amitiés sincères (Isa: Snd Groupe 6)

Directed By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie

Written By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie, Marie-Pierre Huster

Welcome To Argentina / Mariage à Mendoza (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Édouard Deluc

Written By: Anaïs Carpita, Édouard Deluc, Thomas Lilti, Philippe Rebbot

What’S In A Name / Le prénom (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Under The Milky Way)

Directed by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

Written by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

You Ain’T Seen Nothin’ Yet / Vous n’avez encore rien vu (Isa: StudioCanal, U.S.: Kino Lorber)

Directed By: Alain Resnais

Written By: Alain Resnais, Laurent Herbiet...