BERLIN -- Le Studio Canal Plus has ventured into digital animation with a deal to finance "Axis," a $23 million film from Gallic videogame company Chaman Prods.
Billed as Europe's first CGI feature, pic is a co-production between Chaman and Canada's Motion Intl. Roughly two-thirds of the production work will be done in France, and the rest in Canada.
"Axis" will be produced with English and French soundtracks, but the lip-synch will be shaped to the English voices. Pic, which has already been in development for two years, will take another 18 months to complete.
"Axis" is a fantasy adventure set on a distant planet, where four tribes live in one enormous tree, many miles high. When the sap that is their lifeblood starts to dry up, one woman is sent down to the roots to discover the tree's secret.
Based on game
It's based on an original idea for a videogame from Patrick Daher and Chris Delaporte. When they presented the proposal to Denis Friedman, president of Chaman, he initially saw its potential as a TV series before eventually deciding to make it into a feature film. Delaporte and Pascal Pinon will direct the movie.
Developed side by side, the film and videogame will be released simultaneously. Sony, for whom Friedman worked before launching Chaman in 1997, will be responsible for the music.
Friedman said the target audience is 12-year-olds and over -- "our competition is more 'Star Wars' than Disney," he explained.
Canal Plus coin
Le Studio Canal Plus is providing the majority of the financing, with Chaman and Motion Intl. contributing the rest.
Canal Plus is handling worldwide rights outside Canada and has already sold the film to Lauren Films in Spain, Gaga in Japan, CineArt in Benelux and Frenetic in Switzerland. Bac Films, now owned by Canal Plus, will release it in France.
Daniel Marquet, head of international sales and distribution for C+, described the project as a "big challenge." "When you sell such a picture, you are selling the film, the game, the merchandising and the music, all at the same time," he said. "It requires a lot of coordination in sales and marketing, and this is exactly the kind of project where we have to prove ourselves as a major European studio."
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com