Cannes Market Superstars
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Natalie Portman’s DNA, Theo James’ Blood, and a long journey into night.
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Each year, the Cannes Market attracts a seismic number of indies searching for everything from financing to distribution.
What has separated this year is that some mega-budget projects have popped into the mix like Lionsgate’s Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping (Budget: $150M - $200M).
Here are three of the most interesting projects launching:
Photograph 51
Dir: Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
Cast: Natalie Portman
Financier/Prod Co/International Sales Rep: FilmNation Entertainment (Anora, Conclave)
Domestic sales rep: CAA + FilmNation
Synopsis:
The story of Rosalind Franklin (Portman), the brilliant scientist whose pioneering work in x-ray crystallography captured the image that revealed DNA's double-helix structure, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for all known life.
It’s no stretch to see Harvard-educated Portman, who in high school made the semifinal rounds of the Intel competition, playing Franklin.
Burning Rainbow Farm
Dir: Justin Kurzel (Nitram, The Order)
Cast: Sebastian Stan And Leo Woodall (White Lotus)
Prod Co: Anonymous Content
International Sales Rep: Rocket Science (The Apprentice, The Gentleman)
Domestic sales rep: CAA
Synopsis:
A pair of gay marijuana advocates try to hold their own against the FBI in a brutal five-day standoff.
Kurzel’s recent film The Order explored the extreme territory of a clash between the law and lawlessness. This should be an interesting evolution.
Zero Protocol
Cast: Rebecca Hall
Prod Co: Anonymous Content
Fiancier/International Sales Rep: Anton
Domestic sales rep: WME + Anton
Synopsis:
A NYPD commissioner (Hall) battles to manage a city-wide zombie outbreak exploding in real time, only to discover her teenage daughter is trapped in the middle of the red zone.
Big sci-fi films with a small interpersonal conflict, that’s Hall’s sweet spot.
For More:
Alec Baldwin stars in Hollywood Heist about a production whose bank account is cleared out by a drug lord.
Full list of Cannes Market projects.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Warner Bros. Discovery cuts losses in half.
Paramount posts profit despite falling revenue.
Charlize Theron and Uma Thurman return in The Old Guard 2.
Diablo Cody is adapting vampire fangirl comedy Fang Fiction.
Theo James replaces Adrien Brody in The Bookie & the Bruiser.
Al Pacino to play mob boss in Captivated.
Breaking Bear: Brendan Fraser and Sarah Michelle Gellar lead a mobster bear cartoon.
Ridley Scott casts Benedict Wong in The Dog Stars.
Cannes adds Bi Gan’s Resurrection and Eugene Jarecki’s Assange doc.
James Foley (dir: Glengarry Glen Ross) dies at 71.
Mubi signs co-pro deal with Our Films.
Greenwich Entertainment picks up Andre Holland’s Love, Brooklyn.
Wong Kar-wai returns after a 12-year hiatus with Blossoms Shanghai.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Warner Bros. Discovery Q1 2025 results. And the change from last year:
$453M net loss Q1
↓ 53% from $966M loss Q1 2024
$2.3bn studio income
↓16%
$259M EBITDA (↑63%)
$2.1bn EBITDA
No change
$259M studio EBITDA (↑75%)
122.3 M subs (57.6 M domestic)
↑ 5.3M Q4 2024
$339M profit streaming (vs. Disney’s $336M)
↑300% from a $86M Q1 2024
$1.8bn EBITDA linear division Q1
↓ 14% overall
↓ 11% ad revenue
Bottom line is that linear is shrinking, and WB may decide to spin off its cable channels. Streaming and the studio segments are doing well, but a lot of pressure is on the studio to make a profit. Mickey 17 didn’t help, A Minecraft Movie ($876M worldwide gross) did. WBD has $34bn of net debt.
Paramount Global’s Q1 2025 earnings turned a new leaf, with healthy profit, despite shrinking revenue:
$152M profit
↑ 127% from $554M loss Q1 2024
$7.2bn revenue
↓ 6%
$4.5bn TV/Media revenue
↓ 13%
$148M theatrical revenue
↓ 3%
Paramount streaming was the sunny spot as their DTC division reported healthy gains:
$2.04 bn DTC revenue
↑ 9 %
$1.57 bn Subscription revenue
↑ 16%
$109M streaming loss
↑ 62%
79M subs
↑ 1.5M for the quarter
Paramount+ increased revenue by 16%.
The office of the CEO stated:
“We are particularly proud of our progress in DTC where Paramount+ saw continued improvement in subscribers, user watch time and churn and remains on track to reach domestic profitability for 2025.”
