Newen Connect’s French-language comedies Family Therapy, Open Season and Lucky Punch have lured a long list of buyers across the globe for theatrical distribution in more than 50 markets and a raft of remakes in the pipelines.
Arnaud Lemort’s Family Therapy (Jamais Sans Mon Psy) has sold to over 30 territories including Italy (Movies Inspired), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Germany and Austria (Lighthouse), Benelux (Paradiso), Switzerland (Pathé Films), Canada (TVA Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Donart), Hungary and Romania (Vertigo Media), Ukraine (Total Film Distribution), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Estonia (Estin Film), Israel (Forum Film), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Greece (Spentzos), Middle East (Grand Entertainment) and airlines (Skeye).
The family comedy starring Christian Clavier and Baptiste Lecaplain follows a young man with severe anxiety whose former therapist turns out to be his new father-in-law set on making his life a living hell. The film is produced by Atelier de Production and coproduced by TF1 Studio, UGC and TF1 Films Production. It will be released in France at the end of the year by UGC Distribution and TF1 Studio.
Frederic Forestier and Antonin Fourlon’s ensemble comedy Open Season (Chasse Gardée), a hit in France with 2 million admissions from its December 2023 release, has sold to 20 markets including Spain (Flins & Piniculas), Canada (A-Z Films), Portugal (FILMS4YOU), Benelux (Vertigo Films), Switzerland (Pathé Films), Germany and Austria (ZDF Enterprises), Poland (Telewizja Puls), Ukraine (Svoe Kino), Greece (Videorama) and airlines (Skeye). Prorom has taken rights to the film in Eastern Europe and remake rights have been sold to Germany, Italy and Spain for local versions.
Open Season is about a family who escapes the city for some peace and quiet only to find out their property is open for hunting season for the entire village. It is produced by Curiosa Films and Starman Films and co-produced by TF1 Studio and UGC, which released the film in France.
Varante Soudian’s Lucky Punch has also been a knockout title since sales kicked off at May’s Cannes market. The boxing comedy has sold to Vertigo Films in Benelux, Pathe Films in Switzerland, A-Z Films in Canada, Beta Film in Bulgaria and Svoe Kino in Ukraine. The film about a small-time boxer who lands a lucky knock-out blow and goes on to risk everything to enter a major championship is produced by Alef Two with Les Enfants Terribles and UGC Images. UGC Distribution will release the film locally in October.
“The longstanding partnership between TF1 and UGC and the resulting warm comedies that come out of this relationship continue to hit the mark with cinemagoers,” said Alice Damiani, SVP international film sales at Newen Connect, the TF1-owned film and TV distribution arm of French media group Newen Studios.
Damiani added: “[Our] catalogue of gentle-humoured titles are not only attracting global distributors in large numbers, but have at their heart such universal themes that they are ripe for developing as local versions.”
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