Zion, the big surprise of the French box office 2025, arrives on Canal Plus

This Guadeloupean thriller produced by Jamel Debbouze caused a sensation, with nearly 500,000 spectators in theaters.

In a very complicated year for cinema attendance, a few films still managed to do well. Among them, Ziona true French box office phenomenon, broadcast this Saturday evening on Canal Plus (and visible in streaming on MyCanal).

Zion is the first feature film by Nelson Foix, a young filmmaker born in Les Lilas, in Seine Saint-Denis, who grew up between the Parisian suburbs and Guadeloupe. It is on the island that he sets the plot of his thriller where we follow the journey of a young crack dealer who is entrusted with a mission by a boss from the neighboring district. But on the day of delivery, he discovers that a baby has been left at his door.

Since its early release in the overseas territories last March, Zion caused a sensation, with 16,000 admissions recorded in seven cinemas for an astonishing average of 300 spectators per screening. The buzz is also confirmed in mainland France, and the film already has nearly 200,000 spectators in mid-April. In May, it crossed the 400,000 mark.

Zion will end its career with 470,000 tickets sold, an exceptional score for this film produced by Jamel Debbouze which benefited from a budget of 4 million euros. In the press kit, Nelson Foix discusses the financing of the project, and his decisive meeting with director Mohamed Hamidi (The Cow).

“I was lucky enough to be able to show Timoun Aw (his first short film, Editor’s note) to Mohamed Hamidi, who liked it and introduced me to Jamel Debbouze. It was an almost supernatural meeting: the short one pleased Jamel who pushed me to make a long one. He told me “you don’t need me, everyone will open the doors for you” even though at that time, I was at the RSA! (laughs) This is how Jamel Debbouze suggested I produce my first feature film and how a team was formed around this project.“

To find out more about this success story, Canal Plus also offers a behind-the-scenes documentary, Zion, the adventure of a film.