Magnolia Pictures has acquired US rights to Jim Queen, the French adult animated comedy that premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screenings in May, Deadline reported on Wednesday 11 November. Magnolia plans a theatrical release next summer for an English-language version led by Jordan Firstman, the director and star of Club Kid. No price was disclosed.
Jim Queen is the first feature from Bobbypills, the Montreuil-based studio behind the adult animated series Creature Commandos and Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. It sold widely after Cannes, but the US was still in negotiation when Variety reported the first batch of deals in June.
Key facts
- Film: Jim Queen, directed by Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané, 85 minutes, French, Cannes Midnight Screenings 2026
- Buyer: Magnolia Pictures, US rights; seller: Global Constellation (international sales)
- Release: summer theatrical release of the English-language version; no date or price disclosed
- France: about 386,000 admissions for The Jokers Films’ release, by JP Box-Office’s count, from a 95-screen opening on 17 June
- English voice cast: Jordan Firstman, Matteo Lane, Nicole Byer, John Cameron Mitchell, Bob the Drag Queen and Wendie Malick
The deal
John Von Thaden, Magnolia’s senior vice-president of acquisitions, negotiated the deal with Fabien Westerhoff, managing director of film at Global Constellation, a Vuelta company that handles world sales and negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers, according to Deadline. Magnolia’s co-chief executives, Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley, praised both the cast and the outrageousness of the story in a statement.
Wolfie Trausch co-directs the English-language version, which Bobbypills produced with Timeless Studios. Moby is an executive producer with Lindsay Hicks for Little Walnut in the US. Firstman arrives with momentum: A24’s Club Kid averaged $67,200 at six cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on its opening weekend and is nominated for best feature at the Gotham Awards, Deadline reported.
The film
Firstman voices Jim, the reigning “gym queen” of Paris’s gay scene, whose status collapses when Heterosis, a virus that turns gay men straight, sweeps through the community. With only Lucien, a young fan voiced by Lane, still beside him, Jim races through the Marais in search of a rogue doctor said to have a cure. In the French original, Alex Ramirès, Jérémy Gillet and Shirley Souagnon lead the voice cast, and Philippe Katerine plays Jim’s drag fairy godmother, Glamydia.
Nguyen, an assistant director on The Rabbi’s Cat and The Swallows of Kabul, came up with the premise with the screenwriter Simon Balteaux about seven years ago, according to the festival’s own feature on the film. Athané (Monsieur Flap) joined as co-director and Brice Chevillard as co-writer. David Alric and Arthur Delabays produced for Bobbypills, with the Belgian company Umedia as co-producer. Support came from Eurimages, the CNC’s advance on receipts, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Réunion regions and the Charente department.
How it played in France
The Jokers Films opened the film on 95 screens on 17 June, at No. 3 behind Toy Story 5 and Backrooms, Variety reported. By JP Box-Office’s weekly figures, it sold 77,723 tickets in its first week and then rose 18% to 92,027 in its second as the release widened to 112 screens, eventually peaking at 301. The tracker puts the French total at 386,309 admissions.
Abroad, Global Constellation had sold the film to Italy, Germany, Spain, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Taiwan, among others, by June, Variety reported.
What is not known
Magnolia has not said how many screens it will open on, whether the French-language version will also play, or what rating the film will carry in the US. Magnolia had not posted a release on its own site by 20:55 CET on 11 November.
Our reading
The second-week rise is the number that sold this film. Bobbypills’ previous adult animation, Creature Commandos and Captain Laserhawk, was made for streaming; a 95-screen opening that grew in its second week showed that this one could draw a paying audience in cinemas, which is the case Magnolia now has to make in the US. Casting the English version with American comedians and queer performers tells you who the release is aimed at: Firstman’s Club Kid audience, not family animation buyers.
The next test is the size of Magnolia’s opening and whether the film can repeat its French word-of-mouth curve. The sale follows other US deals this week for European films, including Norway’s Oscar entry Growth of the Soil and Morocco’s Strawberries. See also our coverage of Ben’Imana at Doha, another Cannes 2026 title still travelling.
Sources
- Deadline, Jim Queen acquired by Magnolia Pictures, sets summer release (11 November 2026)
- Festival de Cannes, Jim Queen film page (Midnight Screenings 2026, 85 minutes, credits and contacts)
- Festival de Cannes, Jim Queen: the origins of a completely crazy satire (6 June 2026)
- Jim Queen official site, press page (team and stills)
- Variety, Cannes breakout comedy Jim Queen closes key deals (June 2026)
- JP Box-Office, Jim Queen weekly French admissions (tracker)