The Cannes Film Festival is underway, and while the Marché Du Film is as booming as ever with exciting packages of future films, there are plenty of titles playing in competition or in the Cannes sidebars that could make a big splash at the box office or the awards season race for the right buyer. Last year’s “The Substance” was acquired by MUBI before it landed a Best Picture Oscar nomination and made $77.3 million worldwide.
Here are the 13 films we predicted ahead of the festival could find homes quickly. We’ll update the below list with all the acquisitions as they come in.
“Die, My Love”
Section: Competition
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Buzz: The first major sale of Cannes is one of the starriest, with Lynne Ramsay’s intense drama about postpartum depression and motherhood starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson going to MUBI, IndieWire can confirm, in a deal that multiple reports have above $20 million. The film is also expected to get a healthy theatrical window and wide release, and MUBI acquired the U.S. rights in addition to some other territories, with some deep pocketed streamers reportedly in the mix. Our review wrote that Lawrence gives the type of performance that is made for the Cannes Best Actress prize in her “feral” depiction of a woman in rural America engulfed by love and madness.
Films Arriving at Cannes with U.S. Distribution
“Alpha”
Section: Competition
Distributor: Neon
Director: Julia Ducournau
Buzz: It was a hot market title at last year’s Cannes, and a year later the latest from the Palme D’Or winner of “Titane” is back in the main competition. The film follows a 13-year-old girl whose world comes crashing down when she arrives home with a tattoo on her arm.
“Bono: Stories of Surrender”
Section: Special Screenings
Distributor: Apple TV+
Director: Andrew Dominik
Buzz: For his first film since the Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde,” Dominik profiles the U2 frontman as he films the stage production of Bono’s one-man show.
“Dangerous Animals”
Section: Director’s Fortnight
Distributor: IFC Films
Director: Sean Byrne
Buzz: A serial killer movie and a shark movie from the director of “The Devil’s Candy?” What’s not to like?
“Eddington”
Section: Competition
Distributor: A24
Director: Ari Aster
Buzz: Destined to be as polarizing as any of his features, Aster’s pandemic-set fourth feature is a contemporary Western with a stellar cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler.
“Eleanor the Great”
Section: Un Certain Regard
Distributor: TriStar Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Scarlett Johansson
Buzz: June Squibb stars in this indie drama that is also Johansson’s directorial debut about a nonagenarian who after 70 years returns to New York city and befriends a student.
“Highest 2 Lowest”
Section: Out of Competition
Distributor: Apple TV+ and A24
Director: Spike Lee
Buzz: Spike Lee’s reunion with Denzel Washington for a modern day reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low” looks like one of Lee’s most commercial films in years, so it’s fitting it will get a theatrical release before landing on streaming.
“The History of Sound”
Section: Competition
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Oliver Hermanus
Buzz: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor star in this romance set in 1917 amid the world of early 20th Century folk music.
“Honey Don’t!”
Section: Midnight
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Ethan Coen
Buzz: Ethan Coen’s second solo effort again pairs him with his partner and writer Tricia Cooke, as well as star Margaret Qualley, who plays a small-town private eye investigating a church led by a dubious preacher played by Chris Evans.
“Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol”
Section: Special Screenings
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Sylvian Chomet
Buzz: “The Triplets of Belleville” director brings his eclectic animated style to this biopic of the life of one of France’s great artists, Marcel Pagnol.
“The Mastermind”
Section: Competition
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Buzz: Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Eli Gelb, Hope Davis, and Bill Camp star in this heist film from the “First Cow” director set in 1970 Massachusetts.
“Miriors No. 3”
Section: Director’s Fortnight
Distributor: Metrograph
Director: Christian Petzold
Buzz: Petzold’s follow-up to the Berlinale prize winner “Afire” is his fourth collaboration with actress Paula Beer about a woman taken in by a family after she survives a seemingly devastating car crash.
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
Section: Out of Competition
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Buzz: The eighth (and maybe final?) Mission: Impossible film sees Tom Cruise dangling from a biplane and going underwater to defeat an all-powerful AI.
“My Father’s Shadow”
Section: Un Certain Regard
Distributor: MUBI
Director: Akinola Davies Jr.
Buzz: Davies Jr. is making his feature directorial debut after breaking out with the Sundance-winning short “Lizard.” The film is a semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian metropolis Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis.
“Orwell: 2+2=5”
Section: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Neon
Director: Raoul Peck
Buzz: Peck returns to Cannes one year after “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” premiered there with his documentary about the life of “1984” author George Orwell.
“The Phoenician Scheme”
Section: Competition
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Wes Anderson
Buzz: Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera star alongside newcomer Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet’s daughter), who holds her own as a nun in this zany period comedy about one of the richest men in Europe.
“Pillion”
Section: Un Certain Regard
Distributor: A24
Director: Harry Lighton
Buzz: Based on the book “Box Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones, the film starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling follows an unassuming man swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.
“Sentimental Value”
Section: Competition
Distributor: Neon
Director: Joachim Trier
Buzz: The Norwegian director’s sixth film pairs him with “The Worst Person in the World” star Renata Reinsve in this family drama about the reconciliatory power of art.
“Splitsville”
Section: Cannes Premiere
Distributor: Neon
Director: Michael Angelo Covino
Buzz: The team behind “The Climb” return to Cannes with another comedy about a man who turns to his friends for advice amid a divorce, only to discover their secret is an open marriage. Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona star alongside Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.
