Vivendi-owned pan-European production and distribution house Studiocanal has acquired a 51% stake in top indie Italian distributor Lucky Red.
Italian cinema trade Cinematografo.it reported that company CEO Andrea Occhipinti had sold 40% of his 89% controlling stake in the company for €20.8M ($24.56M).
Under the operation, minority shareholders, Head of Marketing and Communications Valerio Scarinci and Head of Acquisitions Stefano Massenzi, liquidated their 10% and 1% stakes for €5.2M ($6.14M) and €521,000 ($615,271) respectively.
The management team led by founding CEO Occhipinti, who retains a 49% stake, will remain in place to ensure continuity, and help field strategic partnerships and European synergies.
Occhipinti originally created the distributor in 1987 with late Chicago-born Kermit Smith, who rose to be a major figure in Italy’s indie cinema scene in the 1980s.
Per Cinematografo.it, Lucky Red enjoyed a banner year in 2024, with a turnover of €50M ($59M) and a net profit of €3.7 million, on the back of indie hits Perfect Days, Past Lives, and The Boy and the Heron.
In 2025, however, its turnover halved to €24M ($28M) and it came in eighth at the box office behind Disney, Eagle, Warner, Universal, Medusa, 01 and Vision.
The company has gotten off to a buzzy start in 2026 with the January 22 release of Oscar frontrunner Sentimental Value, which has grossed $1.6M to date, with upcoming titles including Nouvelle Vague.
Lucky Red and Studiocanal had already signaled growing ties in January with the announcement of their partnership on Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman and Bille Piper, which they are producing with LD Entertainment and Magnolia Mae Films.
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