Continental Dominance

From a few days back, but worth noting.

Le Petit Prince has become France’s top animated export in two decades. After debuting in Cannes in May, the film went on to make $67.5M around the world — and that’s without the U.S., where Paramount releases the film on March 18. ...

French movies sold 106 million tickets overseas in 2015, the third time in four years the number topped 100 million — and the second year in a row there were more admissions to French films outside France than in. ...

Animation was a clear highlight in 2015 with Astérix Le Domaine Des Dieux (No. 6) and Mune, Le Gardien De La Lune (No. 7) also in the Top 10. A record 20% of all receipts came from the medium. Le Petit Prince alone sold 15M tickets. ...

What gets forgotten in all the genuflecting and hossanahs in the direction of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks Animation and Blue Sky Studios is that there is a large substrata of global animated features that make good profits.

Though they don't rake in the huge grosses of many of the American giants, they are one hell of a lot cheaper to produce. And it's not just French features ...

... Spain’s Ilion Animation Studios, its biggest animation hub, is producing a fully animated 3D tent-pole feature for Paramount Animation, Paramount’s new animation unit, which created the movie’s IP. ...

Ilion first produced alien planet comedy “Planet 51,” which, released by Sony in the U.S., grossed $42.2 million Stateside and $105.6 million worldwide, a record for a Spanish animation movie. ...

And it's not just Ilion that's made money on the Iberian peninsula, three years ago it was an Indiana Jones satire:

... “Tad, the Lost Explorer,” the third Spanish film in a row to open Cartoon Movie. Studiocanal-sold, “Tad” snagged $40 million worldwide through Feb. 17, [2013] becoming Spain’s highest-grossing Spanish toon ever ($24.6 million). ... Co-produced by Mediaset Espana’s film arm Telecinco Cinema, “Tad” underscores Spain’s private networks growing commitment to animated features. ...

Animated features are produced around the world; many are never released in the United States but that doesn't prevent them from making money. (Currently Boonie Bears II in China is hot at the turnstiles, just as BB I & II were hot items before it.)

The trick here ... as everywhere ... is to make quality product for a price south of the American benchmark of $150-$200 million. If you can figure out a way to do that, your future could well be paved with gold. Just ask Chris Meledandri.