{"id":578908,"date":"2026-05-11T23:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578908\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T23:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:29:10","slug":"austin-butler-natalie-portman-and-more-stars-in-top-sales-titles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/578908\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Butler, Natalie Portman and More Stars in Top Sales Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t
The Cannes market arrived this year the way it often does: slowly, then all at once. On the eve of the 2026 March\u00e9 du Film<\/a> (May 12-20), there was a late surge of fresh packages \u2014 prestige auteur plays, elevated genre films and star-driven indies \u2014 a tentative sign of green shoots for an global film<\/a> industry badly in need of some positive momentum.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are few of the giant $50\u202fmillion-plus action packages that once defined the March\u00e9. The economics of independently financing big-budget films have become increasingly unforgiving, pushing producers and sales companies toward leaner, sharper concepts with clearer theatrical identities.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe indie market is also in flux, with hits coming from all over, but little in the way of a model to copy. Star-driven high-end auteur movies \u2014 A24\u2019s\u00a0Marty Supreme\u00a0and\u00a0The Drama\u00a0\u2014 sit alongside foreign-language breakouts like\u00a0No Other Choice,\u00a0Sentimental Value\u00a0and\u00a0Sirat, all Neon releases stateside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe definition of a high-profile project is very different from [what] it used to be,\u201d says Oliver Berben, CEO of German producer\/distributor Constantin Film, which recently acquired A24\u2019s\u00a0Backrooms, from YouTube creator Kane Parsons, for the German market. \u201cMuch more important right now is creating a project that will have the cultural relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStateside, the IFC Entertainment Group, which covers both the Independent Film Company and horror streamer Shudder, split the difference between genre acquisitions and director-driven dramas with its buys out of last year\u2019s Cannes. The company bought the Samara Weaving and Jason Segel horror comedy\u00a0Over Your Dead Body\u00a0out of the March\u00e9 and\u00a0The\u00a0Ugly Stepsister\u00a0off of a promo, the latter of which landed a surprise Oscar nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGenre, historically, is a margin business. Now everyone\u2019s business is a margin business, and I think that\u2019s why the studios have gone so full bore into genre,\u201d says Scott Shooman, the head of IFC Entertainment Group. \u201cThe audience is getting younger, and studio movies are great and scratch a certain itch, but the itch that a younger audience has is more auteur-driven.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMajor Hollywood studios that years ago shuttered their specialty divisions are tapping indie acquisition and producing talent in an apparent attempt to compete with the likes of IFC\/Shudder, Neon and A24.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount has a new genre label from the BoulderLight producers Raphael Margules and J.D. Lifshitz (Barbarian,\u00a0Companion), who used to sell low-budget horror out of the March\u00e9. Warner Bros. has tapped Neon alums for its new label, Clockwork, focused on projects that target a Gen Z audience. Clockwork\u2019s first project is\u00a0Anora\u00a0filmmaker Sean Baker\u2019s next film,\u00a0Ti Amo. That acquisition was not announced out of fest or market, but at CinemaCon during Warners\u2019 presentation to the nation\u2019s theater owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe always-active Neon swooped in early, pre-buying domestic rights for several of the shiniest festival titles, including James Gray\u2019s\u00a0Paper Tiger\u00a0starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller; and Cristian Mungiu\u2019s\u00a0Fjord\u00a0with Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, as well as Jeff Nichols\u2019 market title\u00a0King Snake, set to star Margaret Qualley and Michael Shannon.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there is still plenty on offer that has been announced. The festival lineup has award-ready finished films from Lukas Dhont (Coward), Asghar Farhadi (Parallel Tales) and Ira Sachs (The Man I Love), while the March\u00e9 presales lineup includes something in every genre, language and budget level, from Park Chan-wook\u2019s new Western; to the English-language debut of\u00a0Anatomy of a Fall\u00a0director Justine Triet<\/a>, starring Mia Goth; Charlie Kaufman\u2019s comeback movie; and yes, a new Jason Statham vehicle.<\/p>\n

\t\tART\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Fernando Meirelles
Stars\u00a0Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell, Wagner Moura
Buzz\u00a0A high-profile take on Yasmina Reza\u2019s hit play \u2014 about three friends debating commerce, art and friendship \u2014 with\u00a0The Two Popes\u00a0director Meirelles and two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (The Father,\u00a0Dangerous Liaisons), teaming with an A-list trio, gives this sharp, dialogue-driven drama both prestige weight and strong commercial\u202fappeal.
Sales\u00a0193\/ CAA <\/p>\n

