Ahead of France Licensing Day on 27 June, LicensingSource.net catches up with Valerie Rolandez-Barrios’, senior VP IP licensing and partnerships at Studiocanal, to find out more on the company’s plans.
Why is France Licensing Day such an important date in your business calendar?
Because it is the last show before the summer and allows us to meet licensees from all horizons. Also because of the award ceremony at the end of the day, which is a celebration of the licensing works of all kinds.
How important is the French licensing market to your brand/business?
This an important day for our family brands, Paddington and Ernest & Celestine. The third movie of Paddington – Paddington in Peru – will be released in UK on 8 November 2024, Sony will release the US in January 2025 and in France on 5 February 2025. Disney + will also broadcast the first two movies and series, while Gulli will broadcast the third series. There’s a lot of exciting things coming in the year for Paddington!
Also, with the kidult and 80-90’s nostalgia trend, our pop culture IPs Terminator and Rambo, Highlander and Total Recall among other iconic titles are popular brands now too. The current horror trend brings our horror/sci-fi IPs Evil Dead 2 and Carpenter movies under spotlight too.
What’s the biggest trend driving licensing in France right now?
Paddington and Terminator 1 and 2 with the 40th anniversary of the franchise and the strong console game from Nacon to be soon released… plus the Cameron exhibition in Paris. Terminator 2 is considered to be the first movie on AI ever, with such a strong Sarah Connor female character, who Studiocanal has dedicated a style guide to.
What’s new? What will FLD attendees find out about your brands they may not already know?
All the coming news about Paddington, as well as the news about the developments of our catalogue IPs… new Evil Dead movies to come… a new Chapeau Melon et bottes de cuir/ The Avengers TV series… and more to come on the greatest video games.
What’s your favourite French brand?
Astérix, and we are lucky that Studiocanal will develop with Hachette the next Astérix movie.
Will we see you at Brand Licensing Europe in September?
Definitely, at the Studiocanal-Copyrights booth!
Registration for both France Licensing Day and the Licensing International France Awards (which takes place in the evening on 27 June) is open at https://www.francelicensingday.com/. A France Licensing Day pass is free for all to attend. A day pass plus a ticket to the prestigious Licensing International France Awards, including drinks and canapés, is priced at €64 (€56 for Licensing International members).
