When Animation Became France’s Secret Weapon: The €1.44 Billion Story Nobody Saw Coming—French Film #3
How French studios convinced Paul McCartney conquered global streamers & turned cartoon characters into cultural ambassadors worth billions. McCartney's not an outlier. French animation is fascinating
When Paul McCartney needed a studio for his passion project, an animated musical about a rebellious squirrel named Wirral, he didn’t choose Hollywood. He chose France!
Specifically, he chose Gaumont, the world’s oldest film company, founded in Paris in 1895. The legendary Beatle has been developing High in the Clouds with the French studio since 2009, composing original songs and working with their animation team to bring his children’s novel to life for Netflix.¹
More recently, we’ve learned that while the movie is no longer moving forward with Netflix, it is now set to be released by Gaumont Animation independently.
Think about that for a moment. One of the most influential musicians in history, who could work with literally anyone, anywhere, chose a French animation studio for what he calls “a hugely important passion project.”
That’s not just a business decision. That’s cultural recognition at the highest level.
And it’s exactly the kind of moment that reveals what’s really happening in French animation - a quiet revolution that’s reshaping the global entertainment landscape while everyone’s focused on Hollywood blockbusters and Japanese anime.
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