Producer Profile: Bonne Pioche (France)
April 1, 2007 by
Brendan Christie
Bonne Pioche
Paris
Note this entry as The Return of the Penguins. While Bonne Pioche’s (with National Geographic Feature Film and Warner Independent Pictures) March of the Penguins strolled out to about US$80 million at box office in 2005, their trek continued well into 2006, with tv and dvd appearances, keeping the franchise top-of-mind for a significant number of readers. Observes one, the film is ‘A great lesson in how to turn a natural phenomenon into a dramatic narrative. [This film] moves the natural history documentary genre on to a new height.’
In fact, the film has become so ingrained in the collective zeitgeist of international viewers that Bob Saget was able to parody it to some acclaim in a direct-to-dvd feature, Farce of the Penguins. Perhaps the original filmmakers might agree that they lost out on a prime opportunity for humor in Penguins, given that they followed the film with the mockumentary Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac (roughly, In the Skin of Jacques Chirac) in 2006.
Recent titles: Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac, March of the Penguins
Employees: 15 in Paris, 3 in New York
Hours this year: 30-plus
Upcoming includes: The Manias of Fellini, Reverse Exploration (C4)
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Factual Entertainment Forum 2011 - John Saade, EVP, alternative series and late-night programming, ABC Entertainment Group, at Realscreen’s Factual Entertainment Forum in Santa Monica.