Technicolor CS, a stock vehicle for playing special effects

A new “pure player” in audiovisual production is showing up on the Paris Stock Exchange. Heir to a Franco-American company with a history of more than a century, Technicolor (ex-Thomson) is finalizing this week the splitting of its activities in production and special effects. A promising market niche as Hollywood studios, streaming platforms and advertising players are fueling the boom in global demand for animated images.

With more than 11,000 employees in 11 countries (including 800 in Paris but also several thousand in India), Technicolor is one of the world leaders in visual effects (in the jargon, “VFX” for “visual effects”) alongside other California-based bands like ILM. These are subcontractors little known to the general public, but whose specialized know-how is in great demand for the needs of commercials or even for Netflix series and Hollywood films. The TCS teams are, for example, behind the feature film “La Pat’Patrouille” (Paramount) released last year, or the latest “Pinocchio” (Disney).