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EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas Animation has unveiled a raft of deals on Guillaume Ivernel’s The Legendaries as the animated feature market premieres at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris on Wednesday.
In Europe, it has been acquired for Germany (Wild Bunch Germany), Greece (The Film Group), Portugal (Cinemundo), ex-Yugoslavia (Blitz), Bulgaria (ProFilms), Czech Republic (Bonton Films), the Baltics (Garsu Pasaulio Irasai), Poland (M2) and CIS ( Paradise).
In the rest of the world, it has sold to Canada (Sphere Films), Israel (Film House), Middle East (Teleview), French Speaking Africa (Les Films 26), Taiwan (Creative Century) and Mongolia (Film Bridge).
The feature is adapted from Patrick Sobral’s best-selling French comic series Les Légendaires which sold nine million copies in France, Benelux, Switzerland and Canada.
It follows five heroes living in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Alysia who unwittingly break the Stone of Jovenia, which bestows eternal youth, during a battle against evil sorcerer Darkhell. As it shatters, its power is unleashed across the kingdom, trapping its inhabitants in their childhood bodies for ever. Blamed and discredited, the legendary warriors disband and go into hiding.
When Darkhell returns with a scheme to steal the Gamera Tree and enslave the whole world, the Legendaries reunite.
Ivernel’s previous credits include the IQIYI Motion Pictures-backed Chinese-French computer-animated secret agent spy film Spycies, directed with Zhiyi Zhang, and Dragon Hunter.
His latest feature reunites him with character designer Valérie Hadida who also worked on Spycies and Dragon Hunter, with other collaborators on the film including Patrice Garcia (Arthur and the Invisibles), Helene Giraud (Miniscule 1 and 2) and Alfred Frazzani (Iron Man: Armored Adventure).
The Legendaries is produced by France’s Pan Européenne, which has French rights, and Maybe Movies (Calamity, Ernest & Celestine) as well as Belgium’s Belvision (The Red Turtle).
Pan Distribution will release the film in France on January 28.
The deals were overseen by Jason Bressand, head of sales at Goodfellas Animation, which rebranded from Gebeka International in 2025 and is part of Paris-based film company Goodfellas.
The animation-focused sales label has had a high-profile over past 12 months thanks to a slate also featuring buzzy awards season titles, Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco and Maïlys Vallade’s Little Amélie.
Both titles premiered at Cannes and then played at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival a month later, where Arco won the top Cristal Award for best film. They are now enjoying a buzzy awards season with multiple nominations, including at the Golden Globes and Annies, as well as making it onto the Bafta long-list for Best Animated Film, for which nominations will be announced on January 18.
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