A long-standing, historical partner of French cinema, Canal+ Group has always offered a privileged place to movies. Mars recently and successfully launched into production with To get a sense of the importance of StudioCanal to the local market, one need only bear in mind that parent Canal Plus accounts for some 15% of France’s annual film production spend between $230m to $300m, repping a major pillar of the filmmaking community.The Mars’ stake acquisition is unlikely to be the last. He added, “This operation is part of our plan to aggressively invest in content, particularly movies that are more than ever at the core of our strategy.”Maxime Saada, CEO of the Canal Plus Group, said “Canal Plus and Studiocanal welcomed the opportunity to combine their already widely recognized know-how in movies with the experience and expertise of Stéphane Célérier.”“Under his leadership, Mars has become a key distributor of some of the greatest names in cinema, including Woody Allen, as well as critically-acclaimed and popular movies (‘Polisse,’ ‘Des Hommes et des dieux,’ ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Potiche,’ to name a few). He is only the latest exec to be shown the door at the venerable Gallic media institution.

The company is riding high at the box office thanks to the spectacular performance of Tom Hardy gangster epic Maxime Saada, chief exec of the Canal Plus Group, said “Canal Plus and Studiocanal welcomed the opportunity to combine their already widely recognized know-how in movies with the experience and expertise of Stéphane Célérier.”“Under his leadership, Mars has become a key distributor of some of the greatest names in cinema, including Woody Allen, as well as critically-acclaimed and popular movies. BAC Films is a French film production and distribution company. “Our industry has been rocked by the launch of streaming services, which has led to an overabundant supply of scripted content and changed the way people consume this content. Dans ce cadre, Stéphane Célérier, actuel président de Mars Film prend la vice-présidence de Studiocanal, branche de Canal+ dédié à la production de films. Based in Paris, the company was founded in 1986 by Jean Labadie, Éric Heumann, and Stéphane Sorlat. IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content.

The European studio enjoyed its most successful year to date last year, with the likes of Liam Neeson-starrer Those kind of numbers have been carried on by the company’s UK operations, under the well-respected and much-liked stewardship of UK chief exec Danny Perkins. Vivendi also announced its acquisition of a 30-percent stake in Stephane Celerier’s Mars Films, a Paris-based leading distributor known for handling the biggest American indies and French hits. Ancienne filiale de distribution de BAC Films, Mars Films est acquise à 80 % par Studiocanal en 2000, puis rachetée entièrement en 2002 [4]. Celerier joins Studiocanal as vice president of the studio.Celerier will however remain boss of Mars Films as his contract with Vivendi allows him to keep distributing acquisitions made via Mars. Headed by Stephane Celerier and Valerie Garcia, Mars Films was rescued from financial struggles once before, in 2015, by Vivendi, which took a 30% stake in the company. Mars Films has an annual revenue of €36.8 million and a debt of €78.6 million, including more than €20 millions in current liabilities, according to court documents filed earlier this month. It’s a completely new world, and it’s crucial for us to adapt our model to these changes,” Celerier said.EuropaCorp stopped its distribution business earlier this year. Having him among us will be a real asset.”Florence Gastaud, the managing director of ARP (authors, directors, producers’ guild) pointed out Studiocanal, which has up until now been dedicated to financing, multi-territory distribution and international sales, was likely considering integrating in-house production to its model.Diving into production would allow Studiocanal to apply the original creation policy that has allowed Canal Plus to deliver such hit shows as “The Returned,” “Spiral,” and “Braquo,” among others. In one of the first expansive film acquisitions of The biggest exec shake-up in a generation at French pay TV giant Canal Plus saw former head of cinema Nathalie Coste-Cerdan replaced by Didier Lupfer, the former head of production and development at its Ubisoft Motion Pictures arm, barely a fortnight ago. Bolloré has now been named chairman of the Canal Plus Group supervisory board.Courson’s time at StudioCanal is generally credited with being a success.

“When you’re a distributor, you have to take a gamble on others’ creativity, and when you’re a producer, you bank on your own creativity.”Celerier said Mars Films is now looking for investors to come on board the company as it concentrates on production.The crisis at Mars underscores the difficulties faced by French distributors from the declining commercial potential of French movies in theaters, as well as the fact that local TV channels have cut back on buying non-European films. The company, which has 23 employees, went into receivership Aug. 1 after it stopped paying creditors. In one of the first expansive film acquisitions of Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore’s reign, French film giant StudioCanal has acquired 30% of French distributor Mars Films.