“Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire”: soon on Netflix… except in France

2023-04-25 18:38:00

Guillaume Canet’s hit film will be available on May 19 on the platform. A program which the French will not be able to take advantage of before 2024 at best.

By Leo Rougagnou

Asterix and Obelix will speak in several languages ​​from May 19 on Netflix.
© Pathé

Published on 04/25/2023 at 6:38 p.m.

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LLaggards are always wrong. This maxim is all the more valid for the French who have not gone to see Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom indoors. They will have to wait until at least 2024 to be able to watch it on Netflix. While the film released in cinemas on 1^is February 2023 will be available in many neighboring countries on the platform on May 19.

Netflix, which also relies on South Korean fiction to boost its subscriptions, will have to wait 15 months from the film’s release to be able to broadcast it in France, although it has pre-financed the feature film. In question: the chronology of the media which, in order to guarantee the French cultural exception and the proper functioning of French cinema, requires late distribution, ie 15 to 17 months after its theatrical release. This feature implies a delay for all cinematic releases in SVOD (video on demand service).

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In France, the chronology of the media is easily explained. The film is initially released in cinemas. Four months later, VOD services picked it up and added it to their offers. Canal+ is able to offer it to its subscribers six months later. Streaming platforms have to wait fifteen to seventeen months before releasing it. And finally, the classic channels, they wait 22 months.

The other Asterix of Chabat

According to the What’s on Netflix site, Guillaume Canet’s film will be available in several languages, including French, English, Spanish or Portuguese, and will obviously include many subtitles. On the other hand, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, the Baltic countries and Greece will also have to wait, for distribution reasons.

Netflix is ​​not done with Asterix and his friends. Note that the 3D cartoon from the boss fight, another adventure of Gallic heroes, produced by Alain Chabat, should be released on the platform in 2024.