The origin of Xilam is closely linked to
Gaumont's television production activity, launched in the early 1990s. From 1990,
Marc du Pontavice joined the Gaumont group to develop a television production activity and co-founded
Gaumont Télévision. In 1995, he formed a video game and animation division of the company, Gaumont Multimédia. Around this time, Gaumont was looking to exit the animation market, and in January 2000, Xilam, in partnership with German trader Igel Media, acquired Gaumont Multimédia's 200-episode animation library. Xilam's programs, including
Shuriken School,
Space Goofs, and
Oggy and the Cockroaches, are internationally successful. In 2003, the company released its first animated feature film, the
CGI-based
Kaena: The Prophecy. In 2005, they announced an animated film based on
The New Adventures of Lucky Luke. Xilam bought the Armada animation studio in Vietnam in 2008. In 2012, they announced
Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie would be made. In 2015, Xilam announced the production of seasons 5-7 of
Oggy and the Cockroaches using 4K and Ultra HD. A new studio was opened in
Angoulême in order to repatriate production to France in addition to that of Villeurbanne. In 2016, the studio opened a new office in
Lyon, France in order to accelerate production. This new studio would produce the
Paprika series, as well as the second season of
Magic. In 2019, it was announced that Xilam would acquire 50.1% of French CG studio Cube Creative
. The deal was finalized on 20 January 2020. The studio almost bought the children's free-to-air TV channel
Gulli in 2019, after
Lagardère was about to sell its television channels in a fierce dispute between the
M6 channel, which ended up buying the channel, and the company's television division in that year. On December 1, 2025, Xilam launched Toon Box – a brand-new, kids-safe streaming app featuring over 1,000 pieces of content from across its legacy library and new series, alongside an exclusive range of videos, activities, storybooks and games. Aimed at children aged 3-10 years old, the subscription-based and ad-free app has rolled out across 11 territories (the
UK, the
US,
Canada,
France,
Germany,
Italy,
Spain,
India,
Mexico,
Brazil,
Australia) and was initially available on
IOS before also launching on
Android devices in 2026. Toon Box caters to the whole family featuring some of the most iconic series from Xilam's catalogue, including
Oggy and the Cockroaches,
Zig & Sharko, ''Where's Chicky?
, Mr. Magoo
, The Daltons
, Lupin's Tales
, Paprika'', and more. Episodes are available to download and watch offline, and Xilam updates the app with new content each month. To access the full Toon Box offering, new subscribers benefit from a free first month and can choose between two offers: a monthly subscription with no commitment, or an annual subscription. The group has developed this project with tightly controlled investment. Xilam previously used animation services in
South Korea, such as Big Star Enterprise and
Dong Woo Animation to animate their productions, but they stopped in the 2010s when it became too expensive and began focusing on animation services in
Vietnam and the
Philippines. The studio's current headquarters, since 2018, are located in the former French headquarters of the comic book publisher
Dupuis. Xilam series' theme songs have their own visual identity and not a montage of clips, as du Pontavice always believes that the opening sequence is, in a way, the signature serving two functions for him, a call to action and playing an important role in creating lasting memories. The studio's name is an anagram of a declaration of
love from Marc du Pontavice to his wife, Alix de Maistre (M-Alix), as it has an edifying interpretation and is composed of two syllables "xi" and "lam", where the first comes from the
Greek name for the letter "X", which is the symbol of transgression and the second is a reference to the soul which comes from the
Latin word anima. == Filmography ==