What To Make Of This Year’s AFM?

10.11.2022 - 20:47 / deadline.com

The first in-person AFM in three years was a relatively quiet affair.  

Movies have been sold, projects were launched, but there few big-canvas theatrical features and no major deals have been announced to date. Cannes was busy, but this felt more sedate. 

Among significant projects launched for the market, which wrapped this week, were Guy Ritchie’s WWII pic The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare with Henry Cavill, Pawel Pawlikowski’s black and white drama The Island with Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, and the Night Of The Living Dead sequel.

We heard good things from buyers about projects including Clown In A Cornfield, The Pack, The Return To Silent Hill, The Radleys and The Threesome. AGC closed a raft of deals on thriller The Silent Hour, as did Mossbank on post-apocalyptic thriller Elevation from A Quiet Place producer Brad Fuller.

Multiple distributors told us they were impressed by A24’s lineup. The company has developed one of the biggest sales slates in the market on its way to becoming a fully-fledged all-purpose mini studio. Projects on the roster include Zac Efron wrestling pic Iron Claw, Kristen Stewart crime-thriller Love Lies Bleeding, Eggers Brothers thriller Front Room, and Ari Aster’s Joaquin Phoenix film Disappointment Boulevard. It’s a classy lineup of idiosyncratic indie films that often come with lofty asking prices. The four movies noted above are all budgeted above $15M-$20M, buyers told us.  

By now, most markets have spawned a big studio or streamer deal. Not this AFM. One studio we spoke to sent five acquisitions executives to the market for one week but the company left without picking up a single project. Streamers may be more picky at the moment given recent consolidation.

Anecdotally,