Competition films, stars and gimmicks： investors’ constant pursuit in Cannes market
Macbeth stills
Special feature of 1905 film network From May 12th to 21st, Cannes Film Market, the world’s largest film market, was held as scheduled. This year, more than 5,000 companies from 116 countries came here to seek opportunities. Buying films, selling copyrights and looking for investment are naturally eternal topics in every film market. What kind of works do buyers love to buy and sellers are not worried about selling? The answers can be summarized into three items: competition films, stars and gimmicks.
Stills of My King
[competition film]
Competition films are basically not for sale, and posters will always be hung in a conspicuous position in the booth.
As the world’s top film festival, the influence of Cannes International Film Festival is self-evident. Therefore, the film that can be shortlisted in the competition unit (especially the main competition unit, of course) is equivalent to getting a free and most fruitful publicity opportunity. Walking into the film market area, you can immediately see that the companies that sell the film copyright of the main competition unit put the large posters of these competition films high in the eye-catching position of their booths.
StudioCanal, a famous French film company, is in charge of the commercial cooperation between Michael Fassbender and marion cotillard and these two short-listed films. Their posters hung left and right in front of the company booth. On the day of Xiaobian’s visit, many buyers stopped here, and there was an endless stream of buyers who made appointments and attended meetings. The itinerary in the hands of the staff has long been remembered. One person in charge revealed to the 1905 film network that their conversations with buyers would basically last all day without interruption. Macbeth and My King are naturally inquired the most, and the operation process is relatively easy. After all, the good reputation of being selected as the main competition unit in Cannes has long been outside.
The main forces of Japanese and Korean film companies are concentrated in the "one kind of attention" unit. UniJapan undoubtedly focuses its business on Naomi Kawase. Every day, the company arranges time for buyers to watch movies, and this year’s Japanese night, all the screens in the venue are also playing the latest exposure materials of "Taste of Chengsha" repeatedly; South Korea has two films shortlisted for this unit, which were brought by FINECUT and CJ Group. The horizontal posters of these two works have been occupying the entrance position of the two companies’ booths for the first few days.
Korean actor Kim Woo Bin’s new work "Twenty"
[star]
All countries are playing star brand, and new projects rely on big coffee to attract buyers to inject capital.
In addition to these completed films, the film side is also busy selling projects that are still in the later stage or even just starting to major international distributors. What do these works without the aura of the main competition unit need to attract buyers’ attention? Of course it’s a star!
Therefore, IM Global announced that it would come to Cannes with The Circle led by Tom Hanks and Journey to Samarkand by Tom Hardy. FilmNation hopes to make some gains in the Cannes film market with Nocturnal Animais, which is supervised by George Clooney and starring amy adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. In addition, Bloom’s new film Woodshock from kirsten dunst and Comancheria from Jeff Bridges and "Star-Lord" chris pine produced by Sierra/Affinity also reached preliminary agreements with publishers in some countries in Cannes.
This is the case in North America, and so is returning to the Asian market. Take hallyu star as an example. This time CJ Company came to Cannes with a new film starring EXO, the first Korean idol men’s group, and the works performed by some members of the group alone are not new works, but they are also involved. Thanks to the popularity of actor Kim Woo Bin, his NEW work was also brought to Cannes by New, which was recently made in South Korea and received a good response.
Such a "gathering of stars" situation also reflects a major feature of the current Cannes film market, or some dilemmas: buyers’ eyes only stay on the stars. Although there are countless new projects in the market, small producers and low-profile people are basically left behind by buyers. David Garrett of Mister Smith Entertainment said in an interview with the media: "At present, we have encountered the problem of chicken and egg: without enough project investment, we can’t invite stars to join us; Without a star to join, who will invest money? "
"Love" hits the 3D erotic card
[Shantou]
3D passionate release, bursting popularity, boosting film sales
Of course, there are ways to give yourself a sense of existence without being shortlisted for the competition unit or being a big star. The screening unit "Love" succeeded: with the super-large-scale erotic drama and the blessing of 3D special effects, the film was popular after its debut in Cannes. Although the feedback on the quality of the film is different, it is undeniable that Love has accumulated a high enough topic for a while. It is reported that these popularity have been successfully transformed into the "sales performance" of the film to a certain extent.
The success of "Love" is quite accidental, but the so-called making gimmicks and catching people’s eyes is not only a passionate play or a full scale. During the period of Cannes, you can get twice the result with half the effort by successfully grasping the propaganda opportunity and creating topics. For example, at present, the cover of the contracted field magazine that Chinese films often choose is also a kind.