StudioCanal Takes A Majority Stake In Italy's Lucky Red

STUDIOCANAL, Europe's leading film and television studio and CANAL+ in house studio has today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in LUCKY RED, one of Italy's major Italian distribution and production companies.

Established in 1987 in Rome by Andrea Occhipinti, Lucky Red initially operated as an independent art-house film distributor. It has since expanded its scope and now stands as a major player in Italy’s independent film distribution and production landscape. Over nearly four decades, Lucky Red has released more than 600 films, many of which have received major international distinctions, including awards from Cannes International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, the Academy Awards and the David di Donatello Awards. Its catalogue includes films from some of the world’s most acclaimed directors (Bong Joon-ho, Jafar Panahi, Joachim Trier, Paolo Sorrentino, Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wim Wenders, Danny Boyle, Luca Guadagnino, Alexander Payne, Todd Haynes, Stephen Frears, Asghar Farhadi). In 2024, Lucky Red was awarded ‘best international innovation for distribution’ at the third International Film Distribution Summit.

Lucky Red and STUDIOCANAL are building on a long-standing relationship that has bought audiences an array of cinematic hits from The Coen Brothers' INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS to STUDIOCANAL's German production HEIDI, and the acclaimed WE LIVE IN TIME starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Their partnership continues with the highly anticipated release of Aardman and STUDIOCANAL's SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BEAST OF MOSSY BOTTOM coming to theatres this Halloween, ELSINORE, currently in post-production in the UK for STUDIOCANAL, Lucky Red, Magnolia May Films and LD Entertainment, VIOLETTE (Changer l’eau des fleurs) from acclaimed director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and FONDA from Academy Award and BAFTA winning director Justine Triet, announced last week. FONDA will star Mia Goth and Andrew Scott with Allison Janney in talks to join the project shooting this Spring. STUDIOCANAL picked up several major territories including Italy.

With this acquisition, the partnership enters an exciting new phase, giving STUDIOCANAL a unique opportunity to expand direct operations into a major European market, alongside its existing direct distribution and production presence across 11 European territories, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and New Zealand, with offices in the United States and China. For Lucky Red, the move unlocks the potential to board more ambitious projects, reinforcing its ability to attract both seasoned filmmakers and emerging talent, setting the stage for even greater creative and commercial success.

Lucky Red continues to deliver strong box office success at the Italian box office with recent hits including THE BOY AND THE HÉRON, PERFECT DAYS, EMILIA PEREZ, DRACULA, BERLINGUER: LA GRANDE AMBIZIONE, NO OTHER CHOICE, A SIMPLE ACCIDENT, SENTIMENTAL VALUE. The company’s success also extends to television with acclaimed titles such as BELCANTO (RAI & Netflix), GIGOLO PER CASO (Prime Video) and CHRISTIAN (Sky), demonstrating its ability to captivate audiences across both big and small screens.

Anna Marsh, CEO of STUDIOCANAL and Chief Content Officer of CANAL+: "I am delighted that STUDIOCANAL is deepening its partnership with the incredibly talented team at Lucky Red, one of Italy’s most vibrant film and television companies. This development enables us to gain a solid presence in one of Europe’s prime markets, further reinforcing our status as the leading European studio. Both Lucky Red and STUDIOCANAL are dedicated to bold and distinctive storytelling across all forms, supported by deeply experienced teams committed to delivering extraordinary stories to audiences. This collaboration will further strengthen Lucky Red’s position as a major player in film and television”.

Andrea Occhipinti, founder and CEO of Lucky Red: “We are thrilled to be joining the most dynamic company in the European entertainment industry. Lucky Red and STUDIOCANAL are both distributors and producers of successful films and series, with complementary strengths and a shared long-term vision. Thanks to the incredible catalogue of film from STUDIOCANAL and its production slate, this prestigious international partnership will allow Lucky Red to strengthen its legitimacy as a major player in the local film industry, attracting high-caliber talent and producing first class content. I firmly believe that this is a perfect match and a great opportunity for further growth”.

Canal+ And Sky Launch New Partnership To Develop English-Language Drama

Sky and CANAL+ announced a strategic co commissioning partnership to develop premium, English language scripted content, bringing together complementary creative expertise, shared investment and international reach to support ambitious storytelling.

Sky and CANAL+ will work together to develop a minimum of two projects per year over an initial three-year term, co-financing green-lit projects. Drawing on the capabilities of STUDIOCANAL and leading independent producers, the partnership will provide a stage for both established and emerging talent.

The collaborative model is designed to support wide distribution, reaching audiences across Europe and beyond, and providing a strong route to market for UK led stories with international resonance.

Maxime Saada, CEO CANAL+, said: "Sky and CANAL+ share the same storytelling DNA and drive to develop globally successful content and IP. Our previous co-productions, like The Young Pope and Zero Zero Zero, are great examples of what we can do together through this complementary and ambitious new partnership.”

