On 1 January 1987, Canal+ Productions was founded as a cinema film co-production subsidiary of the cable channel which had been established in November 1984, Canal+.

[2] By December 1990, Canal+ Productions rebranded to Le Studio Canal+, and released its first film, The Double Life of Veronique, by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

[2] However, in 1992, Le Studio Canal+ suffered financial difficulties after Carolco Pictures entered a corporate restructure.

[citation needed] StudioCanal's most notable productions from its early years include Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Basic Instinct, Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Free Willy, and the original Stargate movie.

[citation needed] Other films the company financed include U-571, Bully, and Bridget Jones's Diary.

[11][12] On 1 December 1998, all of Canal+ film, television, music, video production activities, etc., were grouped into a new entity, Canal+ Image, which was rebranded as StudioCanal in 2000.

[15][16][17] The following month, StudioCanal acquired a 52% stake in French television production powerhouse Expand.

[20][21] Staff departures and its parent Vivendi Universal's debt forced StudioCanal to gradually sell off their interests in these companies: Three years later, StudioCanal re-entered the international market by acquiring British film distributor Optimum Releasing in May 2006 as their first expansion into the United Kingdom, releasing their British film and television catalogue, including the EMI Films library, through the newly acquired company.

[44] In July 2021, StudioCanal announced its acquisition of German production company Lailaps Films.

[52] In September 2024, StudioCanal rebranded their merchandising and licensing company The Copyrights Group to StudioCanal Kids & Family to expand their kids and family brand portfolio; they will also lead on worldwide brand development, licensing and retail services including their own IP Paddington Bear, with Francoise Guyonnet continuing to be the CEO of the renamed division.

[55] StudioCanal acquired film libraries from studios that either became defunct or had merged with it over the years, currently holding more than 9,000 titles as a result.

owns the rights to over 30 television series, mostly produced by TANDEM Productions and Red Production Company, including The Avengers, Rambo: The Force of Freedom, Paranoid, Public Eye, Crazyhead, Take Two, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Adventures of Paddington (2019), and international rights to The Big Valley.

On 13 October 2021, StudioCanal announced that its global distribution deal with Universal would expire in January 2022.