Filmmakers like Alfonso Cuaron and Spike Jonze enter the Toronto Film Festival with a simple question: Will audiences like their movie?
Filmmakers like Matthew Weiner and Eli Roth enter the festival with a follow-up question: Will audiences like it enough for someone to buy it?
Weiner and Roth are among those entering the festival with finished films — but no distributors. All are in the hunt for a deal, but only a select few can feel certain they will get one.
TheWrap spoke with buyers, sellers, agents and other interested parties to find out which films are the most likely ones to get a deal at Toronto.
*Also read: *Who Will Rule Toronto? 4 Things on the Minds of Movie Buyers at TIFF
Here are the choices repeated by many:
*BAD WORDS*
*Director:* Jason Bateman
*Cast:* Bateman, Allison Janney, Rachael Harris
*Sales Agent:* CAA
Bateman has already made the jump from a TV actor who lands supporting roles in films to a movie star with a successful producing career to boot. Now he turns his focus to directing.
*CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE?*
*Director: *Joe Carney
*Cast:* Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Catherine Keener
*Sales Agent:* CAA, UTA
Every buyer and seller listed this as one of the titles with the most comemrcial potential — even rival sales agents.
Knightley stars as an aspiring singer who breaks up with her boyfriend and turns to a producer (Mark Ruffalo) to boost her career. Carney already demonstrated his skill with music-driven films on “Once,” an Irish musical that won an Academy Award for Best Song.
*Also read: *Who Will Rule Toronto: The Weinstein Company, CAA or Horror Movies?
*DEVIL’S KNOT*
*Director: *Atom Egoyan
*Cast:* Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, Bruce Greenwood, Mireille Enos
*Sales Agent: *CAA, WME
Egoyan’s film is based on the story of the West Memphis Three, a troika of teenage boys wrongfully imprisoned for murder. Though few expect the movie to ever reach a wide audience, the cast alone is enough to get a deal, and the tale’s resonance in Hollywood gives it a huge leg up in securing a distributor.
Everyone from Johnny Depp to Margaret Cho got involved in the case before the men were released from prison in 2011, and Peter Jackson already produced a documentary.
*FADING GIGOLO*
*Director: *John Turturro
*Cast: *John Turturro, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara
*Sales Agent: *ICM
It’s been seven years since Turturro last directed a film, and that movie, “Romance and Cigarettes,” received mixed reviews. Yet some distributors are bound to be interested given the popularity of Turturro and an impressive cast.
*THE GREEN INFERNO*
*Director: *Eli Roth
*Cast:* Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Sky Ferreira, Daryl Sabara
*Sales Agent:* CAA (domestic), Exclusive Media (international)
Roth first stunned Toronto audiences with “Cabin Fever,” a movie one executive described as the “gold standard” for horror films at the festival. With Roth returning form a lengthy directing hiatus, everyone expects “Green Inferno” will be a highlight of the Midnights section.
*HORNS*
*Director: *Alexandrea Aja
*Cast: *Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple
*Sales Agent: *WME
Radcliffe returns to the world of the supernatural in this thriller about a man accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend; he uses his newfound paranormal abilities to track down the real killer. Radcliffe proved his marketability on the scarier side of the supernatural with “The Woman in Black” and Aja directed the revolting yet successful ”Piranha 3D” and “The Hills Have Eyes.”
*JOE*
*Director: *David Gordon Green
*Cast: *Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan
*Sales Agent: *CAA
Cage stars as an ex-con who earns a chance at redemption by mentoring a teenage boy (Sheridan). While Gordon Green has not made a commercial film since “Pineapple Express,” teaming with Cage could make this a popular title for companies looking to score big on video on demand.
*THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD*
*Director:* Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
*Cast: *Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, Susan Sarandon
*Sales Agent: *Cinetic Media
Though in need of a title change, this project about the final days of Hollywood star Errol Flynn checks several boxes for Hollywood. It is self-referential, depicts the price of stardom and features three prominent actors.
