Originally in French and translated by Google Gemini
Ankama, the group behind the successful Dofus and Wakfu franchises, has announced a minority stake in InTheBox, an Annecy-based 3D animation studio, on the sidelines of the Annecy Animation Festival. This strategic alliance will allow the two companies to pool their resources and explore new creative avenues.
Founded in 2011 by Madjid Chamekh and Mathieu Marin, InTheBox has quickly established itself as a key player in the field of 3D animation. The studio has notably worked on major projects such as “Léo, la fabuleuse histoire de Léonard de Vinci” (350 shots in 3D VFX) and “Even Mice Belong in Heaven” (stop-motion animation combining 3D and CGI).
“We are delighted to welcome Ankama as a new partner,” said Madjid Chamekh and Mathieu Marin, the founders of InTheBox. “This collaboration will allow us to carry out even more ambitious projects, both creatively and technically.”
For Anthony Roux, president of Ankama, this partnership will allow Ankama “to accelerate its production pipeline and benefit from InTheBox’s expertise in different techniques, such as 3D animation.” Anthony Roux also underlines the importance of 3D animation for the current market: “In France, there are still people who work in 2D but as soon as you want to make some money or be a little more commercial, it has to be in 3D. Even Netflix will pay more for 3D animation” because they have found that children are more engaged than when they watch 2D content.
One of the main objectives of this alliance is to promote the international development of both companies. InTheBox, which was until now mainly active in France, will now be able to benefit from Ankama’s international network.
The two companies share a common vision of animation and an ambition to create quality content that will shine internationally. “This collaboration will allow us to carry out even more ambitious projects and promote French creation abroad,” said Madjid Chamekh, co-founder of InTheBox. “Until now, we were mainly active in France, even if we work a little with the United States, but it’s crucial to have a base in Paris to play with the big boys; and with Ankama, we think we can accelerate our growth,” said Mathieu Marin. “Over the years, we have wanted to partner with producers who had real ambitions, either for feature films, in order to take advantage of them to grow our studio. And by meeting Anthony, we discovered an industrial captain whose vision we shared.”
Beyond its economic aspects, this merger is also the result of a shared vision for animation. Anthony Roux adds that this alliance will allow them to structure their dispersed teams and accelerate their production pipeline thanks to Inthebox’s expertise. “We’re starting to have teams that are a bit scattered, so it’s time to structure everything now, thanks to Madjid and Mathieu who are geniuses of pipeline and organization.”
“We’ve built our company and the studio around this expertise, which requires a lot of technical skills in particular. Mathieu and I are basically generalists, but very focused on the technical side, which facilitates the artistic work of the teams. And we’ve always tried to keep this vision and make it easier for the teams to work by developing and simplifying workflows, in order to be as close as possible to the artistic needs.”
This union also marks the creation of Studio Unagi in Montreal, launched by Guillaume Dubois in partnership with Ankama, further underlining the international expansion of both companies.
