France’s Mediawan buys 24 25 Films ahead of TV, animation push
Thibault Gast (left) and Matthias Weber
France-based production and distribution group Mediawan has acquired a majority stake in 24 25 Films as the Paris-based prodco looks to push into TV series and animation.
Founded and led by producers Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber, 24 25 Films has mostly produced features for the big screen and, more recently, streamers such as Netflix since being founded in 2009.
It was behind films including thrillers directed by Yann Gozlan, such as Black Box and A Perfect Man, as well as Thomas Kruithof’s Promises and Scribe and comedy In The Game, directed by Robin Sykes.
Its latest production, the action-comedy Cash, directed by Jérémie Rozan, has been available on Netflix since July 6.
Mediawan Group already includes the cinema-focused production company Plan B, co-owned by Brad Pitt, as well as Hugo Sélignac’s Chi-Fou-Mi, Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2, Nicola Serra’s Palomar and Clément Miserez’s Radar Films.
Gast and Weber said in a joint statement that the company is now developing TV series as well as animated projects and being part of Mediawan Group will “enable us to provide the best possible support for our talents, and to drive our projects to the highest level in France, as well as internationally.”
Created in late 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan Group owns more than 60 production labels in France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, US, Netherlands, Finland and Senegal.
Mediawan is backed by private equity firms including New York-headquartered KKR and LA-based Atwater Capital.
Elisabeth d’Arvieu, MD of Mediawan Pictures, said: “Their slate illustrates Matthias and Thibault’s talent and ability to find ambitious projects in all genres, from comedy to drama to thriller.
“They have a strong desire to discover and support new talents and to offer audiences the very best in creation, which is totally aligned with our vision at Mediawan. Their catalogue is rich in both demanding and popular projects, and the projects they develop carry the promise of great success. We are keen to support them in their future development, particularly in TV series and animation, and we are convinced that our partnership will be very successful.”
