French pay-TV powerhouse Canal Plus unveiled its autumn line-up in Paris this week and announced a new channel devoted to films from well-known directors selected at global festivals called Canal+ Cinema(s) that will launch on September 1 alongside Canal+ Box Office.
The latter will feature primarily blockbusters from the US majors in addition to crowd-pleasing local fare, capitalising on themedia chronology that allows Canal+ to air films six months after their theatrical release, a major leg up compared to fellow streamers inlcuding Netflix and Prime Video that have to wait 15-17 months.
Canal+ will air 500 films over the next six months, a blend of French cinema and international fare that will include 2023 box office hits Philippe Lacheau’s Alibi.com 2 and François Ozon’s The Crime Is Mine, recent Cannes titles Strangers By Night and The King Of Algiers, and anticipated upcoming films including Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Among its film-talent slate of 10 original series, plus films and programming is Xavier Giannoli’s Of Money and Blood) starring Vincent Lindon in the veteran actor and former Cannes jury president’s first TV role. It is based on a real-life story of swindlers attempting to pull off France’s carbon tax “fraud of the century.”
Further new seris include an as-yet- untitled US-style sitcom filmed with live audiences set in an airport from beloved French humorist Jamel Debbouze; Spiral creator Anne Langlois is launching legal drama 66-5 set in a Bobigny court; Eric Benzekri and Ziad Doueri are set for The Fever, a football drama starring Nina Meurisse, Ana Girardot and Benjamin Biolay, produced by Quad Drama; and Kad Merad and Olivier Baroux are teaming for Pamela Rose: The Series, in which they will reprise their roles as a detective duo from their hit 2003 film Mais Qui a Tué Pamela Rose? (Bullit & Riper) and its 2013 sequel Mais Qui a Re-Tué Pamela Rose? (English title: FBI: Frog Butthead Investigators).
Additionally, the France-set, English-language Mister Spade, co-written by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana. stars Clive Owen and is produced by France’s Haut Court. Denis Ménochet, Louise Bourgoin, Chiara Mastroianni, Stanley Weber and Jonathan Zaccaï co-star.
Canal Plus continues to position itself as a one-stop content shop. While cinema has a starring role with a pledge o invest €200m a year in film, the company is also home to more than 10,000 hours of sports content per season and live events. In addition to aggregation deals with Disney+ and Netflix, the group signed a deal in April with Apple TV+ to bring Apple TV+ to its subscribers at no extra cost.
The group continues to ramp up its efforts to rival streamers and is also pushing its own catch-up platform MyCanal that houses its full spectrum of content. “We’ve obviously become a platform, but we’re first and foremost a medium, and it’s as a medium that we’re going to continue to set Canal apart from the rest of the environment, whether it’s free or pay TV,” said Canal+ Group chair and CEO Maxime Saada.
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