Public Support Drives Animated Innovation in France

variety.com:

Ben Croll Since 2019, 98 animated titles have benefited from France’s tax-rebate on international productions (TRIP) scheme, representing 27% of all projects and reflecting a wider industry desire to make the country a global toon boom hub.

This year’s Annecy Animation Festival will share the fruits of that program – which offers an across-the-board 30% tax rebate for international productions, with an additional 10% bonus to projects that partner with local VFX houses — showcasing internationally funded, made-in-France projects like Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4” and Studio Ponoc’s anime fantasy “The Imaginary.” Meanwhile local artists are currently hard at work bringing Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros.

2” to life at Illumination’s Paris facility. Recent big-screen blockbusters that benefited from that program include “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” while Netflix’s small-screen sensation “Blue Eyed Samurai” and upcoming titles “The Doomies” from Disney+, “Creature Commandos” from James Gunn and MAX/Warner, and the Zack Snyder’s “Twilight of the Gods” all proudly boast that made in France label.

Looking to strengthen the local production sector, France’s National Film Board (CNC) earmarked $376 million in public support and an additional $2.15 billion in private funds as part of last year’s France 2030 omnibus infrastructure bill.