And with such a tiny pool of acquisitions titles, buyers and sellers are expecting streamers and their voracious appetites to set the agenda. With deep pockets and no theatrical worries, streamers have an obvious advantage. While many distributors are shopping TIFF for next year’s slates, this fall’s theatrical landscape will play an outsized role in determining the future of exhibition: In 2021, how many screens will be left in the US? And how will Universal and AMC’s window-shortening deal impact smaller films? “Tenet,” the first pandemic tentpole release, as of Monday was projected to gross $20.2 million in its first 13 days in Canada and eight in the US, just as Disney launched its grand “Mulan” PVOD experiment. Endeavor Content, for one, is mounting drive-in screenings for the urban horseman tale “Concrete Cowboy,” the Naomi Watts family drama “Penguin Bloom,” and the Midnight Madness standout “Shadow in the Cloud.”Įven if many theatrical buyers are in need of stock, they remain cautious. Though this year’s TIFF is shaping up to be a seller’s market, agents have embraced the mantra of not just sending out screener links, particularly for some of the hottest sales titles. While few are expecting any unsold films to create “One Night in Miami”-level excitement, nor do they see much chance of finding a hidden gem in the 50-film lineup, the fact remains that TIFF represents the best of this year’s limited stock, and buyers are planning to use the opportunity to fill their pipelines. But after a summer filled with still-unannounced transactions, a drastically truncated festival lineup that buyers are lukewarm about, an in-person experience reserved for locals, and the return to theatrical in its infancy, the “wait and see” attitude that has permeated business activity in the pandemic continues to be a refrain for both buyers and sellers.
When the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off Thursday, it will likely mark another year of the event serving as one of the industry’s most critical dealmaking venues. Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’ to Make World Premiere at TIFF At that time, one source told Variety the “Bad Education” sales reps opted not to pre-screen the film, hoping heat from the premiere would fuel spending. Within 24 hours, the film was sold to Amazon after a bidding war, with a price tag one source placed well north of the $20 million HBO paid for last year’s “Bad Education,” which set an all-time record at TIFF.
“Everyone’s trying to be creative and find a situation whereby we’re not just sending out links (to online screeners) and hoping for the best,” said ICM Partners sales agent Oliver Wheeler.Įarlier this summer, ICM offered extended footage of the film to a cadre of buyers in a tight screening window, a pandemic-era (virtual) analogue to the usual pressure-cooker festival sales environment.
The in-theater excitement and cocktail chatter that have inspired so many late-night dealmaking sessions? Not COVID friendly. But in 2020, few in the business could get to Venice to watch the premiere, while TIFF’s largely virtual program means American industry members would be stuck screening King’s directorial debut at home. With its timely vision of Black American icons, awards buzz, and run at two of the fall’s three major festivals, Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” couldn’t have asked for a better sales environment in any other year.
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