Compared with the recent Toronto Film Festival, TIFF 2024, which ended on September 15, had a mediocre box office performance.
The studios have struck a major deal: Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide rights outside of German-speaking Europe for Tim Fehlbaum. September 5is a newsroom thriller about the terrorist attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which is already considered a serious contender for major awards. Featuring some independent pickups, the A24 captures the hilarious era epic of Brady Corbet fauvism and Andrew DeYoung’s buddy comedy friendship Samuel Goldwyn Films acquires North American rights to Nick Hamm-directed medieval action film starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd William Tell Starring Claes Bang. There’s also a major streaming acquisition as Hulu seizes TIFF opener nutcrackeris a family comedy directed by David Gordon Green and starring Ben Stiller.
Several deals were signed ahead of the festival, with Sony Pictures Classics acquiring major global rights to Laura Piani’s debut film jane austen ruined my lifeLionsgate’s Grindstone Entertainment Group and Roadside Attractions acquire U.S. rights to Dito Montiel’s crime comedy Improvised Raffstarring Jennifer Coolidge, Pete Davidson and Bill Murray, Amazon Prime has secured an international deal (excluding Germany) for the sci-fi drama Evaluatestarring Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Himish Patel.
But compared with TIFF’s ambitions – Toronto will launch a formal film market in 2026, aiming to become an independent film trading center on par with Berlin or Cannes – business this year has been worryingly slow. Several high-profile works – including one by Mike Flanagan Chuck’s lifeAdapted from Stephen King’s work, the star-studded dystopian drama stars Tom Hiddleston, a surprise winner of the TIFF People’s Choice Award for Best Picture, and Ron Howard. Garden of Eden (starring Jude Law, Sidney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and Daniel Brühl) – are still looking for deals at the end of the festival.
Mainstream drama and comedy offering a big-name cast – David Mackenzie’s spy thriller relay Starring Lily James and Riz Ahmed, directed by Peter Cattanio Penguin’s Lesson With Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce, Samir Olivero The luckiest man in America Film starring Paul Walter Hauser, David Straithairn and Maisie Williams exceeds demand from domestic buyers, who are waiting Caution as box office results return to pre-COVID levels.
“There are really only three domestic buyers that can offer a broad release: Lionsgate, A24 and Neon,” said a senior executive at a leading European financier and sales agency. “If they say no, you’re out of luck.”
It’s worth noting that all deals at this year’s TIFF are for finished films, with no large-scale pre-sales announced. Pre-sales — when distributors take bets on projects that have a director and cast but are still seeking financing — are the lifeblood of any major market. It’s demand from international buyers, not domestic buyers, that drives pre-sale business, and TIFF attendees saw a disconnect, with too many American dramas and comedies on offer and too few of the kind of films international distributors crave.
“International buyers tell us over and over: ‘Give us action movies, we want action movies!'” noted one American producer/financier. “But these products are produced in such small quantities.”
Optimists at TIFF pointed to positive trends in the U.S. distribution business. “Neon” had a record-breaking year at the box office, thanks to “Neon” taking in over $74 million at the box office. long legsand A24, boosted by civil war ($68 million), iron claw ($19 million) and Maggie Xin ($15 million), is becoming increasingly ambitious. Arthouse streamer Mubi will premiere Coralie Fargeat’s gory horror satire on September 20, making its first major foray into the U.S. theatrical market substancestarring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
“The studios don’t make these movies anymore, mid-budget big-money genre movies, but there’s an audience for them,” said a London-based sales executive. “If Toronto can position itself as the place to go to find these types of films, it has a real market future.”