Dana Strong CBE, Group CEO Sky, said: “We are excited to build on our strong working relationship with CANAL+ to create this partnership. Sky and CANAL+ share a strong track record in creating premium drama, and through this collaboration we will bring our creative ambition and expertise together at scale.”

With the agreement now in place, Sky and CANAL+ will begin developing the first slate of tentpole projects in the coming months. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to long term collaboration and sustained investment in premium scripted content, developed in the UK and designed to travel internationally.

Canal+ Announces Plans To Deploy OpenAI To Its Streaming App, Forms Partnership With Google Cloud

Enhanced Canal+ App Experience With OpenAI Technology

Starting June 2026, CANAL+ will roll out a major evolution of the CANAL+ App using the technology from OpenAI to power content search and discovery. This new feature represents a major breakthrough in delivering a more intuitive, intelligent, and personalized user experience - a world first innovation in the entertainment industry that further confirms CANAL+’s position as a pioneer and consistent trend setter.

The CANAL+ App will offer a uniquely enhanced search experience that goes beyond traditional keyword based queries. Thanks to OpenAI frontier models, subscribers will be able to express what they want to watch in their own words - based on their preferences, their mood, or even spontaneous curiosity - and receive tailored content suggestions that truly meet their expectations.

Whether a subscriber types “I would like a comforting romantic comedy” like BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY, “an epic historical series” like KING & CONQUEROR or “something lighthearted, fun and entertaining to watch” like LOUPS-GAROUS into the search bar, the CANAL+ App will be able to suggests tailored content that matches subscribers’s queries.

Deploying OpenAI is a natural continuation of CANAL+’s long-standing tradition of pioneering innovations that shape the future of entertainment experiences. Just as CANAL+ pioneered the ability to watch the best content all in one place with its aggregation strategy in 2019, and was the first to offer a content viewing experience in connected vehicles in 2024, this collaboration continues to redefine how its subscribers access and enjoy entertainment.

Maxime Saada, CEO of CANAL+ : “We are delighted to collaborate with OpenAI, one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence companies, to enhance the entertainment experience of our 40 million subscribers. This collaboration is part of CANAL+’s long-standing tradition of innovation and its commitment to continuously reinventing entertainment. Today, our subscribers already access the very best international and local content on the CANAL+ App. With this technological collaboration, we are proud to take a major leap forward, redefining how audiences discover content.”

Ashley Kramer, VP of Enterprise of OpenAI : “People increasingly expect technology to understand them the way they naturally express themselves. By bringing OpenAI into the CANAL+ App, subscribers can describe exactly what they feel like watching. It’s a great example of how advanced AI can make everyday entertainment experiences simpler, more intuitive, and more personal.”

CANAL+ will use Google Cloud’s AI technology to optimize content discovery and propel video creativity

CANAL+ and Google Cloud have announced a new multi-year partnership focused on artificial intelligence. Starting in June 2026, CANAL+ will deploy Google Cloud’s latest generative AI technologies across European and African markets where the CANAL+ App is available, unlocking a new era of creative possibilities for the group.

Tailor made entertainment experience fueled by Google Cloud content video Indexing

Using Google Cloud’s technologies, CANAL+ will accelerate the content video indexing of its extensive content library. The new content classification will provide the global media and entertainment group with an in-depth multimodal database combining sound, video, and text data. This increased granularity in content classification will enable smarter, more personalized content recommendations on the homepage of the CANAL+ App, matching each subscriber’s preferences according to their viewing habits. This will make it easier than ever for subscribers to discover even more content they love on CANAL+.

CANAL+’s multimodal database of video content paves the way for a wide range of opportunities - from enhanced content discovery to entirely new business models.

A new creative frontier fueled by innovation and faster experimentation cycles

CANAL+ will also leverage Veo3, Google’s new genAI video technology to provide its production partners and creative teams with tools that will unlock the creative ambitions of their talent, for instance, previsualizing a scene before shooting it or recreating historical moments from a single archival photo.

The partnership guarantees a very secure technical environment, where rights, assets ownership are deeply protected. Using these tools & platform, CANAL+’s partners will have full control of their production, of their editorial decision, with opportunities to try new approach while ensuring cost control, thanks to significantly shorter experimentation cycles.

This secure technical platform and tools will be made available to production who wish to use it in films supported by CANAL+.

Stéphane Baumier, Chief Technology Officer of CANAL+ : “We are pleased to leverage Google Cloud’s most advanced AI technologies to drive CANAL+’s technical innovation. Building on a long-standing collaboration with Google, this strategic partnership paves the way for limitless possibilities. Content video indexing for CANAL+ at scale gives the group a significant edge, notably by enabling us to deliver sharper discovery and truly enhanced personalized journeys on the CANAL+ App across all our markets. Creativity is the cornerstone of CANAL+’s content production. We are excited to push creative boundaries by providing creators with tools that enable AI-generated video scenes, impossible to produce using traditional methods.”

