IN FOCUS
title to go under the formalised develop- ment, production and fi nancing alliance with Cross Creek Pictures. “Our produc- tion side is converting a lot of material and it’s crucial to the longevity of the company,” Exclusive head of interna- tional Alex Walton said. Sierra/Affi nity head Nick Meyer said:
“Buyers said there’s a lot out there and we’ve been getting them to focus. The Coup was a big priority and that has got off to a great start. Emperor went really well and we’ve been working with the producers on The Hive for two years and we’ve hit the targets. Now we have to make sure we get the movies made.” FilmNation’s Glen Basner and his
team virtually sold out Sofi a Coppola’s Bling Ring and did robust business on Tracers, among others. Last year Basner was busy on international sales for 2012 Competition entries Lawless and Mud, FilmNation’s co-production with Ever- est Entertainment. Inferno heads Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel were busy fi eld- ing offers on Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming stop-motion Pinocchio as well as Grace Of Monaco and Maggie from Pierre-Ange Le Pogam’s Stone Angels. Mark Damon described an unprece-
dented response to Lone Survivor and Motor City. Lone Survivor director Peter Berg staged a 24-hour whirlwind series of meetings with buyers on the Croisette, while Gerard Butler fl ew in to talk up Motor City. Both are set to start shooting in September. Jere Hausfater and Nadine de Barros of Aldamisa International sold out Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, which Dimen- sion will open in the US on October 4 2013, and Machete Kills. Focus Features International sold out on a typically prestigious slate that included Admission, Oculus and Prom- ised Land. Sales chief Alison Thompson hosted a dinner for around 130 key dis- tribution personnel to celebrate the company’s tenth anniversary. “It was personally gratifying to see so many of the same people we have been working with for 10 years,” she said. “We know how to get these movies, we know how to make them for a price and we know how to sell them.”
The Weinstein Company was on pro- lifi c form and virtually sold out a slate that included Scary Movie 5, August: Osage County, The Master, Devil’s Knot and The Silver Linings Playbook, as well as most of the world on The Sapphires.
■ 6 Screen International June-July 2012 Kon-Tiki
US rights to Intrepid Pictures’ upcom- ing horror story Oculus. Once Cannes got underway, the Weinsteins acquired Code Name: Geronimo from Voltage Pic- tures and ARC took the US on Whole Lotta Sole from WME Global. IM Global head Stuart Ford and sales
chief Jonathan Deckter were in the thick of it, licensing US rights on Ends Of The Earth to CBS Films on the eve of the market and closing deals for Paranoia with Relativity Media and Dead Man Down with FilmDistrict. At time of writ- ing, Open Road and the Weinsteins were circling Lee Daniels’ upcoming ensem- ble drama The Butler, an international sell-out through IM Global on behalf of Len Blavatnik-owned Icon Group. Icon’s potential re-emergence as a
Of the newer US sales companies,
‘When you consider the economic climate, it’s quite astonishing we had competitive situations in
every territory’ Thorsten Schumacher, HanWay
Cargo Entertainment scored hits with The Angriest Man In Brooklyn and Zip- per. “We did well in our fi rst Cannes and it’s good to see equity has come back to help things get going,” sales chief Mark Lindsay said. Cannes is not the time or place for US acquisitions teams to snap up com- pleted fi lms and 2012 was no exception, given that The Weinstein Company took Competition entries Lawless and Killing Them Softly off the shelf early, SPC acquired Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner Amour back in April and AMC Networks snapped up On The Road one week before the festival began. But there was a trickle of deals. SPC took North American rights to Pablo Larrain’s No, Sundance Selects bought the US on Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share, Samuel Goldwyn Films took US rights to Gilles Bourdos’ Renoir, O-Scope acquired US to Matteo Garrone’s Reality and The Weinstein Company took the US and most of the world on Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires.
The Sapphires
On the eve of the market, FilmDistrict bought
major film player after announcing a revamped production slate may well go down as one of the market’s signifi cant moments, alongside the launch of a $150m equity fund from UK-US fi nan- cier AngelWorld Entertainment. StudioCanal enjoyed success, includ-
ing with David Heyman’s Paddington Bear project, while HanWay came to market with a slate that included The Big Shoe, Dom Hemingway, Great Expec- tations and Kon-Tiki. “When you con- sider the economic climate, it’s quite astonishing that we had competitive situations in every territory,” MD Thorsten Schumacher said. “There were bounce-backs from
Spain and particularly from Japan. Italy was better but still has a way to go,” Schumacher said. “Video-on-demand is really breaking through and compensat- ing for the depressed DVD market. It was noticeable last year but has broken through this year.” eOne closed deals on Cut Bank and Inch’Allah and Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar of Embankment Films saw plenty of buyer interest for Mission: Blacklist.
Blacklist Caught In Flight had almost sold out prior to the market.
Protagonist’s slate continues to draw interest from global buyers and the com- pany closed US deals on Sightseers with IFC Films and The Sweeney with eOne. Among UK buyers, Momentum, Entertainment and eOne led the way, connecting with the types of projects that have served them well out of other markets. Artifi cial Eye found new fi lms in Sally Potter’s untitled drama and
Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond The Hills. s » See Cannes reviews, from p58
www.screendaily.com
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