*LIFE OF CRIME*
*Director: *Daniel Schechter
*Cast: *Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins, Isla Fisher, John Hawkes, Mos Def
*Sales Agent:* CAA, WME
Aniston just reminded people of her box office viability with “We’re the Millers” and everyone will want a taste of this Elmore Leonard adaptation after the recent death of the beloved author. Toss in an Oscar winner (Robbins), Oscar nominee (Hawkes) and a couple of sexy castmates (Def and Fisher) and this movie just needs to be decent to get a deal.
*THE LOVE PUNCH*
*Director:* Joel Hopkins
*Cast: *Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall, Tuppence Middleton
*Sales Agent: *WME
Brosnan and Thompson play a divorced couple who plot to recover some stolen money. The last time Hopkins teamed with Thompson and a reputable actor (the more dour Dustin Hoffman in “Last Chance Harvey”), the movie made $32 million — a hefty sum for a Toronto title.
*THE RAILWAY MAN*
*Director: *Jonathan Teplitzky
*Cast: *Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgard
*Sales Agent:* CAA
Can you see a movie with these two stars going straight to VOD?
*THIRD PERSON*
*Director: *Paul Haggis
*Cast:* Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Liam Neeson
*Sales Agent: *CAA, Paradigm
An Oscar-winning director makes a movie about interlocking love stories that stars three of the most attractive people on the planet and Liam Neeson? Yeah, buyers are interested.
*UNDER THE SKIN*
*Director: *Jonathan Glazer
*Cast:* Scarlett Johnasson, Paul Brannigan
*Sales Agent: *WME, CAA
Johansson taking on science fiction is enticing enough that any distributor knows it can make some money back if it integrates VOD into the release strategy.
*YOU ARE HERE*
*Director: *Matthew Weiner
*Cast:* Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis
*Sales Agent:* ICM, CAA
So what if only a few million people watch “Mad Men”? It’s one of the most talked about shows on TV, a critical darling and a shoo-in for the TV pantheon. The mere involvement of its creator (Weiner) will earn this movie an avalanche of press attention and a nice deal.
The post 14 Movies That Should Sell at Toronto appeared first on TheWrap.
Related Articles:
Who Will Rule Toronto? 4 Things on the Minds of Movie Buyers at TIFF
Jennifer Aniston's 'We're the Millers' to Cross $100M at Box Office Reported by The Wrap 3 hours ago.
Filmmakers like Matthew Weiner and Eli Roth enter the festival with a follow-up question: Will audiences like it enough for someone to buy it?
Weiner and Roth are among those entering the festival with finished films — but no distributors. All are in the hunt for a deal, but only a select few can feel certain they will get one.
TheWrap spoke with buyers, sellers, agents and other interested parties to find out which films are the most likely ones to get a deal at Toronto.
*Also read: *Who Will Rule Toronto? 4 Things on the Minds of Movie Buyers at TIFF
Here are the choices repeated by many:
*BAD WORDS*
*Director:* Jason Bateman
*Cast:* Bateman, Allison Janney, Rachael Harris
*Sales Agent:* CAA
Bateman has already made the jump from a TV actor who lands supporting roles in films to a movie star with a successful producing career to boot. Now he turns his focus to directing.
*CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE?*
*Director: *Joe Carney
*Cast:* Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Catherine Keener
*Sales Agent:* CAA, UTA
Every buyer and seller listed this as one of the titles with the most comemrcial potential — even rival sales agents.
Knightley stars as an aspiring singer who breaks up with her boyfriend and turns to a producer (Mark Ruffalo) to boost her career. Carney already demonstrated his skill with music-driven films on “Once,” an Irish musical that won an Academy Award for Best Song.
*Also read: *Who Will Rule Toronto: The Weinstein Company, CAA or Horror Movies?
*DEVIL’S KNOT*
*Director: *Atom Egoyan
*Cast:* Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, Bruce Greenwood, Mireille Enos
*Sales Agent: *CAA, WME
Egoyan’s film is based on the story of the West Memphis Three, a troika of teenage boys wrongfully imprisoned for murder. Though few expect the movie to ever reach a wide audience, the cast alone is enough to get a deal, and the tale’s resonance in Hollywood gives it a huge leg up in securing a distributor.
Everyone from Johnny Depp to Margaret Cho got involved in the case before the men were released from prison in 2011, and Peter Jackson already produced a documentary.