\t\tASYMMETRY\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Edward Zwick
STARS Richard Gere, Diana Silvers
BUZZ A chance encounter between a young editorial assistant and a celebrated older writer leads to a secret relationship in this adaptation of Lisa Halliday\u2019s novel. The pairing of Boomer heartthrob Gere with Gen Zer Diana Silvers (Booksmart) gives this romantic drama potential cross-generational appeal, particularly for traditional theatrical distributors.
SALES FilmNation\/ CAA<\/p>\n

\t\tBARRACUDA\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Neil Burger
STARS\u00a0Anthony Mackie, Dafne Keen, Steven Bauer, Anthony Del Negro
BUZZ\u00a0The global market loves an action thriller, and this looks like a by-the-numbers programmer for mainstream distributors and streamers to slot in their schedule. Mackie plays a former smuggler who, while rescuing a kidnapped teen (Keen) from a nightclub in Mexico, steals the club owner\u2019s 1973 Plymouth Barracuda, setting off a high-octane chase through the desert.
SALES\u00a0Highland Film Group\/ UTA <\/p>\n

\t\tTHE BELOVED\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Rodrigo Sorogoyen
STARS Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo
BUZZ Rodrigo Sorogoyen\u2019s follow-up to his Spanish-language breakout The Beasts (2022), premiering in Cannes Competition, is a father-daughter drama led by Bardem as an acclaimed director who reunites with estranged daughter, an unsuccessful actress to shoot a film together. The thematic echoes of Joachim Trier\u2019s Oscar-winner Sentimental Value should help the film\u2019s sales prospects with award-savvy buyers.
SALES Goodfellas<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRodrigo Sorogoyen\u2019s \u2018The Beloved\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Cannes Film Festival<\/p>\n

\t\tTHE BRIGANDS OF RATTLECREEK\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Park Chan-wook
Stars\u00a0Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, Tang Wei
Buzz\u00a0Park Chan-wook\u2019s first English-language feature since 2013\u2019s\u00a0Stoker\u00a0is a tale of vengeance and retribution set in the American West. Based on an original screenplay from S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) and with an all-star cast, this looks like the rare auteur project that could spark a bidding war.
Sales\u00a0193<\/p>\n

\t\tCLUB KID\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Jordan Firstman<\/a>
Stars\u00a0Firstman, Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva
Buzz\u00a0The directorial debut from the\u00a0I Love LA\u00a0breakout overdelivers on charm. Firstman stars as a past-his-prime party promoter who finds out he has a 10-year-old, all of which is set against the backdrop of New York\u2019s club culture.
Sales\u00a0UTA\/ Charades<\/p>\n

\t\tCRITTERZ\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Nik Kleverov
Buzz\u00a0This OpenAI-assisted family animation is the test case for cost-efficient AI-driven features. Written by\u00a0Paddington in Peru\u00a0duo James Lamont and Jon Foster and produced on a reported $30 million budget, the project has plenty to offer indie buyers, if it can avoid an anti-AI backlash.
Sales\u00a0AGC International<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\tDIAMOND\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Andy Garcia<\/a>
STARS\u00a0Garcia, Brendan Fraser, Vicky Krieps, Danny Huston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Demi\u00e1n Bichir, Bill Murray
BUZZ\u00a0Garcia\u2019s passion project is a contemporary film noir written, directed and starring the\u00a0Ocean\u2019s Eleven\u00a0actor as Joe Diamond, a man out of time with a traumatic past and an uncanny ability to solve crimes. Fifteen years in the making,\u00a0Diamond\u00a0arrives in Cannes with a deep bench of recognizable names and a classic genre appeal that should boost its sales chances.
SALES\u00a0The Veterans\/ CAA<\/p>\n

\t\tFOLLOW MODE\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Ben Leonberg
BUZZ Leonberg, coming off his breakout Good Boy, lands at the 2026 March\u00e9 with this new high-concept horror, about teens who discover a drone containing footage of a serial killer\u2019s crimes and must expose him before becoming his next victims. Backed by Smile producer Temple Hill, Follow Mode will be shot entirely on drones and aims to tap into the live stream generation, hooks that should help it rise above the slew of low-budget horror titles in Cannes this year.
SALES Protagonist\/ Temple Hill\/ Verve<\/p>\n

\t\tFONDA\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Justine Triet
Stars\u00a0Mia Goth, Allison Janney, Andrew Scott, Odessa A\u2019zion, Benedict Wong
Buzz\u00a0Triet\u2019s first English-language film after her Oscar-winning\u00a0Anatomy of a Fall, featuring a stacked international cast and strong backing from StudioCanal and mk2, makes this psychological thriller one of the market\u2019s most anticipated prestige plays.
Sales\u00a0mk2 Films<\/p>\n

