Netflix to invest $221 million on French originals this year

Netflix has revealed its slate of French originals for this year, while also revealing the total sum of the investment to be more than 200 million euros, $221 million. “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," Damien Couvreur, Netflix’z VP series France said.

The streamer has 25 new French titles ready for launch this year and 20 more in production, leading to a total of 52. Among the show highlights revealed during a presentation in Paris today are the Romain Gavras-directed Athena, an immersive and modern tragedy, starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane and Anthony Bajon, and co-written by Ladj Ly and Elias Belkeddar. 

Also being filmed this year is "En Place," a comedy series co-created by Jean-Pascal Zadi and François Uzan, and Le Roi des Ombres, directed by Marc Fouchard, based on an original idea by Kaaris and which, through a gallery of characters, draws inspiration from an ancestral African legend and transposes it onto today’s France. "Standing Up," also on the slate, is a new series from Call My Agent! Creator Fanny Herrero, which goes behind the fictional scenes of the stand-up world.

"Rhythm + Flow France" is a rap competition celebrating the hip-hop movement in Paris, Marseille and Brussels, set to stand alongside "Notre Dame," a drama series from Hervé Hadmar, set on the night of the cathedral fire in 2019; the documentary series Johnny Hallyday: Beyond Rock which lets the artist tell his own story, through decades of unpublished archives; and action film Lost Bullet 2, the second part of Guillaume Pierret’s trilogy.