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Thursday, 05/18/2006 6:27:24 PM

Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:27:24 PM

Cannes mart a case of buyers aware
Smaller pool means bigger sales due

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002503854

By Anne Thompson

CANNES -- It is a seller's market at the Festival de Cannes this year as a plethora of robust American buyers prepare to scour for possible gems on the Cannes waterfront, where there's always plenty of exciting world-class cinema on view -- but precious few commercial titles to buy. That's because at this year's fest, most of the must-see titles already boast distribution. The likely outcome of this screening frenzy is that veterans with full release slates will resist the temptation to overpay, while hungrier distributors with something to prove will shell out the big bucks.

Going in, Columbia Pictures is launching director Sofia Coppola's revisionist take on "Marie-Antoinette," starring Kirsten Dunst in 18th century corsets; Sony Pictures Classics is introducing Cannes veteran Pedro Almodovar's dramatic "Volver," starring Penelope Cruz in a role inspired by Anna Magnani; Paramount's soon-to-be-renamed specialty division is debuting Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's polyglot ensemble "Babel," starring Brad Pitt, and the Al Gore global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"; Picturehouse will show Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language "Pan's Labyrinth"; Lionsgate is unveiling William Friedkin's creepy thriller "Bug," starring Ashley Judd, at the Directors' Fortnight; Fox Searchlight has Richard Linklater's controversial "Fast Food Nation" In Competition, and Warner Independent Pictures will premiere Linklater's other fest entry, the animated adaptation of the Philip K. Dick sci-fi noir "A Scanner Darkly." Even the Ali G political comedy "Borat," which will be screened to a select group of Cannes buzz-builders, is a 20th Century Fox release.

The rapidly burgeoning ranks of U.S. distributors expect to see many films that they like but few that they can responsibly acquire, especially given stateside audiences' current aversion to foreign-language fare.

"There's 300 films, and we know a lot about 50 of them," one acquisitions executive said. "We prioritize 10. So there's 250 films we don't know anything about. Something always pops out of nowhere. That's the one where you're having a drink on a beach and you get a phone call, 'I've just heard about this and Harvey's all over it.' "

WIP acquisitions exec Paul Federbush admits that he has only two titles on his high-priority list. "It's an ideal scenario from the sales guy's point of view, they're rubbing their hands with glee," Miramax's Daniel Battsek said. "That will lead to prices rising higher than they ought to. But there are always one or two surprise titles that are not on our list. You have to stay alert and ready."

Most eagerly anticipated is "Donnie Darko" director Richard Kelly's 2008 Los Angeles dystopia "Southland Tales," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar, because it boasts sci-fi genre elements. In an artier category is the English-language family drama "Red Road," directed by Oscar winner Andrea Arnold ("Wasp"), the first of three projects for Lars von Trier to be shot in Glasgow by different directors on a six-week schedule using the same nine cast members. Respected Brit director Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is in the mix, though few have high commercial expectations for the turn-of-the-century Irish period picture that stars Cillian Murphy. A new edit of "The Hawk Is Dying," which failed to sell at January's Sundance Film Festival, is showing in Directors' Fortnight but is unlikely to float any boats here, while fellow fortnighter M. Blash's relationship drama "Lying," starring Chloe Sevigny, could generate some heat.

Four Australian pictures are the focus of considerable distributor interest. Celluloid Dreams is selling Directors' Fortnight entry "Jindabyne," starring Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. Director Ray Lawrence's long-awaited follow-up to "Lantana" adapts one of the Raymond Carver short stories used in Robert Altman's "Shortcuts" -- about an ill-fated fishing trip -- to the Outback. Fortissimo Films is selling the dark comedy "Suburban Mayhem," produced by veteran Australian producer Jan Chapman. Arclight already is selling territories on the high school suicide drama "2:37," from first-time director Murali Thalluri. And while it looks to be more experimental, buyers also are circling Rolf de Heer's Northern Territory adventure "Ten Canoes," which Wild Bunch is selling.

Two nonfamily animated films from Scandinavia are in contention, including Norway's anti-animal-abuse CGI satire "Free Jimmy," starring Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton, and Denmark's "Princess," about a priest and a porn queen.

As for John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus," only nonstudio-affiliated indies need apply. "It's pansexual porn," said ThinkFilm distribution chief Mark Urman, who nonetheless is interested in the film.

Distribs also are likely to check out such market titles as Germany's prize-winning hit "The Lives of Others" and Japan's samurai flick from Hirokazu Koreeda, "Hana yori mo naho."

Also for sale at the market are screenings of works-in-progress, like veteran director Irwin Winkler's "Home of the Brave," starring Samuel L. Jackson, 50 Cent and Jessica Biel as people recovering from long tours of duty in Iraq. Two big-budget Chinese films that were not ready for Cannes will screen footage in the market, including Zhang Yimou's period romance "The City of Golden Armor," starring Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, and "The Banquet," starring Ziyi Zhang.

Some newer buyers are more eager to buy than others. Looking for a Cannes pickup or two is the new Paramount specialty division head John Lesher. He hopes to announce a new name for his division, if it is cleared in time, as well as a new marketing president.

