Cannes Market Heats Up After Netflix, Apple Strike Big Deals

EXCLUSIVE: Ellen Wander’s Film Bridge International has sold shark survival thriller Maneater to a host of buyers during the Cannes market including Saban Films (North America, UK, Australia/NZ, Scandinavia and South Africa), Challan Films (Korea), Superfine Films (India), YouPlanet (Spain), ILY Films (France), Monolith (Poland), Suraya Filem (SE Asia), Blitz Film Group (Ex-Yugo), and Selim Ramia and Co. (Middle East).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Lendarys,” a big-budget family adventure animation film that is currently in production, scored a handful of pre-sales during the Cannes Market. Rights sales are handled by Hong Kong-, Paris and Los Angeles-based All Rights Entertainment.With a production budget of $30 million, the film is the directorial debut of Philippe Duchene and Jean-Baptiste Cuvelier.

Naman Ramachandran Deaf Crocodile Films and Gratitude Films have acquired Indian films “Lalanna’s Song” and “Dhuin” for North American distribution. The deals were completed during the Cannes Market.“Dhuin” is one of six Indian titles selected by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a market screening.

The rise of streamer content has created anxiety for talent and their reps, because of models that require ownership of a project in perpetuity. Because product starts on a streaming site and then never leaves, there is no chance of backend windfalls. Just look at the creators and cast of Squid Game to see what that can mean: a billion-dollar property for Netflix, embarrassingly tiny paydays for the artists who made it, and little hope of making up the shortfall in subsequent seasons.

Christopher Vourlias Russia may have been cut off from much of the international film community, but here at Cannes, members of the country’s media business are quietly trying to line up deals.Nearly three months into the war in Ukraine, the leadership of the film festival has spent its opening week fielding questions about its stance on Russia. Festival chief Thierry Frémaux, for instance, was grilled over the inclusion of competition title “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” a movie with financial ties to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

EXCLUSIVE: In a worldwide rights deal, Apple Original Films has landed Fingernails, the sci-fi love story to star Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) and Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal). It marks the English language debut of Apples director Christos Nikou. Deal went down late Saturday night.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix might have had a bumpy few weeks, but the streamer is poised to strike the first major Cannes deal on a hot market package.

EXCLUSIVE: Here is the first trailer for movie Peter Five Eight, marking the first footage released at a market for a Kevin Spacey project in almost five years.

Sam Asghari is focusing on his family following the announcement that his fiancée, Britney Spears, suffered a miscarriage. The 28-year-old actor took to his Instagram Story Wednesday to share that he would be sitting out the Cannes Film Festival this year, in light of recent events.«Couldn't make it to Cannes Film Festival this year,» Asghari wrote. «Personal life and family come first, always.

Audrey Diwan’s planned English language directing debut, the erotic tale Emmanuelle starring Lea Seydoux, has buyers buzzing as much as any Cannes Market package being shopped this week on the Croisette. But her last film Happening (which didn’t make the cut as France’s choice for Best Foreign Language Film, though many felt it would have won) might have the most lasting impact. The film is just released in the U.S. smack in the middle of revelations that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe V Wade.

Naman Ramachandran For acclaimed Indian actor R. Madhavan ( (“Alai Payuthey,” “Tanu Weds Manu”), making his directorial debut, “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect,” literally required an understanding of rocket science.In addition to directing, Madhavan plays the role of Indian scientist, Nambi Narayanan, a former Indian Space Research Organization scientist and aerospace engineer known for developing efficient liquid fuel engines and who became embroiled in a spy scandal.The director attached to the project had to drop out at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts and Madhavan who had a deep understanding of the script having written it himself after conversations with Narayanan had to take up the mantle.

Sam Asghari is focusing on his family following the announcement that his fiancée, Britney Spears, suffered a miscarriage. The 28-year-old actor took to his Instagram Story Wednesday to share that he would be sitting out the Cannes Film Festival this year, in light of recent events.«Couldn't make it to Cannes Film Festival this year,» Asghari wrote. «Personal life and family come first, always.

EXCLUSIVE: Avatar Entertainment has taken worldwide rights to the Vadhir Derbez and Elyfer Torres erotic thriller SVGS and is shopping rights at the Cannes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: A feature about legendary Hollywood director Sam Peckinpah’s wild plan to finance his final film with backing from Colombia’s Cali Cartel is being sold in Cannes.

EXCLUSIVE: The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman star Jake Hoffman, whose father is Dustin Hoffman, is creating and directing coming-of-age romcom The Problem With Poets.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off their Oscar nominations for drama The Lost Daughter, Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Chernobyl star Jessie Buckley are set to reunite on comedy Wicked Little Letters, which will be a hot project at the Cannes market.

EXCLUSIVE: Australian sales firm Odin’s Eye Entertainment has acquired Jonathan aux der Heide (Van Diemens Land) film Devil Inside and will launch the Ryan Kwanten-starring picture at the Cannes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian McKellen is among the stars of Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Within, a part-documentary feature investigating the mythology around the Shakespeare play, which is headed to the Cannes Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award-winning writer and director Emerald Fennell has lined up her cast for her next film, Saltburn with Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan attached to star in the project from MRC Film. Deadline recently broke that Rosamund Pike will also co-star with  principal photography set to begin this summer in the UK. The pic will be produced by Fennell and LuckyChap Entertainment’s Josey McNamara, Tom Ackerley and Margot Robbie.

The Hating Game star Lucy Hale is to reunite with director Peter Hutchings in rom-com Which Brings Me To You.