The diehard Gauls will make their return to the big screen. Canal will produce a live-action film based on Asterix, the audiovisual group and the publishing house announced this Monday, April 29. The film’s release date is not known. This announcement follows the creation in 2022 of a department dedicated to the adaptations of literary works into films and series, a “first” for a film studio, according to the manager.
“In 2023, nearly half of the biggest hits at the American and French box offices in cinema were literary adaptations,” explained the president of Canal, Maxime Saada, to the shareholders of Vivendi (parent company of Canal), gathered in general assembly. “This is why, inspired by the merger of Vivendi and the Lagardère group”, which includes Hachette Livre, the leading French publisher and third worldwide, “we decided to create a new label at StudioCanal, StudioCanal Stories”.
“Studiocanal was able to convince us of its ambition, its international know-how, the quality of its teams and its professionalism,” welcomed Isabelle Magnac, president of Editions Albert René, publisher of Asterix since 1980 , in a joint press release with the studio. “It is together and in close proximity that we will develop this new opus around the legendary work created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo,” she added.
In 2023, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom was the fifth live-action film based on the adventures of the indomitable Gauls. Co-produced by Pathé and directed by Guillaume Canet, it attracted 4.6 million spectators in French cinemas, the biggest success in French cinema that year. Several animated films have also been produced under the Asterix franchise.
Independently of Canal’s project, an animated series adapted from the album Le combat des chefs, directed by Alain Chabat, is also expected on Netflix in 2025, while a new animated film produced by M6 is due to be released in 2026. With 400 million albums sold in 130 languages and dialects, the adventures of Asterix, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year, represent “by far the greatest success of comics in the world”, according to Éditions Albert René.