‘Cat’s Eyes’ Is A Female-Driven, Manga-Adapted Art Heist Drama Stealing The Limelight In France

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time, and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week, we head to France, where TF1 is gearing up for the launch of the second season of hit show Cat’s Eyes on October 12, following the adventures of three sisters who embark on a series of spectacular art heists in landmark sites across the country. There’s growing international buzz around the show, and we’ve stolen in for the lowdown.

Name: Cat’s Eyes
Country: France
Producer: Big Band Story
Network: TF1
International Sales: Studio TF1
For Fans of: Lupin, Ad Vitam, Emily in Paris

Based on a cult 1980s Tokyo-set manga by Tsukasa Hojo, TF1’s French live action-drama Cat’s Eyes follows three sisters who embark on a series of spectacular art heists to reclaim a collection created by their missing father.

While the original manga, Cat’s Eye, saw its Japanese heroines, known as the cat’s eyes, raid museums and private collections across Tokyo, the first eight-episode season of the French adaptation unfolded against landmark Paris sites such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles.

Season 1 was a ratings hit and the second travels further afield to open with a daring operation on the Mont St Michel, with other locations including the Musée d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou and Montparnasse Tower. In the back drop, the heroines juggle the search for their father, love lives, sibling tensions and a gallery of colorful, sometimes deadly, characters who cross their paths.

Camille Lou, Constance Labbé and Claire Romain star as the sibling robbers in a cast also featuring Elodie Fontan, Tamara Marthe, Tom Leeb, Arnaud Binard, Lola Dewaere, Jérôme Le Banner, Simon Ehrlacher and Léon Plazol. The show is produced by Paris-based Big Band Story for French broadcaster TF1, which is gearing up for the launch of season 2 on October 12.

Expectations are high for a strong reception after season 1 drew an average 5.3 million viewers per episode, and also chimed with a young-adult demographic, capturing an average 41% audience share among 15 to 24-year-olds. International buzz also continues to build on the back of sales of Season 1 into more than 100 territories, with Hulu acquiring U.S. rights.

TF1 and Big Band Story begins the media campaign for Season 2 with a press junket beneath the giant clock of the Musée d’Orsay in late August, with TV interviews taking place against the backdrop of masterpieces in the Impressionist Gallery next door.

Deadline catches up with Big Band Story co-heads Benjamin Dupont-Jubien and Mehdi Sabbar, as well as the show’s director Alexandre Laurent, whose past credits include Women at War, The Bonfire of Destiny and Falco, at the event.

Dupont-Jubien and Sabbar’s explain their initial desire to adapt the Cat’s Eye manga was born out of their personal love of the medium. “We both grew up reading mangas like lots of French youngsters growing up in 1980s and 90s when there was an explosion in the manga culture in France,” says Sabbar.

France’s manga passion

Outside of Japan, France is one of the biggest markets for manga in the world, and the biggest market in Europe. “I still read them to this day and when we created our company some 12 years ago, we always said it was something we wanted to do, even if it’s very complicated to gain access to the rights of Japanese mangas,” says Dupont-Jubien.

Big Band Story identified Cat’s Eye as a manga that would lend itself well to a French adaptation. The original manga was previously adapted into a popular anime series in Japan in the 1980s, which was also broadcast in France.

“We grew up watching the show and we both loved it, and on top of that thought that it’s central story about female thieves who pull off heists to find their father was highly adaptable to France,” said Sabbar.

They began negotiating the rights in 2018, with the pandemic later slowing down the already painstaking process of convincing Hojo that their plans were right for the property.

“It took five years,” says Dupont-Jubien. “For them, trust is a major factor, and to ensure they could trust us, they put us through a lot of tests. They were interested in us: Who we were, what we produced, the quality of our output, our reputation, and whether we would follow through on what we promised.”

Founded in 2015, Big Band Story’s credits to date include the eighth and final season of Spiral in 2020 for Canal+; comedy shows José back in 2016) and Frérots for OSC, as well as the Coup de Foudre (Love In) TV movie franchise and J’irai au bout de mes Rêves, about a young man with Downs Syndrome determined to live life to the full.

“We had to submit documents and statements of intent outlining what we wanted to do. We had letters from the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and the Louvre showing that we would be able to shoot on these sites,” continues Dupont-Jubien.

Hojo, they added, was not looking for the storyline of the original manga to be replicated to the book, but rather for its spirit and that of the characters to remain intact. “It’s crucial for them not to distort the original manga work,” says Sabbar. “These are titles that sell millions of copies worldwide. They don’t want us doing just anything with them or handling them haphazardly.”

“For example, the cat’s eyes don’t kill people, and they aren’t thieves or criminals either. They don’t go around stealing things. They might steal paintings that belonged to their father, but they wouldn’t rob a bank to get money. Those were the elements that mattered for the spirit of the manga… Things we had to respect.”

Filming eventually began in 2023, with TF1 backing the series and Germany’s ZDF on board as a co-producer, with an overall production budget of €25M ($28.3M).

Director’s take

Director Laurent had previously worked with Dupont-Jubien and Sabbar on the 2018 TV movie Love in Vienna.

“For me, the draw was the producers, whom I knew well, and the ambition they had for the project,” he says. “It was the chance to do something I hadn’t done before and to blend comedy and action, genres I really love in cinema. “I knew that with them, we’d have all the resources and ambition needed to try and make the best series possible. Those are the criteria I use when choosing a project.”

Laurent had been on the cusp of embarking on another project when he was sent the screenplay. “I was turning the pages,” he recalls. “The Eiffel Tower was right in front of me and I was reading while waiting for a meeting, an audition. I was like, ‘Wait is the Eiffel Tower involved?’ I went to see the other producer. He understood immediately and said, ‘Alex, you can’t turn this down, go for it’.”

After the challenge of getting to grips with shooting action scenes in Season 1, Laurent says he found Season 2 less challenging on some levels, which gave him head space and confidence to bring impose himself on the material and also add more comedic elements.

“The action sequences felt less complicated because I’d done so much of that in Season 1,” he says. “Once the execution of the action scenes no longer took up so much of my mental energy, things became easier. There’s a bit more freedom of tone in the second season.

“I also had a greater sense of legitimacy – I was a bit tentative in Season 1. I was afraid of messing up the manga or upsetting the fans, but this time around, since Tsukasa had liked Season 1, I felt I could bring a bit more of myself.”

Ahead of the French launch of Season 2, the Cat’s Eyes franchise has received an extra boost internationally with Disney+ acquiring EMEA rights to Season 1 in a deal that will make the show available in the UK and Ireland, the Nordics, Benelux, Central Europe, Türkiye and South Africa from December 2026.

Season 2, in the meantime, has been pre-bought by Rai, AMC Global Media Iberia, RTL TVI and RTS, with the Studio TF1 international sales team overseeing the deals. It’s a noisy title ahead of next month’s MIPCOM.

Dupont-Jubien says the growing international footprint is in line with their hopes and ambitions when they conceived the show.

“We aren’t that surprised by where we are now, because the story is fun, it’s pop, it’s universal, and we’re doing it in a very glamorous setting, one that ultimately works internationally,” he says.

“In principle, we had the ingredients found in shows like Lupin or Emily in Paris, which performed very well internationally. We told ourselves there was no reason it wouldn’t work. Of course, hoping it works is one thing, you never have a guarantee. But it is selling, which is great.”