Zlatan Ibrahimovic To Make Movie Debut In ‘Asterix & Obelix’ With Guillaume Canet, Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel; Netflix Boards Some Rights

Pathé has finalized cast for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (previously known as Asterix & Obelix: Silk Road), the upcoming fifth live-action film from the beloved children’s franchise.

Cameras are set to roll this spring, with cast including Guillaume Canet as Asterix, Gilles Lellouche as Obelix (it’s the first time in the five-film French-language franchise that Gérard Depardieu won’t portray Obelix), Vincent Cassel as Cesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Jonathan Cohen as Finalthesis. Also starring are Ramzy Bedia, Julie Chen, Linh-Dan Pham, Pierre Richard, and in his feature debut, soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Oneofus.

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Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé wrote the screenplay, and Guillaume Canet is also directing. Project is produced by Trésor Films, Pathé Films and Les Enfants Terribles. The score will come from French musician Matthieu Chedid. The initial plan was to shoot in China but production will now take place in France and Morocco.

Distributors include Pathé in France and Switzerland, Leonine in Germany, Kinoswiat in Poland, Unicorn in CIS and Baltics, Blitz for Ex-Yugoslavia, Rosebud for Greece and Netflix in a handful of unnamed markets.

Netflix is separately developing a series based on the popular kids story.

AC Milan star Ibrahimovic, one of football’s most iconic and decorated contemporary players, has played at clubs including Barcelona, PSG, LA Galaxy and Manchester United.

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