Xilam

Xilam Animation
Type	Public
Traded as	Euronext Paris: XIL CAC Small
ISIN	FR0004034072
Industry	Animation
Predecessor	Gaumont Multimédia
Founded	5 August 1999; 27 years ago (1999-08-05)
Founders	Marc du Pontavice Alix de Maistre
Headquarters	Paris, France
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Marc du Pontavice (CEO) Caterina Gonnelli-Liden (co-CEO) Alix de Maistre (administrator)
Number of employees	600 (2025)
Subsidiaries	Xilam Vietnam Igloo Productions GmbH Xilam Multimédia Xilam Studio Xilam Studio Angoulême Cube Creative (since 2020)
Website	xilam.com

Xilam Animation is a French animation studio which specializes in making animated television series and feature films. Marc du Pontavice and his wife Alix de Maistre founded it in 1999 as a replacement for the animation division of Gaumont Multimédia, which was itself an offshoot of the company's television division Gaumont Télévision, a company he co-founded in 1990.

History

The origin of Xilam is closely linked to Gaumont's television production activity, launched in the early 1990s. From 1990, Marc du Pontavice joined the Gaumont group to develop a television production activity and co-founded Gaumont Télévision. In 1995, he formed a video game and animation division of the company, Gaumont Multimédia. From 1994 to 1999, certain animations such as Space Goofs and Oggy and the Cockroaches met with international success for the company.

In December 1998, Pontavice left the company but would remain as a freelance executive producer for the second season of Oggy and the Cockroaches. In 1999, he went on to found Xilam and produce his own animated properties. Around this time, Gaumont was looking to exit the animation market, and in December of the same year, Gaumont sold the assets of the former Gaumont Multimédia to du Pontavice for 44 million francs and reintegrated it into Xilam. In January 2000, Xilam, in partnership with German trader Igel Media, acquired Gaumont Multimédia's 200-episode animation library.

In 2002, Xilam started trading in the Euronext Paris stock exchange.

Xilam's programs, including Shuriken School, Space Goofs, and Oggy and the Cockroaches, are internationally successful.

In 2003, the company released its first animated feature film, the CGI-based Kaena: The Prophecy. In 2005, they announced an animated film based on The New Adventures of Lucky Luke. Xilam bought the Armada animation studio in Vietnam in 2008.

In 2012, they announced Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie would be made. In 2015, Xilam announced the production of seasons 5-7 of Oggy and the Cockroaches using 4K and Ultra HD. A new studio was opened in Angoulême in order to repatriate production to France in addition to that of Villeurbanne.

In 2016, the studio opened a new office in Lyon, France in order to accelerate production. This new studio would produce the Paprika series, as well as the second season of Magic. In 2019, it was announced that Xilam would acquire 50.1% of French CG studio Cube Creative. The deal was finalized on 20 January 2020.

The studio almost bought the children's free-to-air TV channel Gulli in 2019, after Lagardère was about to sell its television channels in a fierce dispute between the M6 channel, which ended up buying the channel, and the company's television division in that year.

On December 1, 2025, Xilam launched Toon Box – a brand-new, kids-safe streaming app featuring over 1,000 pieces of content from across its legacy library and new series, alongside an exclusive range of videos, activities, storybooks and games. Aimed at children aged 3-10 years old, the subscription-based and ad-free app has rolled out across 11 territories (the UK, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Mexico, Brazil, Australia) and was initially available on iOS before also launching on Android devices in 2026. Toon Box caters to the whole family featuring some of the most iconic series from Xilam's catalogue, including Oggy and the Cockroaches, Zig & Sharko, Where's Chicky?, Mr. Magoo, The Daltons, Lupin's Tales, Paprika, and more. Episodes are available to download and watch offline, and Xilam updates the app with new content each month. To access the full Toon Box offering, new subscribers benefit from a free first month and can choose between two offers: a monthly subscription with no commitment, or an annual subscription. The group has developed this project with tightly controlled investment.

The studio's current headquarters, since 2018, are located in the former French headquarters of the comic book publisher Dupuis.

As of 2026^[update], its board of directors includes Marc du Pontavice (CEO), Cécile Haimet (CFO), Caterina Gonnelli-Liden (co-CEO), Camille Wiplier, Safaa Benazzouz (deputy chief executive officers), Pierre Monfort (general counsel), distribution), Guillaume Jallot (CTO), Anne Hemery (EVP, human resources), Claire Darras (deputy chief operating officer) and Marie-Laurence Turpin (cultural and academic outreach director). Alix de Maistre serves as the studio's administrator, while the management of the Xilam Films division is led by Lucie Bolze.

On September 24, 2026, Armada TMT Studio (a subsidiary of Xilam Animation) announced on their Facebook page that they have renamed to Xilam Vietnam. This move aims to align the studio with its role as a production unit under Xilam Animation while reflecting its function of supporting the production process for the company's IP brands.

Process

They previously used animation services in South Korea, such as Big Star Enterprise and Dong Woo Animation to animate their shows, but they stopped in the 2010s when it became too expensive and began focusing on animation services in Vietnam and the Philippines. Their recent films, I Lost My Body and Lucy Lost, had some of the animation done at Gao Shan Pictures in Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

On the question of their shows' theme songs, they have their own visual identity and not a montage of clips, as Marc du Pontavice always believes that the opening sequence is, in a way, the signature serving two functions for him, a call to action and playing an important role in creating lasting memories.

Company name

Xilam's name is an anagram of a declaration of love from Marc du Pontavice to his wife, Alix de Maistre (M-Alix), as it has an edifying interpretation and is composed of two syllables "xi" and "lam", where the first comes from the Greek name for the letter "X", which is the symbol of transgression and the second is a reference to the soul which comes from the Latin word anima.

Filmography