Matt Renner, President, Chief Revenue Officer of Google Cloud : "The entertainment industry is at a pivotal inflection point where the intersection of creativity and compute power defines market leadership. Our deepened collaboration with CANAL+ is a testament to a shared culture of relentless innovation. By leveraging Google Cloud’s generative AI technologies, CANAL+ is not just adopting tools; they are architecting the future of media and fundamentally transforming the entertainment landscape on a global scale.”

You Are My Love, Former Glow TV Series Has Been Picked Up By Star Life

A few years ago, eMedia Investments removed South African based entertainment channel Glow TV from their platforms. With no other platform available to package the channel, Nismedia that served as the parent company ended it's operations.

Since then, various shows from Glow TV had started to resurface in South Africa with the short lived Uzozisola - Regrets on e.tv while Star Life aired Saras & Kumud and Forbidden Love. Now Star Life will expand this lineup with You Are My Love.

Synopsis for You Are My Love

The story revolves around the intense love story of Pankti Sharma, a beautiful, kind-hearted young girl with dreams of becoming a successful singer, and Ahaan Dhanrajgir, a charming, aspiring rockstar musician from a wealthy family.

Pankti lives under the control of her materialistic and failed actress mother, Anita Sharma, who is deeply in debt and bankrupt. In a shocking and exploitative twist, Anita "sells" her daughter Pankti to JD (Jayant Dhanrajgir)—Ahaan's rich, powerful, cruel, manipulative, and much older uncle—for money to sustain her lavish lifestyle. Pankti is forced into a exploitative arrangement as JD's mistress, trapping her in a life of emotional and financial bondage.

When Ahaan meets Pankti, he falls deeply in love with her at first sight, and she reciprocates his feelings. Ahaan, unaware at first of the dark reality behind Pankti's situation, becomes determined to rescue her, help her pursue her singing dreams, and free her from JD's clutches. Their romance faces immense obstacles, including family opposition, JD's ruthless interference, betrayal, societal judgment, and dramatic twists involving blackmail, revenge, and emotional turmoil.

Known in India as Tu Aashiqui and broadcast on Glow TV as The Cost Of Love. It was broadcast on 20 September 2018 and concluded on 12 October 2018 on Colors TV after 288 half hour episodes.

It starred Jannat Zubair Rahmani as Singer Pankti Dhanrajgir, Ritvik Arora as Musician Ahaan Dhanrajgir, Rahil Azam as Jayant Dhanrajgir, Gauri Pradhan as Anita Sharma, Rushal Parekh as Uday Mathur and Nidhi Shah as Poorva Sharma.

You Are My Love will broadcast daily at 16:00 CAT from 19 March on Star Life.

Channel Premiere: Mannat, Colors TV Original Launches On Star Life

Star Life, a Bollywood based channel operated by JioStar has announced that they'll be launching a new series called Mannat. Known in India as Mannat – Har Khushi Paane Ki, the series will air daily at 21:30 from 19 March.

Synopsis for Mannat

The story is set in vibrant Mumbai and centers on Mannat, a talented, happy-go-lucky, and determined young chef who aspires to become one of India's renowned chefs. Abandoned as a newborn at Marine Drive by her biological mother, she was saved by a young boy and raised by her loving maternal aunt (maasi), Shruti, whom she initially believes to be her mother.

After graduating from culinary college, Mannat lands her first job at a high-end restaurant called "Mezbaani," owned by the cold, ruthless, and critical Aishwarya (her biological mother, who abandoned her) and her business partner Vikrant Saluja (the male lead, who becomes supportive and romantically involved with Mannat).

Unaware of her true origins, Mannat faces challenges in the professional world, including prejudice due to her disadvantaged background. Aishwarya, initially harsh toward Mannat and even fires her at one point, shares a deep but hidden connection with her. The narrative explores Mannat's journey to fulfill her career dreams while uncovering shocking truths about her birth, family ties, and identity.

It starred Ayesha Singh as Mannat Khanna, Adnan Khan as Aman "Vikrant" Saluja, Mona Vasu as Sonia "Aishwarya" Khanna Raisingh, Manit Joura as DCP Dhairya Kumar, Mamata Verma as Shruti Khanna and Yami Khandelwal / Trisha Sharda as Dua Saluja.

Since it's inception on Colors TV, Mannat continues to be broadcast on the channel with over 390 episodes having being filmed. It will join Noyontara: The Hidden Truth as another TV show to have aired on Colors TV.

Mannat will broadcast daily on Star Life from 19 March at 21:30 CAT replacing Sweet Love.