US buyers have not been in an adventurous mood as the last few markets will attest. However hope springs eternal and acquisitions teams will be on the hunt at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to bulk up pipelines following the Hollywood strikes of 2023.
How theatrical buyers fare against streamers remains to be seen. Financiers and sales agents, many of whom are avowed fans of the theatrical experience, must recoup.
The lure of a worldwide deal with a platform can be hard to resist, and while the North American summer box office rallied well and there are lucrative opportunities for the right theatrical releases, that landscape remains challenged.
Joe Plummer, president of New York-based Wavelengths Productions, a co-financier on Special Presentations selection and sales title On Swift Horses starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi, says he is “cautiously optimistic” heading into TIFF.
“[On Swift Horses] deserves to be seen on the largest screen and looks beautiful wherever it’s seen,” he says, adding: “I want it to reach the widest possible audience.”
TIFF intends to ramp up its on-site business activity and will launch an official market in 2026. Until then, watch the number of private screenings creep up this year and next. They used to be banned but TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey tells Screen they are soon likely to be categorised as market screenings.
Republic Pictures handles worldwide sales on two TIFF selections – Edward Burns’s Special Presentations choice Millers In Marriage and K’naan Warsame’s Somali film Mother Mother in Discovery.
Dan Cohen, Paramount Global chief content licensing officer and president of Republic Pictures, notes: “It feels very much business as usual… There’s interest and need for movies. I feel good about things.”
It may even turn out that the hottest title on Cohen’s docket is not playing at TIFF. Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 premiered in Venice and was the talk of Telluride last weekend. Do not be surprised if a deal goes down in Toronto on the dramatic recreation of ABC Sports’ coverage of the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Many films in official selection arrive with distribution in place, and two acquisition titles have ust got snapped up. Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American and multiple rights to Laura Piani’s Centrepiece selection Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, while Lionsgate’s Grindstone and Roadside Attractions took US rights off the table on Special Presentations crime comedy Riff Raff.
ABC New Studios said it would plan a short theatrical release on TIFF Docs world premiere Patrice: The Movie, before it debuts on Hulu on September 30.
Last year’s TIFF saw Netflix pay a reported $20m for US, UK, New Zealand and Australia and outstanding Asian rights to Richard Linklater dark comedy Hit Man starring Glen Powell.
Below is a list of some of the most anticipated sales titles in TIFF. The first public screenings and P&I screenings are listed for each film in Eastern Time. World premieres are denoted as WP, North American premieres as NAP, and international premieres as IP.
TIFF runs September 5-15.
GALA PRESENTATIONS
The Deb (Australia)
Dir. Rebel Wilson
Wilson makes her directing debut with an adaptation of stage musical The Deb, about two teenage girls attending a debutante ball in a small country town. Wilson has been involved in a public fallout with three of the film’s producers.
Screenings: P&I Sept. 9, 10am, TIFF Lightbox; WP Sept. 14, 6.30pm, Princess of Wales Theatre, 8pm, Roy Thomson Hall
Sales: WME Independent
Closing night film
Eden (US)
Dir. Ron Howard
Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Ana de Armas and Daniel Brühl star in the thriller about a group who abandon civilisation to start anew in the Galapagos islands, when everything goes horribly wrong. Prime Video acquired multiple territories, so all eyes turn to a potential US sale.
Screenings: WP Sept. 7, 5.45pm, Roy Thomson Hall; P&I Sept. 8, 8.45am, TIFF Lightbox
Sales: CAA Media Finance (US), AGC Studios (international)
The Friend (US)
Dirs. Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Fresh from its Telluride world premiere, the adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 novel stars Naomi Watts as a Manhattan-based novelist who inherits a Great Dane following the death of her best friend, played by Bill Murray. Bing the Great Dane earned rave reviews in the Rockies.
Screenings: P&I Sept. 8, 12.30pm, Scotiabank; IP Sept. 10, 9.30pm, Roy Thomson Hall.
Sales: CAA Media Finance
Nutcrackers (US)
Dir. David Gordon Green
Ben Stiller is back in a lead role as a workaholic tasked with looking after his livewire orphaned nephews.
Screenings: WP Sept. 5, 6pm, Princess of Wales Theatre, 8pm, Roy Thomson Hall; P&I Sept. 6, 11.30am, Scotiabank
Sales: UTA Independent Film Group
Opening night film
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
Friendship (US)
Dir. Andrew DeYoung
Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, and Jack Dylan Grazer star in this cringe comedy outing about a suburban dad who tries too hard to befriend his charming new neighbour.
Screenings: WP Sept. 8, 11.59pm, Royal Alexandra Theatre; P&I Sept. 9, 8.45am, Scotiabank
Sales: WME Independent, UTA Independent Film Group, Dan Guando, Fifth Season dguando@fifthseason.com
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
The Cut (UK-US)
Dir. Sean Ellis
Ellis ventures back to Toronto after his debut feature, dark comedy drama Cashback, played the festival in 2006. This psychological thriller stars Orlando Bloom as a boxer who comes out of retirement to hustle for the championship title. Caitriona Balfe and John Turturro also star.
