As U.S. Film Deals Go Small, International Goes Big

One month ago, heading into the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, the most anticipated title for buyers was not necessarily the action-adventure anthology with Pedro Pascal (Freaky Tales) or the Kristen Stewart-fronted post-apocalyptic love story (Love Me). It was Dídi, a coming-of-age film about a 13-year-old in the Bay Area from a first-time feature director with no notable U.S. stars. It quickly landed a deal with Focus Features, while films with shinier stars and higher concepts are still in negotiations for deals.

The U.S. has long been known as the great arbiter of “bigger is better.” But being risk-averse, given current economic conditions and industry trends back home (Disney, Paramount Global, Amazon MGM, and others are currently undergoing layoffs), may, says one U.S. buyer, “no longer mean getting a massive star or big director — it means costing less.” Yet, internationally, the mandate seems to be business as usual, at least where theatrical is concerned.

The 2023 work stoppages have created massive holes in Hollywood studios’ 2024 release calendars. One top U.S. sales agent notes the studios’ need for “shoulder programming” out of festivals: films that can easily slot into the liminal spaces between tentpoles, many of which are rushing to finish production after the strike work stoppages and are prone to move. Dídi was dated this week for a mid-summer release, falling in between parent company Universal’s remake of Twister and a Blumhouse horror movie.

Out of Sundance, other smaller films like Kneecap and Ghostlight quickly and easily found homes. Gone may be the days of the $25 million sales (the closest at Sundance this year was a $17 million price tag for worldwide rights to the thriller It’s What’s Inside, which went to Netflix), as the U.S. industry is placing a premium on agile productions that won’t require a massive P&A spend or even the widest releases to re-coup investment.

On the international market, particularly Europe, where P&A costs are lower and there is a stronger mix of mid-to-large independent players (StudioCanal, Leonine, Gaumont, Eagle Pictures), buyers remain hungry for bigger, star-driven productions, films they can release wide and go up against studio films in their respective territories.

“On the international market I feel a real desire for theatrical movies, for bigger films,” says Tamara Birkemoe of Palisades Park Pictures, who flew in British director Ben Gregor to pitch Berlin buyers on his upcoming adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree, a four-quadrant family film with an adapted screenplay by Wonka and Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby.

The bulk of the bigger pre-sales titles in Berlin — CAA and FilmNation’s Roofman starring Channing Tatum; David Mackenzie’s thriller Fuze with Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Anton, UTA and WME Independent; or the Dave Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson actioner Afterburn from Black Bear and CAA — are looking to those global buyers to pony up the financing to get these movies made.

For smaller movies, the reverse is often true, with a U.S. presale ahead of international. Julia von Heinz’s intimate Holocaust-themed drama Treasure, starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, presold to FilmNation and Bleecker Street, which will release the film in the U.S. on June 14, with FilmNation using Berlin to complete global sales. Bleecker Street also pre-bought domestic on Mike Leigh’s new film Hard Truths featuring his Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste, a film Cornerstone is presenting to international buyers in Berlin.

Looking to past markets like Cannes, some of the biggest packages didn’t announce any U.S. pre-buys (cases in point: Daisy Ridley hanging off the side of London’s Shard for Casino Royale director Martin Campbell and Sylvester Stallone hanging off the side of a cliff in the Cliffhanger sequel). Then again, Cannes was happening just as the U.S. writers had announced their work stoppage and the actors’ strike was looking more likely with every passing day.     

But “small” films, even those with top pedigree behind them, aren’t a sure bet for the U.S. studios until they can be proven quantities. Berlin opener Small Things Like These, the quiet Cillian Murphy-led drama, sources note, was shopped to several stateside studios as a package by producers, including Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, before heading to the fest with FilmNation. Now, with overwhelmingly positive reviews, Small Things could be poised to split the difference between domestic needs for small-scale content and the international desire for star power (such as the recently Oscar-nominated Murphy) and garner a big deal.

Says one agency packager: “We will sell these big movies to the international buyers first and hold back domestic for a possible studio or streamer deal.”