Studiocanal, Sun Africa Group Sign Three-Year South African Theatrical Distribution Deal

Studiocanal, the Paris-based and French film and television studio owned by Canal+ Group, has signed a 3-year theatrical distribution deal with Sun Africa Group for South Africa. 

Studiocanal produces, finances, and distributes movies and series from its catalog, across Europe and globally. This three-year theatrical distribution partnership with Sun Africa Group is for the release of a slate of English-language feature films in South Africa.

Sun Africa Group will theatrically distribute Studiocanal’s main slate of English-language feature films in South Africa, including animation titles, films from Studiocanal’s genre label 6th Dimension, and selected South African productions developed by Studiocanal and M-Net.

The first title to be released under the partnership will be Anthony Maras’ thriller Pressure, starring Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, and Kerry Condon. Upcoming releases include Danny Boyle’s Ink, Simon Stone’s Elsinore, Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil, Josie Rourke’s The Custom Of The Country, and Sean Byrne’s The Mannequin, with additional films to be announced in due course.

Additionally, Studiocanal’s Bill Condon’s The Road Home, starring Cynthia Erivo, Thabo Rametsi, and Guy Pearce, will begin shooting in South Africa at the end of June. The Road Home is a historical musical drama about trumpeter Hugh Masekela and singer Miriam Makeba forming the Graceland band during the 1980s anti-apartheid boycott over Paul Simon’s Graceland album. 

The distribution agreement builds on an existing relationship between Studiocanal and Sun Africa Group, including the South African release of We Live in Time, the Studiocanal-produced drama starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh.

The deal gives Studiocanal a structured theatrical pipeline into South Africa, one of Africa’s largest and most developed cinema markets. For the broader African market, this deal further signals that European studios still see value in theatrical windows outside of streaming, and it strengthens Canal+ Group’s vertical integration across production, distribution, and exhibition on the continent. That more Studiocanal titles will reach South African screens can pressure local distributors to compete on curation and marketing for non-Hollywood films, and open the door for more co-production partnerships.

Studiocanal has a history of backing African stories and producing films in South Africa. Through Canal+’s 2019 acquisition of ROK Studios, Studiocanal’s parent company owns a catalog of 540+ Nollywood films and 25 TV series. ROK produces low-budget Nigerian/Ghanaian/South African stories for Francophone and Anglophone Africa. 

In 2023, Studiocanal handled global distribution of Spinners, a South African crime thriller TV series co-produced with MultiChoice, outside Africa. It’s one of Canal+/Studiocanal’s first major SA series partnerships. Huntington, a revenge thriller starring Glen Powell, shot on location in Cape Town with a South African crew, is a Studiocanal production that uses SA’s tax incentive, though  the story isn’t African.