Movies - Llittle Nicholas: happy as can be :  The Annecy film festival winner will open in Los Angeles december 16

By Mulder, 16 december 2022

Buffalo 8 has obtained the U.S. rights to playful animated feature Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be directed by Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre and based on French bestselling children’s book series ‘Le Petit Nicolas.’ The film honors the legacy of the original creators, writer René Goscinny, recipient of the Honorary César and the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame, and celebrated cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé, who collaborated on their covers with the “New Yorker” from 1978 to 2019, and described for having “the elegance of always remaining light” by French President, Emmanuel Macron.

This charismatic film weaves together the adventures of schoolboy Nicholas and his creators, René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé. The film is a labor of love, spanning several years in the making, capturing the original series’ strength and humor through its star-studded and accomplished cast. René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé are voiced by award-winning actors Alain Chabat (Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra) and Laurent Lafitte (The Takedown, Elle). Several key producers helped bring Goscinny and Sempé’s story to life: Aton Soumache (The Little Prince, Miraculous, Renaissance, Upside Down), Lilian Eche (White Fang, The Room, Renaissance). Co-Writer Anne Goscinny, René Goscinny’s daughter, pays tribute to the original story along with Michel Fessler and Benjamin Massoubre (I lost my body). Ludovic Bource (The Artist, Escape from Planet Earth), responsible for scoring the film, has received trophies from the Golden Globes and The Academy Awards.

First published in 1959 in the Sud-Quest Dimanche newspaper, the ‘Nicolas’ stories enchanted the French audience. More than 222 ‘Le Petit Nicolas’ stories were published and later created into books. ‘Le Petit Nicolas’ soon took the world by storm, selling more than 15 million copies, and was translated into 40 languages.

You can read our review here

Synopsis : 
Leaning over a large blank sheet of paper somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny give life to a laughing and mischievous little boy, Little Nicholas. Between camaraderie, arguments, fights, games, mischief, and punishments in spades, Nicolas lives a childhood made of joy and learning. As the story unfolds, the boy slips into the workshop of his creators, and challenges them with humour. Sempé and Goscinny will tell him about their meeting, their friendship, but also their paths, their secrets and their childhood.

Little Nicholas: happy as can be 
Directed by Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre
Produced byAton Soumache, Lilian Eche, Cédric Pilot and Christel Henon
Written by Anne Goscinny, Michel Fessler
Based on the books of René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé
Starring Alain Chabat, Laurent Lafitte, Simon Faliu
Music by Ludovic Bource
Edited by Benjamin Massoubre
Production companies : On classics (Mediawan) and Bidibul Productions
Distributed by BAC Films (France), Buffalo 8 (United States)
Release date : October 12, 2022 (France), December 16,2022 (United States)
Running time : 82 minutes