It was at the studios in Bry-sur-Marne, east of Paris – where many scenes from Jacques Audiard's Emilia Pérez and Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte's The Count of Monte-Cristo were shot – that French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati celebrated the emergence of the image and sound hub on Monday, February 3. But the Bry-sur-Marne studios came very close to disappearing. Charles Aslangul, the town's mayor, said: "We've been campaigning for 11 years to save the studios from real estate speculation." Nexity, the former owner, had been planning to raze it to the ground to make way for a colossal real estate development program. "Closing the studios would have been a historic mistake," Dati said, congratulating "the local authorities who have stood firm alongside film professionals for all these years."

After lengthy negotiations, AXA Investment Managers Alternatives (AXA IM Alts), a subsidiary of the insurance and asset management group, purchased the studios in June 2023, with the ambition of doubling their surface area. Work began in December and will start in earnest in March. Within two years, seven new studios will be added to the existing seven, offering a range of surface areas from 300 to 1,400 square meters. Workshop space will also be doubled, for both actors (dressing rooms, hairdressing, wardrobe, etc.) and technicians (painting, carpentry, storage, 3D printing or digital cutting).

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