*FADING GIGOLO*
*Director: *John Turturro
*Cast: *John Turturro, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara
*Sales Agent: *ICM
It’s been seven years since Turturro last directed a film, and that movie, “Romance and Cigarettes,” received mixed reviews. Yet some distributors are bound to be interested given the popularity of Turturro and an impressive cast.
*THE GREEN INFERNO*
*Director: *Eli Roth
*Cast:* Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Sky Ferreira, Daryl Sabara
*Sales Agent:* CAA (domestic), Exclusive Media (international)
Roth first stunned Toronto audiences with “Cabin Fever,” a movie one executive described as the “gold standard” for horror films at the festival. With Roth returning form a lengthy directing hiatus, everyone expects “Green Inferno” will be a highlight of the Midnights section.
*HORNS*
*Director: *Alexandrea Aja
*Cast: *Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple
*Sales Agent: *WME
Radcliffe returns to the world of the supernatural in this thriller about a man accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend; he uses his newfound paranormal abilities to track down the real killer. Radcliffe proved his marketability on the scarier side of the supernatural with “The Woman in Black” and Aja directed the revolting yet successful ”Piranha 3D” and “The Hills Have Eyes.”
*JOE*
*Director: *David Gordon Green
*Cast: *Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan
*Sales Agent: *CAA
Cage stars as an ex-con who earns a chance at redemption by mentoring a teenage boy (Sheridan). While Gordon Green has not made a commercial film since “Pineapple Express,” teaming with Cage could make this a popular title for companies looking to score big on video on demand.
*THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD*
*Director:* Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
*Cast: *Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, Susan Sarandon
*Sales Agent: *Cinetic Media
Though in need of a title change, this project about the final days of Hollywood star Errol Flynn checks several boxes for Hollywood. It is self-referential, depicts the price of stardom and features three prominent actors.
*LIFE OF CRIME*
*Director: *Daniel Schechter
*Cast: *Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins, Isla Fisher, John Hawkes, Mos Def
*Sales Agent:* CAA, WME
Aniston just reminded people of her box office viability with “We’re the Millers” and everyone will want a taste of this Elmore Leonard adaptation after the recent death of the beloved author. Toss in an Oscar winner (Robbins), Oscar nominee (Hawkes) and a couple of sexy castmates (Def and Fisher) and this movie just needs to be decent to get a deal.
*THE LOVE PUNCH*
*Director:* Joel Hopkins
*Cast: *Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall, Tuppence Middleton
*Sales Agent: *WME
Brosnan and Thompson play a divorced couple who plot to recover some stolen money. The last time Hopkins teamed with Thompson and a reputable actor (the more dour Dustin Hoffman in “Last Chance Harvey”), the movie made $32 million — a hefty sum for a Toronto title.
*THE RAILWAY MAN*
*Director: *Jonathan Teplitzky
*Cast: *Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgard
*Sales Agent:* CAA
Can you see a movie with these two stars going straight to VOD?
*THIRD PERSON*
*Director: *Paul Haggis
*Cast:* Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Liam Neeson
*Sales Agent: *CAA, Paradigm
An Oscar-winning director makes a movie about interlocking love stories that stars three of the most attractive people on the planet and Liam Neeson? Yeah, buyers are interested.
*UNDER THE SKIN*
*Director: *Jonathan Glazer
*Cast:* Scarlett Johnasson, Paul Brannigan
*Sales Agent: *WME, CAA
Johansson taking on science fiction is enticing enough that any distributor knows it can make some money back if it integrates VOD into the release strategy.
*YOU ARE HERE*
*Director: *Matthew Weiner
*Cast:* Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis
*Sales Agent:* ICM, CAA
So what if only a few million people watch “Mad Men”? It’s one of the most talked about shows on TV, a critical darling and a shoo-in for the TV pantheon. The mere involvement of its creator (Weiner) will earn this movie an avalanche of press attention and a nice deal.
The post 14 Movies That Should Sell at Toronto appeared first on TheWrap.
Related Articles:
Who Will Rule Toronto? 4 Things on the Minds of Movie Buyers at TIFF
Jennifer Aniston's 'We're the Millers' to Cross $100M at Box Office Reported by The Wrap 3 hours ago.