News

The U.S.'s largest animation film festival is heading to New York City next month for the 8th edition of Animation First. This year, Animation First will celebrate the medium with seven feature films and five short film programs, with a special focus on Swiss animation. Boasting the East...

The 16th edition of the Lumière Film Festival kicked off in high style, with a glittering lineup of stars including Benicio del Toro, Tim Burton, Monica Bellucci and Vanessa Paradis plus high-profile directors Costa-Gavras and Giuseppe Tornatore gracing the red carpet in Lyon.

Bellucci, who’s in town to present a new documentary about the stage play in which she portrays Maria Callas, was among the last to take to the red carpet. After taking a few steps, she turned back with a playful gesture as if she had forgotten something, reached through the curtain, and drew out Tim Burton, to the delight of the 5,000-strong crowd: Burton’s unannounced appearance drew massive applause.

The pair famously met and fell in love in Lyon in 2022, when Burton was the recipient of the festival’s lifetime achievement Lumière Award, which was handed to him by Bellucci. The Italian actress has since...

Directed by and starring Guillaume Canet, the indomitable Gauls' new adventure features an all-star cast including Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and Zlatan Ibrahimović. “The year is 50 BC; Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans... Well, not entirely! Because one small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders, and will do so forever.” The famous introductory spiel from the comic-book adventures of The Adventures of Asterix, created by duo René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, which have sold more than 325 million copies all over the world, will once again emanate from the big screen in Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom by Guillaume Canet, which will kick off principal photography on Monday 12 April. This new opus (which boasts a budget of €60 million) will be the fifth live-action feature inspired by the comic-book series, following Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (15.9 million admissions worldwide,...

Netflix has partnered with Hachette’s Les Editions Albert René and playwright Alain Chabat to create the first-ever animated limited series based on the iconic French comic book The Adventures of Asterix.

The 3D animated series will be made in France and streamed on Netflix around the world in 2023. Chabat, who wrote and directed 2002’s Mission Cléopâtre, will serve as showrunner.

Mission Cléopâtre was the most successful of Asterix’s numerous screen appearances and the third highest-grossing feature film in French history, according to Dominique Bazay, Netflix’s director of original animation.

Each of Asterix’s 38 volumes features the pugnacious warrior and his irreverent village companions keeping a tiny corner of ancient Gaul free from bumbling Roman invaders.

The Netflix series will be based on Asterix and the Big Fight, where the Romans, after being constantly embarrassed by Asterix and his village cohorts, organize a brawl between rival Gaulish chiefs...

Exclusive: Cartoon hero to return in The Secret Of The Magic Potion.

Snd has unveiled details of French animation duo Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier’s 3D CGI animated film Asterix - The Secret Of The Magic Potion, the highly-anticipated follow-up to their 2014 collaboration Asterix – The Mansions Of The Gods [pictured] which drew three million spectators in France and also did well worldwide.

The new adventure sees Asterix and Obelix embark on a quest across Gaul to find a young druid worthy of learning the secret of the magic potion, after elderly village druid Getafix breaks his legs when he falls from a tree while picking mistletoe.

Partners on the production include Snd, M6 Studio, M6 Films and Editions Albert Renee, the publishing house set-up by Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo. The feature is being produced in France by M6 Studio and developed by Mikros Animation, the Paris and Montreal-based animation production house which also worked on features such as...

No, Mel Gibson is not directing Leonardo DiCaprio in a live action version of The Adventures of Asterix, but I imagine that would be just as cool. Gibson, instead, will be directing DiCaprio in an as-yet untitled film about Viking culture that is being written by William Monahan (The Departed). This according to Variety. A joint venture by Gibson’s Icon Productions and Graham King’s Gk Films, the film is set to begin shooting in Fall of 2010.

Says King about the story:

This will be an awe-inspiring story, created with some of the industry’s finest cinematic talent, and I am just over the moon to be making this film with Mel, Leo and Bill.

All involved confirmed their involvement in the film, though no details have emerged about the plot. Expect the same level of gritty, grimy adult fare Gibson has previously shown in Braveheart, The Passion Of The Christ,...