Screenings: WP Sept. 5, 9.30pm, Princess of Wales; P&I Sept. 6, 9.30am, Scotiabank
Sales: WME Independent (North America); UTA Independent Film Group (North America); The Exchange (international)
Harvest (UK-US-Ger-Greece-Fr)
Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari
Well received in Venice, the adaptation of Jim Crace’s 2013 novel set in the Middle Ages takes place in an unspecified place and time as strangers arrive in a village. Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling and Rosy McEwen star. Mubi has rights in UK, Germany, Belgium and Latin America.
Screenings: P&I Sept. 6, 12.30pm, Scotiabank; NAP Sept. 10, 6pm, TIFF Lightbox
Sales: The Match Factory
K-POPS
Dir. Anderson .Paak
Rapper and composer .Paak makes his feature directing debut about a has-been musician who joins the house band on a K-pop show, only to discover his estranged son is one of the contestants. The cast includes .Paak, Jee Young Han, Jonnie ‘Dumbfoundead’ Park, Soul Rasheed and Yvette Nicole Brown.
Screenings: WP Sept. 7, 3pm, Princess of Wales; P&I Sept. 8, 9.30am, Scotiabank
Sales: WME Independent; Stampede Ventures
The Luckiest Man In America (US)
Dir. Samir Oliveros
Inspired by the Press Your Luck scandal of 1984, Paul Walter Hauser stars as an ice-cream van driver who exploits a flaw in a TV game show to win a big cash prize, arousing the suspicions of network execs. Haley Bennett, Walton Goggins and Maisie Williams also star, and Pablo Larraín, whose Maria just premiered in Venice, is among the exec producers.
Screenings: WP, Sept. 5, 9pm, TIFF Lightbox; P&I Sept 6, 9.05am, Scotiabank
Sales: CAA Media Finance (North America); Protagonist Pictures (international)
On Swift Horses (US)
Dir. Daniel Minahan
Oscar-winning Nomadland producers Peter Spears and Mollye Asher team with Ley Line and Wavelength on the adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel about a married woman whose life is upended by her wayward brother-in-law, setting her off on a path of self-discovery. Daisy Edgar-Jones, hot off summer hit Twisters, stars with Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter in the 1950s American West-set drama.
Screenings: WP Sept. 7, 6.15pm, Princess of Wales; P&I Sept. 8, 9.30am, TIFF Lightbox
Sales: UTA Independent Film Group; Black Bear
Paul Anka: His Way (US)
Dir. John Maggio
Documentarian Maggio trains his lens on Canada-born Anka, the singer/songwriter of Syrian-Lebanese parents who rose to fame at the tender age of 15 with number-one hit ‘Diana’ and went on to enjoy a successful career.
Screenings: P&I Sept. 7, 5pm, Scotiabank: WP Sept. 10, 2pm, Royal Alexandra Theatre
Contact: UTA Independent Film Group
Relay (US)
Dir. David Mackenzie
Riz Ahmed, Sam Worthington and Lily James star in the thriller about a fixer who abandons his rules to protect a potential client. Mackenzie’s last feature, Outlaw King, premiered at 2018 TIFF. Black Bear fully financed and distributes in the UK.
Screenings: WP Sept. 8, 3pm, Princess of Wales Theatre; P&I Sept. 9, 8.45am, Scotiabank
Sales: CAA Media Finance, UTA Independent Film Group (US); Black Bear (international)
Sharp Corner (Can-Ire)
Dir. Jason Buxton
Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders star in the psychological thriller about a family man who obsesses over protecting future casualties after a car crash in his garden.
Screenings: WP Sept. 6, 6.30pm, TIFF Lightbox; P&I Sept. 7, 9.10am, Scotiabank
Sales: Neon, Range Media Partners (owheeler@rangemp.com) US; Neon (international)
Shell (US)
Dir. Max Minghella
The UK filmmaker second stint in the director’s chair after his 2018 TIFF premiere Teen Spirit is a dark comedy starring Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson about a dispirited actress invited into the glamorous world of a health and wellness empire who realises all is not quite right.
Screenings: P&I Sept. 8, 8.45am, Scotiabank; WP Sept. 12, 9.30pm Princess of Wales Theatre
Sales: WME Independent (US); CAA Media Finance (US); Black Bear (international)
INDUSTRY SELECTS
Buyers screenings only
London Calling
Dir. Allan Ungar
Josh Duhamel plays a hitman who has fled the UK after a botched job and finds himself babysitting the son of his new crime boss and showing the youngster how to become a man. Jeremy Ray Taylor and Aiden Gillen also star.
Screening: Sept. 7, 3pm, TIFF Lightbox
Sales: CAA Media Finance (North America), Ross Putman of Verve Ventures (North America) rputman@vervetla.com; Highland Film Group (international), sales@highland.film
Rich Flu (Sp)
Dir: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
The director behind 2019 TIFF hit The Platform returns with a parable about an illness that kills wealthy people, eventually causing global catastrophe.
Screening: Sept. 6, 9.10am, Scotiabank
Sales: CAA Media Finance, XYZ Films
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