This time last year, pickets were marching out of studio doors, two months away from resolving Hollywood’s twin strikes. Among major film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), a star-heavy independent event, has been hardest hit by the industrial action, with an empty red carpet turning a much-hyped premiere into a soggy squib. Hollywood will face less uncertainty heading into TIFF this year (except for M&A and cost-cutting), and there will be fewer holes in the release calendar as strike-stalled movies start rolling again, all of which is important for dealmakers heading to TIFF. It’s all good news.
“I think things are moving relatively quickly, especially given the slow pace of the festival market since COVID-19,” said Bleecker Street Film Festival’s Kent Sanderson, who will bring three films to the festival. film while looking for new acquisition targets. “If there’s anything that’s going to slow down movie sales, it’s the number of movies available.”
Sundance Film Festival pickups such as selma Boosting confidence in North American professional box office, everyone points the finger at Neon long legs Serving as the gold standard for indie success this year.
Toronto has long been the place to do business – (unsuccessful) big deals crow Reboot and Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut contemporary women The deal was signed at or before TIFF last year, but unlike Cannes or Berlin, the festival has never had an official market for buyers and sellers to set up shop. Instead, U.S. and international film buyers and sellers network and do business informally around the festival or in hotel rooms, rather than under the same roof.
Set to launch in 2026 and funded by $23 million in funding from the Canadian government over the next three years, TIFF’s new market will test the size and strength of the post-strike rebound in the coming years. Many industry veterans are skeptical.
“From our perspective, Toronto just doesn’t have enough new projects to show buyers after Cannes,” said Susan Wendt, managing director of Scandinavian group TrustNordisk. “Fewer European buyers are going there, and there have never been more Asian buyers. So the focus will likely be on U.S. and Canadian buyers.
The films on offer so far look promising, but the real test will be the size of the checks signed for the finished film and packaging. Here are some of the games that are likely to grab the market’s attention the most.
back to reality (tentative title)
director Anders Thomas Jensen
Star Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Kaas
buzz Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen reunites with stars of his 2020 hit action comedy Knight of Justice This new mash-up of drama, crime, and comedy. Cass plays a bank robber who needs the help of his traumatized brother (Mixon) to recover stolen loot. The only way to unlock his brother’s memories is to return to his childhood home and start digging through it, both physically and mentally.
sales volume Trust Nord Company
Garden of Eden
director Ron Howard
Star Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sidney Sweeney
buzz Although Howard’s directorial efforts have been panned by critics over the past few years (see: Hillbilly Elegy), the Oscar-winner remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved directors, especially when working with multi-generational A-list stars like Law and Sweeney. Daniel Brühl and Ana de Armas also star in this period thriller, which brings together disparate personalities in the harsh wilderness of the Galapagos Islands.
sales volume CAA, AGC
Deb
director rebel wilson
Star Rebel Wilson, Sean Jacobson, Tara Morris
buzz Pitch Perfect’s directorial debut bridesmaid Star is an Australian musical comedy set in an outback town that seems to have the potential to be a big hit muriel’s wedding or Strictly Banquet HallAn independent breakthrough in style.
sales volume WME
friendship
director Andrew DeYoung
Star Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara
buzz Viewers can expect the same style of awkward comedy from Robinson’s hugely popular Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave in this special, about a suburban man obsessed with befriending his neighbor, played by Rudd. story.
sales volume UTA, WME Season 5
father mother sisters brothers
director Jim Jarmusch
Star Adam Driver/Cate Blanchett/Vicky Cripps/Tom Waits/Charlotte Rampling
buzz Jarmusch’s first film since its 2019 release is sure to attract attention, given the laconic director’s enduring appeal among arthouse buyers and the film’s all-star cast. The dead will not die. The plot of the film focuses on the relationship between adult children and their somewhat estranged parents.
sales volume match factory
the last showgirl
director Jia Coppola
Star Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista
buzz Anderson is ripe for an on-screen comeback, and this dramatic character with Coppola roots could be just that. She plays a veteran Las Vegas showgirl whose life is thrown into uncertainty when her workplace, one of the last traditional floor shows in town, announces it’s closing.
sales volume CAA, Goodfellas, Utopia
Chuck’s life
director Mike Flanagan
Star Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan
buzz From the creative minds behind the scenes, the title isn’t quite what audiences might expect from a Stephen King adaptation Hill House is Haunted and midnight mass. Instead, the film leans more towards Shawshank Compare The Shiningbut with a few catchy names behind the lens and a few on the front, it’s likely to attract buyers.
sales volume WME, Film Nation
Mountain
director Rachel House
Star Elizabeth Atkinson, Terence Daniel, Reuben Francis
buzz Produced by Taika Waititi and his jojo rabbit and Hunting the savages The New Zealand adventure comedy from producer Carthew Neal about three young people embarking on a spiritual quest has already done well at the box office and should win over TIFF buyers and film festival audience.
sales volume Upgrade production
night falls
director Jay Hernandez
Star Daphne Keen, Samantha Loren
buzz Passionate about her cameo Deadpool and Wolverine, Logan Keane stars alongside Lorraine in the survivor horror thriller (Netflix’s You were not invited to my bar mitzvah), playing a sister who survives a catastrophic event, only to find herself tasked with saving all of humanity from destruction. “Suicide Squad” actor Hernandez makes his directorial debut.
sales volume exchange
nutcracker
director David Gordon Green
Star Ben Stiller, Linda Cardellini
buzz Stiller kicked off the event with his return to acting, playing a real estate developer who takes care of his sister’s four boys and farm in rural Ohio after her death. After a string of horror films, Gordon Green directed what he called a homage to the horror genre. bad news bear Currently, streamers are looking for more family-centric comedy content.
sales volume Uta
riding a fast horse
director Daniel Minahan
Star Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter
buzz Hot young cast, led by ordinary people Alum Edgar Jones, Poulter midsummer and Euphoria Star Elodie should add sales potential to the historical drama set in the 1950s American West, with themes that echo both revolutionary road and Brokeback Mountain.
sales volume Uta
sharp corners
director Jason Buxton
Star Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, Gavin Dray
buzz Hell or high water and leave no trace The psychological thriller, which stars Forster as a dutiful family man obsessed with saving the lives of car crash victims, is likely to attract genre buyers here and abroad.
sales volume Neon International, Range Media Partners
shell
director Max Minghella
Star Elizabeth Moss/Kate Hudson/Kaia Gerber
buzz Minghella directed his The Handmaid’s Tale Co-starring in this homage to the horror movies of the ’80s and ’90s, a talented but undercast actress (Moss) agrees to buy a Fountain of Youth-style beauty treatment peddled by a shady beauty CEO Nursing stories. Genre films have performed well at the specialty box office this year, leading distributors to seek out high-end horror films. shell can fill this gap.
sales volume World Medical Association, China Aeronautical Society
This story first appeared in the September 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
