SND to launch sales on nuclear-crisis thriller ‘Jupiter’ starring Denis Menochet at AFM

EXCLUSIVE: SND has boarded Alexandre Smia’s tense thriller Jupiter about the threat of a nuclear war and will launch sales at AFM.

The title refers to the underground bunker located under Paris’ Élysée Palace where the French government convenes to deal with international crises. Denis Menochet plays the newly elected French president, who enters crisis discussions with his political and military advisors following an assassination attempt on Russia’s president as the threat of nuclear war looms.

Alongside Menochet, the starry French cast includes Andre Dussollier, Ella Rumpf, Reda Kateb, Dominique Blanc, Celine Sallette, Cedric Kahn and Jeremy Lopez.

It is the debut feature from Smia, a rising French filmmaker who wrote the screenplay for Martin Bourboulon’s Cannes premiere 13 Days, 13 Nights, about the evacuation of Kabul during the Taliban takeover, and several episodes of hit series The Bureau. Smia also co-wrote Jupiter with Thomas Finkielkraut. 

Mediawan’s Chi-Fou-Mi is producing and SND will release in France in 2026. The film shot over the summer in and around Paris, including several scenes at the real Élysée Palace (although the bunker remained off-limits to the filmmakers for security reasons). 

Smia told Screen the titular command post is “a secret and secured location where the president makes the most critical decisions. It’s a location people fantasise about. When the war in Ukraine started, I felt obligated to probe the minds of the few men with the fate of the world in their hands.”

He added: “Jupiter highlights the solitude of a man confronted not only with the end of the world but also with his own demons. The film poses the question: what happens in the mind of a man when he holds almost divine power?”

SND will have a teaser, first images and an English-language script to show buyers at AFM.

Ramy Nahas, director of international sales and distribution at SND, said: “While the film is deeply rooted in the current context, its message is universal and timeless. Alexandre Smia delivers a thriller where what happens on screen is as important as what is off-screen. The audience will be in the room with the protagonists and will feel the constant and growing pressure.”

SND is also heading to AFM with a new promo reel for Remi Bezancon’s detective comedy Murder In the Building, starring Laetitia Casta and Gilles Lellouche as a Hitchcock movie buff and her husband who suspect their new neighbour of killing his wife.

Other titles on SND’s slate include Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s comedy drama Whatever It Takes starring Sandrine Kiberlain and Pierre Lottin, and Ooh La La 2 (Cocorico 2), the sequel to the French box office hit led by Christian Clavier.

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