\t\tHOLD ON TO YOUR ANGELS\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Benh Zeitlin
Stars\u00a0Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley
Buzz\u00a0The 2025 and 2026 Oscars season are colliding with this film that teams the\u00a0Hamnet\u00a0stars with\u00a0Anora\u00a0producer Alex Coco. The romance from the\u00a0Beasts of the Southern Wild\u00a0director is set in the Louisiana bayou and will see Mescal play \u201ca hell-bound outlaw\u201d and Buckley \u201ca ferocious shepherd of lost souls.\u201d\u00a0
Sales\u00a0CAA\/ Veterans<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJessie Buckley and Paul Mescal <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKristina Bumphrey\/Variety\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\tI AM NOT YOUR MOTHER\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Craig Johnson
STARS Carrie Coon, Ben Platt, Lukas Gage
BUZZ The Skeleton Twins director Craig Johnson offers up a psychologically charged industry thriller with Platt plays a young queer filmmaker whose fixation on screen icon Nora Dresden (Coon) curdles into obsession. A dark Hollywood-set psychodrama that could have strong crossover appeal.
SALES Mister Smith Entertainment\/ CAA\/ UTA<\/p>\n

\t\tIMPUNITY\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Felipe G\u00e1lvez Haberle
Stars\u00a0Sebastian Stan, Ana de Armas
Buzz\u00a0A geopolitical thriller set around the 1998 arrest of Augusto Pinochet \u2014 the first\u00a0time\u00a0an international court challenged the immunity of a former dictator \u2014 this feature from\u00a0The Settlers\u00a0director G\u00e1lvez\u00a0Haberle\u00a0led by two globally bankable stars offers commercial genre appeal with the upside potential of an awards season play.
Sales\u00a0Path\u00e9<\/p>\n

\t\tJOHN DOE\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0David Ayer
Stars\u00a0Jason Statham
Buzz\u00a0Every film market needs a Jason Statham programmer, and this actioner, from\u00a0End of Watch\u00a0director Ayer, is this season\u2019s model: an amnesia thriller with Statham as a trained killer hunted by his own handlers, torn between finishing the mission and protecting the woman he loves.
Sales\u00a0Black Bear<\/p>\n

\t\tKarma\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Guillaume Canet
Stars Marion Cotillard
Buzz The latest team-up for Canet and Cotillard is a psychological thriller that stars Cotillard as a woman with a mysterious past who, in order to evade the police, takes refuge in a religious community where she was born.
Sales Path\u00e9<\/p>\n

\t\tLATER THE WAR\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Charlie Kaufman
Stars\u00a0Channing Tatum, Tessa Thompson, Patsy Ferran
Buzz\u00a0Kaufman\u2019s long-awaited return behind the camera \u2014 six years after his Netflix feature\u00a0I\u2019m Thinking of Ending Things\u00a0\u2014 is a surreal comedy-drama about a successful actor-director chasing artistic legitimacy while his marriage unravels. Offering a rare blend of auteur cinema and star power,\u00a0Later the War\u00a0should resonate with specialty distributors and festival-driven\u202fbuyers.
Sales\u00a0The Veterans\/CAA <\/p>\n

\t\tTHE MAN I LOVE\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Ira Sachs
STARS Rami Malek<\/a>, Rebecca Hall, Tom Sturridge, Luther Ford, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
BUZZ Sachs\u2019 brand of New York-flavored arthouse has a dependable, if niche, global audience and the buyers who know and love him will be bidding on his latest, decribed as \u201cmusical fantasia\u201d set in the 1980s theater scene. Academy Award winner Rami Malek headlines, playing a downtown artist driven to live, love and create despite facing down his impending death.
SALES WME \/ MK2<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Man I Love<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCannes Film Festival<\/p>\n

\t\tTHE MAN WHO STOLE PORTUGAL\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Thomas Napper
Stars\u00a0Richard E. Grant, Dominic West, James Nelson-Joyce, Emily Fairn
Buzz\u00a0This true-crime period thriller from\u00a0Limitless\u00a0director Napper is about the 1920s hustler who pulled off one of history\u2019s boldest financial frauds, an ingenious scheme to legally counterfeit Portugal\u2019s currency. Combining genre hooks with period prestige, and a solid British cast, this could score with mainstream European distributors and specialty buyers in the U.S.
Sales\u00a0Beta Cinema\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tNICE FISH\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Mark Rylance<\/a>
STARS\u00a0Rylance, Michelle Williams
BUZZ\u00a0Oscar and Olivier winner Rylance (Bridge of Spies) is set to star, alongside five-time Oscar nominee Williams, in his feature directorial debut, an adaptation of the stage play he co-wrote with prose poet Louis Jenkins. The plot follows two friends on an ice-fishing trip whose fragile bond is tested as they encounter surreal elements and reflect on friendship and adulthood. Expect the high-profile cast and prestige appeal to pull in art house distributors hook, line and sinker.
SALES\u00a0Palisades Park Pictures\/CAA <\/p>\n

