Netflix Investing €200 Million in French Productions

Netflix has unveiled a roster of 25 new French productions to be launched in 2022 and 20 titles in production, for a total investment of more than €200 million ($220 million).

For one, Netflix is highlighting new voices carrying today’s stories, starting with Romain Gavras directing Athena, an immersive and modern tragedy played by Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon and co-written by Ladj Ly. Netflix also revealed two new projects being filmed this year: En Place, a series co-created by Jean-Pascal Zadi and François Uzan, a new comedy with a unique style, and Le Roi des Ombres, directed by Marc Fouchard, based on an original idea by Kaaris and which draws inspiration from an ancestral African legend and transposes it onto today’s France.

There are also projects that focus on French cultural phenomena. Standing Up, the new Fanny Herrero series, takes viewers behind the fictional scenes of the stand-up world. Rhythm + Flow France is a rap competition celebrating the hip-hop movement in an unprecedented way, going in search of its future new faces between Paris, Marseille and Brussels.

Among the titles developed by the Netflix France team that are rooted in stories that have shaped French people’s collective memory are the series Notre Dame and the documentary series Johnny Hallyday: Beyond Rock. There is also a documentary film on Carlos Ghosn, about his escape from Japan and his complex personality and unique destiny, as well as a documentary series looking back on the story of Raël and his thousands of followers in 104 countries around the world.

In 2022, Netflix productions will also pay tribute to genres popular with French audiences. This includes the traditional action film and its stunts with Lost Bullet 2, the second part of Guillaume Pierret’s trilogy. This is also the case for action-comedy, with The Takedown, directed by Louis Leterrier, bringing together the duo Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte. Dangerous Liaisons, a contemporary and teenage adaptation of the eponymous novel, is the first film by Rachel Suissa, shot in Biarritz.

Damien Couvreur, VP of series for France, commented, “We are proud of bringing new stories to life and reflecting the diversity of French creation in all the 25 productions, in all their variety, being released this year on Netflix.”