Anybody up for a movie? The Toronto International Film Festival, trapped in the stalemate precipitated by the AMPTP’s questionable refusal to make a deal with Hollywood’s unions, opened this year with more films for sale than ever, per The Wrap. A total of 50 movies were available for acquisition deals at the start of the festival. Unfortunately for film sales, the buying aspect of it all is moving at a snail’s pace. Distributors don’t want to invest in films in such an uncertain, confusing environment. Execs don’t know when the strikes will be sorted, and they may be shying away from taking on films under SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreements because that would mean agreeing to the guild’s terms. Despite the pervasive feeling of trepidation in the air, some deals are still going down.
Netflix just made the biggest move of the festival, never mind the year, by acquiring Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, for $20 million. That’s on top of the streamer snagging Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, for a whopping $11 million, along with a documentary from Lucy Walker, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa. Lionsgate took The Crow, a remake of the 1994 cult classic, starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs. Below is a complete list of the films that sold at TIFF and their price tags.
Hit Man (director: Richard Linklater)
Section: TIFF Special Presentations
Distributor: Netflix
Richard Linklater’s comedy about a fake assassin who gets caught up in a romance amid a job earned raves for Glen Powell’s star performance, and was tipped as one of Linklater’s best films in years. It now stands as the top seller out of TIFF, and of the year.
Price: $20 million
Sing Sing (director: Greg Kwedar)
Section: TIFF Special Presentations
Distributor: A24
Based on a true story, this drama follows a troupe of prisoners working on a play at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Colman Domingo leads the cast, which is otherwise almost entirely made up of formerly incarcerated actors who participated in the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program.
Price: A seven-figure deal
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (director: Lucy Walker)
Section: TIFF Docs
Distributor: Netflix
A documentary exploring the everyday life of the first Nepali woman to fully summit Mount Everest — and live to tell the tale. Though Lhakpa Sherpa accomplished an incredible and rare feat, her success did not translate into the same financial rewards as her climbing counterparts’ did.
Price: Undisclosed
Woman of the Hour (director: Anna Kendrick)
Section: TIFF Special Presentations
Distributor: Netflix
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut tells the story of a real-life serial killer who appeared on a dating show in the 1970s and won. Daniel Zovatto is Rodney Alcala, the killer, and Kendrick is his match.
Price: $11 million
Sorry/Not Sorry (directors: Caroline Suh and Cara Mones)
Section: TIFF Docs
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
The New York Times–produced documentary by Caroline Suh and Cara Mones investigates Louis C.K.’s comeback after his admission of sexual misconduct.
Price: Undisclosed
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (director: Radu Jude)
Section: Wavelengths
Distributor: Mubi
An absurdist film from Romanian auteur Radu Jude following the director of a work-safety video and the video’s injured star.
Price: Undiscloded
The Crow (director: Rupert Sanders)
Section: Market
Distributor: Lionsgate
A remake of Brandon Lee’s 1994 cult classic of the same name, starring Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, and Danny Huston.
Price: An eight-figure deal
Fackham Hall (director: Jim O’Hanlon)
Section: Market
Distributor: Bleecker Street
A spoof of serious British period dramas, starring Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, and Emma Laird. The film will begin shooting in the U.K. early next year.
Price: Undisclosed
Trailer for a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars (director: Jean-Luc Godard)
Section: TIFF Wavelengths
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Jean-Luc Godard’s final film is a collage of his archives and contains his philosophies of cinema, history, and politics.
Price: Undisclosed
This is a developing story.