\t\tPARALLEL TALES\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Asghar Farhadi
STARS\u00a0Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa, Catherine Deneuve
BUZZ\u00a0A top-tier prestige title from two-time Oscar winner Farhadi (A Separation,\u00a0The Salesman) featuring an all-star French cast, this drama \u2014 supposedly inspired by Krzysztof Kieslowski\u2019s\u00a0Dekalog: Six\u00a0(the one about adultery) \u2014 is on every art house buyer\u2019s must-see list.
SALES\u00a0Charades \/ UTA <\/p>\n

\t\tTHE PASSENGER\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Magnus von Horn
STARS Jeremy Strong<\/a>
BUZZ This one looks like a clear awards play for arthouse or speciality buyers. The English-language debut from The Girl with the Needle director von Horn has Strong playing Jewish businessman Otto Silbermann, who flees Berlin following the 1938 Nazi pogroms known as Krisstallnacht, travelling from train to train within Germany in an attempt to escape.
SALES FilmNation Entertainment<\/p>\n

\t\tPUMPING BLACK\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Mimi Cave
Stars\u00a0Jonathan Bailey<\/a>, Natalie Portman<\/a>
Buzz\u00a0Lance Armstrong, eat your heart out. The director of cannibal romance horror comedy\u00a0Fresh\u00a0has set her next project in the cutthroat world of professional cycling, bringing perennial A-lister Portman and box office breakout Bailey along for the ride.
Sales\u00a0CAA\/ Anton<\/p>\n

\t\tTHE ROAD HOME\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Bill Condon
Stars\u00a0Cynthia Erivo<\/a>, Thabo Rametsi, Guy Pearce<\/a>
Buzz\u00a0This ambitious musical drama, looking to draw in award-savvy distributors, traces the contentious creation of Paul Simon\u2019s 1986\u00a0Graceland\u00a0album and his Apartheid-era tour with South African jazz legends Miriam \u2018Mama Africa\u2019 Makeba (Erivo) and Hugh Masekela (Rametsi). Pearce plays Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, who tried to boycott Simon for violating the U.N.\u2019s cultural boycott of South Africa.
Sales\u00a0Palisades Park Pictures<\/p>\n

\t\tTHE SPACESUIT\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR Kitty Green
STARS Vanessa Kirby, Lewis Pullman
BUZZ Project Hail Mary proved there\u2019s an audience appetite for space movies, even if this psychological thriller looks a darker play. Kirby plays an astronaut forced to make an impossible decision after an incident with her co-pilot (Pullman) threatens to derail their entire mission in the final countdown to launch.
SALES HanWay Films\/ UTA \/CAA<\/p>\n

\t\tTANGLES\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Leah Nelson
STARS\u00a0Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen
BUZZ\u00a0A stellar voice cast, which also includes Wanda Sykes, Bowen Yang and Beanie Feldstein, leads this animated film about a San Francisco artist who returns to her small, conservative hometown to help caretake for her mother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s.\u00a0
SALES\u00a0UTA\/ CAA\/ Charades\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTangles<\/p>\n

\t\tA WAITER IN PARIS\t<\/p>\n

\n\tDIRECTOR\u00a0Peter Hoar
Stars\u00a0Leo Woodall<\/a>, Cl\u00e9mence Po\u00e9sy
Buzz\u00a0An over-educated Englishman (The White Lotus\u00a0star Woodall) arrives in Paris determined to reinvent himself as a waiter, only to discover exploitation and precarity behind the glamorous fa\u00e7ade. Based on Edward Chisholm\u2019s best-selling memoir, this fish-out-of-water drama, set against the allure of Paris\u2019s restaurant world, offers buyers a character-driven crowd-pleaser with crossover potential.
Sales\u00a0Cornerstone\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cannes market arrived this year the way it often does: slowly, then all at once. On the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[141367,197985,181380,41891,6491,99648,96,2332,38284,718,92335,19613,197986,197987,20484,197988,55722,11403,20483,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-578908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-andy-garcia","tag-austin-bulter","tag-cannes-2026","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-celebrities","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-guy-pearce","tag-international","tag-jeremy-strong","tag-jonathan-bailey","tag-jordan-firstman","tag-justine-triet","tag-leo-woodall","tag-marche-du-film","tag-mark-rylance","tag-natalie-portman","tag-rami-malek","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}