News

After winning the Grand Prize in the “Animated Feature” category at the 2026 New York International Children’s Film Festival, we are proud to announce that "My Life in Versailles - The Movie" is officially in competition at the 2026 Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, in the AniMovie category!

A co-production by FILMS GRAND HUIT - MELUSINE - XILAM ANIMATION - MIYU

International distribution : Dandelooo Cinéma

We are happy to announce the official selection of Piggy Builders in the animation preschool category at the BANFF World Media Festival 2026 Rockie Awards.

Piggy Builders is a wonderful European adventure, commissioned by BBC (UK), France Télévisions, and ZDF (Germany) in 2024. Since its first broadcast in July 2025, our charming little piggies— Cornelia, Cesar, and Charlie — have already travelled across every continent: the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland (RTS and RSI), Canada (Télé-Québec), Germany (ZDF and KIKA), Belgium (VRT), Finland (YLE), Sweden (SVT), Croatia (HRT), Hungary (MTVA), Singapore (Mediacorp), and Israel (Noga).

A huge thank you to our partners. Piggy Builders, always ready to make the impossible possible!

After a successful Work in Progress Session back in 2024, we are happy to announce the official selection of The Doomies in the TV Films category at the prestigious Annecy Festival!

This horror comedy series is created by Rémi ZAAROUR, Andrès FERNANDEZ, Henry GIFFORD and directed by Andrès FERNANDEZ. 

Produced for Disney Branded Television, The Doomies will be available soon on Disney+.

Academy Award®-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation has greenlit production of a milestone ninth season of its flagship non-dialogue comedy franchise Oggy and the Cockroaches – cementing its status as one of the longest running French animated series. Commissioned by returning French broadcaster France Télévisions, the new season (78x7’) is slated for delivery between Q3 2027 and Q2 2028 in celebration of the iconic franchise’s 30th anniversary in 2028. Including its spin-off series, the franchise spans over 700 episodes.

First created by Jean Yves Raimbaud in 1997 and driven by author and director Olivier Jean Marie for over 20 years, Oggy and the Cockroaches has provided a launchpad for many talents who have become key figures of the French animation industry.

Xilam Animation, Academy Award®-nominated French animation studio, has inked a fresh wave of international pre-sales for Submarine Jim, its new 52 x 11’ 2D adventure comedy series which is scheduled to complete delivery in June 2026. With premieres commencing via select partners in March 2026, the new free-to-air deals secured by Xilam include the BBC (UK and Ireland), RTS (French-Switzerland), RTBF and VRT (Belgium), NPO (Netherlands), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway), Noga (Israel), alongside Warner Bros. Discovery in EMEA, Latin America, Southeast Asia and South Korea.

Targeted at kids aged 6-9 years, Submarine Jim was created by Frédéric Martin – the acclaimed director behind Xilam’s hit preschool series Oggy Oggy – and was previously pre-sold to France Télévisions (France) and Super RTL (Germany). The series delves into the tale of a naive, young dolphin named Jim, who when tasked with steering the world’s first-ever submarine on wheels, leads a motley crew of underwater friends on a whirlwind journey across the continents.

Academy Award®-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation has greenlit the production of two new seasons of its hit non-dialogue slapstick comedy Zig & Sharko, with longstanding partner Gulli (France) returning to commission the upcoming fifth and sixth installments. The new seasons of 52 x 7’ each follow milestone achievements for Zig & Sharko across broadcast and digital platforms, and are set to deliver in 2027 and 2028 respectively.

Alongside Gulli, Zig & Sharko has established a strong presence across the globe with additional broadcaster and streaming partners on previous seasons including Super RTL (Germany), Netflix, Warner Bros Discovery (France, Africa and Italy), DeAgostini (Italy), Ketnet (Belgium), Panda Kids (Portugal), TVP (Poland), NRK (Norway), DR TV (Denmark), MTV3 (Finland), Disney Channel (Poland), RTL Klub (Hungary), RTL (Croatia), Nova TV (Czech Republic) et Markiza TV (Slovakia), ERT (Greece) and Jiostar (India). The series celebrated its 15^th anniversary in 2025 and is Xilam’s most established IP on YouTube, with over 39M subscribers and 22B views across eight dedicated channels worldwide – as well as a dedicated following on social media, with 2.5M subscribers on TikTok, 3.6M on Facebook, and 600K on Snapchat.

UGC, one of France’s leading players in the film and audiovisual industry, and Xilam Animation, Academy Award®-nominated French animation group, are partnering to adapt Bernard Werber’s bestselling novel Empire of the Ants for television. Through this collaboration, the two companies aim to combine the best of their respective expertise to bring to screen this visionary work, which has enthralled readers worldwide for 35 years and sold seven million copies globally, including four million in France.

Targeted at family audiences, the series will follow two parallel investigations unfolding simultaneously: in the human world, exploring who killed the brilliant ant expert Edmond Wells; and in the ant world, uncovering the secret that the Queen and her militia are hiding that could threaten the unity of the colony. The adaptation will be produced using live action for the human narrative, and visual effects for the ant world. The project is being written by Vladimir Haulet (Mixte, Mash Up), with the VFX direction being led by globally renowned specialist in photo-realistic animation Nicolas Deveaux, alongside Quentin Reubrecht (Arcane, I Lost My Body). The series will be produced by Marc du Pontavice and Caterina Gonnelli for Xilam, and by Franck Calderon and Céline d’Asaro Biondo for UGC.

Bernard Werber said: “I am thrilled to see Empire of the Ants finally come to life on screen. This adaptation from such creative powerhouses as UGC and Xilam will bring a unique level of ambition to my universe. I look forward to audiences experiencing this work in a new form.”

CARTOON BREW - 2 December 2025

French Animation Giant Xilam launches kid-safe streaming platform Toon Box

Read more here

Piggy Builders reaches one million views on Okoo - only one month after its launch on France TV Free VOD youth platform! It is the second best launch for a preschool series since the launch of Okoo in 2019! The Xilam group is very proud of this new partnership with France TV.

Academy Award®-nominated French animation group Xilam has greenlit its brand-new comedy series Chickies, a spin-off from its hit short-form, non-dialogue comedy Where’s Chicky?, following the signing of its first pre-sale with broadcaster France Télévisions (France). Currently in production, the 78 x 7’ CG-animated verbal series is aimed at kids aged 4-7 years old and is set to deliver by June 2027.

Chickies follows Chicky, Bekky and Poyo, three curious and cheerful chicks who have had enough of being cooped up. Boring! Any chance they get, they slip away to explore the world outside the henhouse. Objects, animals, flowers, scents… everything around the henhouse and on the farm is like a magnet attracting them. It’s irresistible, because curiosity is written into the DNA of our trio! Venturing into this vast world becomes a true adventure, with the chicks’ naivety inevitably leading to hilarity and a series of disasters.

Read the full Animation Magazine article here