Netflix, Max and Prime Video are currently in the thick of negotiations with French film guilds to seek earlier access to newly released theatrical movies as part of an industry-wide process to update the country’s windowing rules.
France’s strict windowing rules apply to French and global streamers, as well as local free-to-air and pay-TV channels, determining the sequences of rights for each player. Their position in the windowing schedule is contingent on their level of investment in local content; a system which has allowed French production to blossom. Therefore, over the last few years, streamers — which invest less in French movies — have had to wait between 15 to 17 months after a film’s release to launch it on their services, while pay-TV group Canal+ has enjoyed a six-month window.
But last week, Disney+, whose SVOD window was at 17 months, got ahead of all other streamers by signing a pact with local film guilds to shorten it to nine months. This follows the streamer’s commitment to invest 25% of its annual sales generated in France to finance local content (which represents roughly €40 million per year), including 70 movies that will come out in theaters. The pact placed Disney+’s access to fresh pics six months prior to Netflix and eight months ahead of Max, Prime Video and Apple (which also just signed a pact with guilds).
“It’s very significant that Disney+ has committed to dedicate a significant portion of its 25% investment obligation to theatrical movies, and it reflects its trust in our film industry and vibrant box office market,” said an industry insider, adding that 12.5% of the 25% will go toward movies during the first year of the agreement. “Disney realized, after a few experiments, that the theatrical experience was still key to launch movies and in that they share a belief we’ve always had in France.” While last year’s French box office was led by a pair of local films, “A Little Something Extra” and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Disney was the country’s top studio with a raft of hit movies including “Inside Out 2” and “Moana 2.”
Meanwhile, Netflix — which is France’s oldest global streaming service, having launched in the country in September 2014, and its most popular in terms of subscribers — became the first U.S. platform to sign a three-year deal with the French film industry in 2022. As such, Netflix saw its SVOD window shortened from 36 to 15 months after pledging to invest 20% of its French sales in local content (including 4% in theatrical movies).
Netflix is currently lobbying to see its window shortened to 12 months, an ask that has been on the table since 2021 — but is not willing to ramp up investment in French content beyond the company’s current spending, which is estimated at about €40 million per year, according to an industry source. Some of its acclaimed French originals include the Omar Sy series “Lupin” and the shark movie “Under Paris.” The French windowing rules have largely been responsible for the absence of Netflix at the Cannes Film Festival, since the event requires every film in competition to have a theatrical bow in France.
The task force that worked on the initial Netflix deal in 2022 is now back on track and also talking to Max and Prime Video, which are keen on accessing movies earlier than 17 months and could be open to ramping up their investment in local content.
“These discussions are only just beginning, and our approach is open and rational,” said a spokesperson for Max in France. “Max has just arrived, we want to do things right and in order, we are discussing with professional organizations and ARCOM (the broadcasting authorities) ahead of our very likely integration into the regulatory framework of obligations.”
Prime Video declined to comment for this piece.
If anything, the pact between Disney+ and French orgs sparked surprise within the industry because it followed rocky negotiations that reached a low point when Disney decided to forgo the theatrical release of “Strange World” to protest rules which it deemed “cumbersome” and “anti-consumer,” according to a studio spokesperson in France.
But Disney was ultimately eager to find a common ground with local orgs after the fallout of its output deal with Canal+. The latter allowed the studio to have its movies land on the French TV channel six months after their release. Without the Canal+ deal, France’s windowing rules meant that the studio would have had to wait 17 months for their pics to stream on Disney+.
Canal+ isn’t pleased with Disney+’s huge leap forward in the windowing schedule, however, because they’re now merely three months ahead of the U.S. streamer. Canal+ has traditionally been in an ultra-dominant position in France’s film landscape, because it ranks as the country’s biggest backer for French cinema with over €220 million invested in the last three years. But everything could change soon — Canal+ Group’s deal expired in December and industry guilds have been struggling to come to an agreement with the banner.
Shortly before the Disney+ agreement was unveiled, Canal+ Group CEO Maxime Saada told France’s Senate that the pay-TV group would not continue investing €220 million per year in French movies if Disney was granted a nine-month window in exchange for an investment five times lower. Saada even warned the Senate that the group could slash its investment by half if if they’re not given a significant boost in terms of access to newly released movies.
On Thursday, Saada penned an alarming op-ed in the national newspaper Le Monde, in which he argued, citing the Oscar nominations of “Emilia Perez” and the recent success of “Anatomy of a Fall,” that “although French cinema is at its peak, it’s experiencing one of the darkest periods in its history.”
He said France’s windowing schedule “is a virtuous and sophisticated mechanism” that “preserves the number of theaters and strengthens the system, with each player contributing to the financing of the films it exhibits in its distribution window.” But, he added, this “model is now in danger of collapsing under the blows aimed at its pillars.”