While Bob Berney's young Picturehouse receives some of its picture supply from studio parents New Line and HBO, he remains in the hunt for the right movies to fill his 2006 and 2007 release slates. Similarly, Miramax Films is eager to find more pictures to fill its slots, said Battsek, who is hitting the Croisette for the first time as Miramax chief. "We've filled out our production and acquisitions teams, and we're better prepared, with more manpower and brain power," he said. "We're hungry but by no means desperate for product."

Riding high off of "Scary Movie 4," the still-acquisitive Weinstein Co. is expected to announce more market prebuys such as last year's "The Promise," which it wound up not releasing, and "Stormbraker," which will go out through its distribution deal with MGM.

Roaring back onto the Croisette is MGM under new chairman Harry Sloan and CEO -- and Cannes veteran -- Rick Sands, who is chasing a few more pictures with all world rights or domestic rights available.

The new kid on the block is Henry Winterstern's reconstituted First Look Pictures, led by new president Ruth Vitale, previously of Paramount Classics. "We're the next true indie coming up," she said. "We're building a company on a par with the Weinsteins and Lionsgate. We're looking for movies in the smaller-budget range with some kind of auteur stamp."

Also looking for more movies to distribute is Bauer Martinez chief Philippe Martinez, who puts out his mainstream projects like "Harsh Times" through MGM but handles platform releases, including Ed Burns' "The Groomsmen," in-house. Martinez, who works with several U.K. investors and the Royal Bank of Scotland, considers his company to be in the same league as Lionsgate or Warner Independent.

The big Croisette buyer last year2005 was Sony Pictures Classics, partly because co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are willing to push as many as 22 releases a year, which means that they will take their chances with such foreign titles as last year's Cannes hits "Cache" and "Joyeux Noel." (One scored at the boxoffice, the other didn't.) SPC thus will consider a wider range of possibilities than some of the companies more leery of non-English-language films -- but is unlikely to fork out serious cash for a hot title.

"We just buy what we like," Bernard said. "(People say) there's always nothing every year, and there's always something off to the side in some small theater."

Fox Searchlight, with its limited number of 15-or-so release slots a year, demands such high commercial standards of its acquisitions that it can afford not to buy. Its single purchase at last year's Cannes was a market prebuy of the upcoming British comedy "Confetti."

WIP will be combing the festival for pickups without founder Mark Gill, who departed right before Cannes. "We had pretty wildly divergent views on how to run the company," Gill said. Now that Warners production president Jeff Robinov has placed production executive Polly Cohen in charge of the division, WIP is expected to more actively pursue in-house productions. But Federbush, marketing chief Laura Kim and distribution head Steve Friedlander are still on the lookout for the right buys. "They're not looking for the next Spanish movie," one rival distributor said.

Also not driven to acquire is Focus Features, which is coasting after a boffo year led by Oscar contenders "Brokeback Mountain," "The Constant Gardener" and "Pride & Prejudice." This year, Focus goes into Cannes without fearless leader David Linde, who now is sharing the chairmanship at the Universal studio -- and may or may not attend as he makes the move from New York to Los Angeles. But the company is in shipshape under the solo direction of James Schamus. Acquisitions head Jason Resnick and production president John Lyons are heading to Cannes to troll for pictures, along with marketing president David Brooks and PR chief Adrienne Bowles. Now that intellectual writer-producer Schamus is in charge, some players are wondering whether the company will pursue more eclectic material.

The action on the Croisette this year, as last, is likely to take place outside of the festival mainbars, in the market. Right now the distributors are avidly watching a game of musical chairs as an influx of money from banks, hedge funds and equity investors seeks to find the right home with the right movie project. Sitting in the catbird seat are those producers and agency packagers best able to attract these investors, who actually are serious about not throwing their money away.

"There's so much money flowing into independent production," Fox Searchlight distribution president Steve Gilula said. "It's not necessarily movies we want. The bar keeps being raised in terms of what makes a theatrical movie. Being a good movie doesn't guarantee great boxoffice anymore."

Adds SPC's Barker, "The audience is always looking for that fresh spin."

"Their investment is not just financial," Battsek said. "They seem committed to filmmaking and filmmakers. We're looking at decent-sized investments in lower-budget-range movies. They're trying to get difficult movies made that are more risky and thought-provoking, from first- and second-time filmmakers. I find it refreshing, although sometimes these influxes of money create too much product."

There will be a frenzy of meetings at Cannes as distributors check out the packages coming to fruition. The question is whether and when the distributors will get involved. Some investors will go forward with projects without American distribution; others won't. Some distributors insist on waiting, cat-like, to pounce (and pay competitive rates) when these films finally are shown at festivals.

"There's money far in excess of good projects to make," one Fox Searchlight executive said. "Money is helpful, but it doesn't drive the business. It's the material. Distributors won't go for these projects. We will pay for movies like (Sundance favorite) 'Little Miss Sunshine' when they turn out well."

It seems that more smart producers and financiers are steering these funds into high-quality pictures, recognizing that their best shot is to dangle something of interest to the studio mini-majors. It remains to be seen how eager they are to bite.

The big question this year is which canny producers and financiers are going to marshall the flood of new money for low-budget projects. Their best shot is to dangle something of interest to the studios' mini-majors. It remains to be seen how eager they are to bite.

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