Cannes Hot List: Andrew Garfield, Keanu Reeves, Florence Pugh, and (Of Course) Nicolas Cage Set to Light Up Film Market
Marche mainstays like Sylvester Stallone, Diane Keaton, and Guy Ritchie are joined by newer talents like Nicolas Hoult, Bella Ramsey, and Zar Amir-Ebrahimi.
Nicolas Cage, Eiza González, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Andrew Garfield, Diane Keaton, Sylvester Stallone TAYLOR HILL/FILMMAGIC; JON KOPALOFF/GETTY IMAGES; PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES; AMY SUSSMAN/GETTY IMAGES; RACHEL LUNA/GETTY IMAGES
The ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike casts a cloud over what otherwise promises to be a solid Cannes film market.
Most buyers and sellers came out of Berlin this year “cautiously optimistic” as the (partial) resurgence of the theatrical market alongside a slowly but steadily growing digital ancillary business offers reason to believe reports of the death of the indie industry — widespread in the wake of the COVID theater shutdowns — have been greatly exaggerated.
“I see the investment by Amazon and Apple TV in the theatrical business as a real positive,” says David Garrett of Mister Smith Entertainment, “because it shows they recognize the real value of the theatrical experience.”
Amazon’s success with Ben Affleck’s sports-marketing biopic Air, which grossed upwards of $80 million worldwide in theaters before going out online, bodes well for the upcoming rollout of Apple’s Cannes title Killers of the Flower Moon from Martin Scorsese, which Paramount will release worldwide.
But what actually still constitutes a theatrical film is an unsettled debate among international buyers.
While many of the projects heading to the Cannes Film Market this year, including a Guy Ritchie action movie starring Henry Cavill and a Sebastián Lelio romantic drama with Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones, seem to scream “theatrical release,” international buyers remain wary of taking a risk on anything that doesn’t tick every box: cast, director, genre and budget level.
