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French film company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mars Films, also known as Mars Distribution, is a French motion picture company. It was established as an independent company by Stéphane Célérier and Valérie Garcia in 2007. It was acquired in 2021 by Vivendi, whose Canal+ subsidiary StudioCanal now operates its extensive library.
A former distribution subsidiary of BAC Films,[2] Mars Films was acquired at 80 percent by StudioCanal in 2000 and served as the French distribution outfit for films financed and produced by StudioCanal. In 2002, StudioCanal bought it out entirely, retaining Stéphane Célérier as head.[3] Célérier was ousted in November 2006 and replaced by Philippe Désandré, with Mars Films renamed to StudioCanal Distribution. At the time, it was classed as the fifth most popular distributor in 2006 with a 9.7% market share (or 15.3m admissions for 28 titles released).[4][5] Célérier went on to reclaim the name and set up, in 2007, an independent company with Valérie Garcia.[6][7]
In September 2015, Vivendi, the parent company of Groupe Canal+ (which operates StudioCanal), announced it had acquired a 30 percent stake in Mars Films.[8][9] Stéphane Célérier was appointed vice-chairman of StudioCanal as part of the deal.[10] At the time, Mars Films was again ranked as the fifth largest distributor in France.[6]
Mars Films' catalogue includes the comedy-drama La Famille Bélier, which became a hit in France and was remade into the Academy Award-winning CODA; Two Is a Family with Omar Sy; Fred Cavayé's Nothing to Hide, François Ozon's In the House, Régis Roinsard's Populaire, Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties, Costa-Gavras' Capital. It also picked up the French distribution for several successful indie titles from the U.S. such Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, Craig Gillespie's I, Tonya (2017), Matt Ross' Captain Fantastic (2016), Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, Jeff Nichols' Loving, and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love, Magic in the Moonlight and Blue Jasmine.[11]
On 1 August 2019, the company went into receivership after it stopped paying creditors. It was ordered by the Tribunal de commerce de Paris to restructure.[11] On 11 August 2021, minority shareholder Vivendi acquired the remaining 70% share of Mars Films from May Holding. It also acquired its library of more than 200 titles for all rights in France, which is now fully operated by StudioCanal. Vivendi's paid a total of €17.3 million in its acquisition of Mars Films and laid off its 11 employees. The court ruling stated that the company "will now be focused on the distribution of its library titles and will limit the number of new films released". Upon its restructuring, Variety wrote, "So far, no other French company has managed to fill the gap left by Mars Films as a key purveyor of U.S. independent films."[12][13][14] In 2022, Célérier went on to launch a new production company named Gemma Pictures with PGS Entertainment.[15] That same year, Garcia launched her own company Gabman.[16]
| Release date[a] | Title | Director(s) | French box office (admissions) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2010 | Of Gods and Men | Xavier Beauvois | 3,204,147 | [17] |
| 10 November 2010 | Potiche | François Ozon | 2,318,221 | [18] |
| 21 September 2011 | War of the Buttons | Christophe Barratier | 1,542,231 | [19] |
| 19 October 2011 | Polisse | Maïwenn | 2,414,418 | [20] |
| 29 February 2012 | The Players | Various | 2,301,045 | [21] |
| 10 October 2012 | In the House | François Ozon | 1,195,518 | [22] |
| 28 November 2012 | Populaire | Régis Roinsard | 1,167,403 | [23] |
| 2 January 2013 | Renoir | Gilles Bourdos | 502,064 | [24] |
| 21 August 2013 | Young & Beautiful | François Ozon | 712,767 | [25] |
| 30 October 2013 | Blood Ties | Guillaume Canet | 238,823 | [26] |
| 13 November 2013 | Venus in Fur | Roman Polanski | 264,029 | [27] |
| 16 July 2014 | In the Name of My Daughter | André Téchiné | 300,373 | [28] |
| 5 November 2014 | The New Girlfriend | François Ozon | 568,161 | [29] |
| 17 December 2014 | La Famille Bélier | Éric Lartigau | 7,450,944 | [30] |
| 18 March 2015 | A Perfect Man | Yann Gozlan | 667,261 | [31] |
| 1 April 2015 | Diary of a Chambermaid | Benoît Jacquot | 333,118 | [32] |
| 8 April 2015 | Dark Places | Gilles Paquet-Brenner | 239,160 | [33] |
| 24 June 2015 | One Wild Moment | Jean-François Richet | 854,153 | [34] |
| 7 September 2016 | Frantz | François Ozon | 637,625 | [35] |
| 28 October 2015 | Lolo | Julie Delpy | 906,840 | [36] |
| 10 February 2016 | The Innocents | Anne Fontaine | 702,040 | [37] |
| 7 December 2016 | Two Is a Family | Hugo Gélin | 3,237,948 | [38] |
| 25 January 2017 | The Climb | Ludovic Bernard | 1,136,827 | [39] |
| 26 May 2017 | L'Amant double | François Ozon | 387,829 | [40] |
| 7 June 2017 | The Man with the Iron Heart | Cédric Jimenez | 242,999 | [41] |
| 1 November 2017 | Based on a True Story | Roman Polanski | 110,940 | [42] |
| 4 April 2018 | Just a Breath Away | Daniel Roby | 256,506 | [43] |
| 17 October 2018 | Nothing to Hide | Fred Cavayé | 1,639,781 | [44] |
| 28 November 2018 | Through the Fire | Frédéric Tellier | 1,014,439 | [45] |
| 12 December 2018 | Remi, Nobody's Boy | Antoine Blossier | 857,515 | [46] |
| 20 February 2019 | By the Grace of God | François Ozon | 915,327 | [47] |
| 27 March 2019 | Real Love | Claire Burger | 102,934 | [48] |
| 3 April 2019 | Love at Second Sight | Hugo Gélin | 559,126 | [49] |
| 29 January 2020 | The Translators | Régis Roinsard | 279,035 | [50] |
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