Skydance acquired Paramount, and pending any regulatory approval, the deal will close in the first half of this year.
Tidbits:
Diablo Cody is adapting Fang Fiction, a love letter to fantasy readers by author Kate Stayman-London. It’s getting adapted into a TV series with Production Company Madison Wells (Genius, Drive). Cody is working with Stayman-London to adapt her book, which follows a young girl who discovers she is the only one who can help the hero of her favorite vampire novel.
Roku’s Head of Content, David Eilenberg, is returning to his former employer, ITV America (Love Island USA), in a newly created position as Creative Director. From 2018-22, he previously served as COO for ITV, but in his return, will now oversee all creative development across the company’s unscripted series as well as its brand and digital content initiatives.
Formerly known as SpinCo, the Comcast spinoff company, Versant, has named six executives moving from NBCUniversal. The names include:
Cori Abraham as interim department lead and SVP
Michael Sluchan, SVP of Scripted Content
Susie Kricena, SVP of Content Acquisitions
Jenny Depper, SVP of Digital Entertainment
Janice Ferrell, SVP of Production and Operations for Entertainment
Rebecca Vasquez-Rhodes, SVP of Programming Strategy for Entertainment
Release dates:
Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema’s Evil Dead film
Dir: Florent Bernard
Release date: July 24, 2026
Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum
Dir/Star: Andy Serkis
Release date: Dec. 17, 2027
Warner Bros.’s Remain
Dir/Wri: M. Night Shyamalan
Co-author: Nicholas Sparks
Release date: October 23, 2026
Renewals:
NBC’s Law & Order: SVU (Season 27)
NBC’s Law & Order (Season 25)
Trailers:
Apple TV+’s The Stick
Star: Owen Wilson
Release date: June 4th
Warner Bros.’s The Conjuring: Last Rites
Star: Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson
Release date: Sept 5th
Netflix’s The Old Guard 2
Cast: Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, and Henry Golding
Release date: July 2nd
Mini Tidbits:
E.B. White’s beloved children’s novel The Trumpet of the Swan is being adapted into an animated feature with veteran screenwriters David Guion and Michael Handelman (Harold and the Purple Crayon) attached to write the script.
Following Thunderbolts’ critical and box office success, director Jake Schreier is in early talks to direct Marvel’s new X-Men movie, with Michael Lesslie (Hunger Games 5) writing and Kevin Feige producing.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
There’s a new bookie in town. Theo James (The Monkey) is officially replacing Adrien Brody in S. Craig Zahler’s gangster thriller The Bookie & the Bruiser alongside Vince Vaughn.
Official Synopsis:
Follows two WWII veterans, Rivner, a Jewish man (James), and Boscolo (Vaughn), an Italian-American, as they struggle to readjust to life after returning from war, no longer fitting into their previous existences.
While the White Lotus actor has been involved in a diverse number of projects across film and TV, his lead role in Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen (trailer) is the most similar to his freshly announced part. In the crime dramedy, James played a former army captain who, reluctantly, is named the heir to his family’s sizable estate and increasingly becomes immersed in illegal activities, soon turning into a full-fledged crime boss.
From producer Anthony Katagas (Uncut Gems, Ad Astra), the Zahler film is currently in the pre-production stage with no word yet on when it’ll move forward.
Captivating Casting: Al Pacino will star as aging Calabrian mafia boss Saro Mammoliti in Captivated, a new thriller offering a fresh perspective on the 1973 Getty kidnapping. Directed by Dito Montiel (Riff Raff) and co-starring Katie Holmes, the film explores a tense psychological relationship between Mammoliti and his victim, Gail Getty, amid the crisis. Pacino’s role promises a more nuanced portrayal of the mob figure. It's plain to see what Pacino will do in this role. Shooting starts in Rome this month.
Tidbits:
Yogi Bear meets The Sopranos. Tubi’s upcoming adult animated series, Breaking Bear just announced an exciting group of actors to lead its voice cast.
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Josh Gad (Frozen)
From Julien Nitzberg (The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia), the animated show is said to comically parody the tropes of mobster dramas following a dysfunctional law-breaking bear family.
Benedict Wong, sensational in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem as the spooked detective, gets on board Ridley Scott’s upcoming film The Dog Stars for 20th Century. Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, and Guy Pearce also star.
Liza Colón-Zayas, Emmy winner for The Bear, has joined Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the upcoming fourth installment in Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man saga starring Tom Holland. Her prequel episode in the bear was almost like a short film that peeled back layers on her character. The film begins production later this year and hits theaters July 31, 2026. Her role remains undisclosed.
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who played the terrifyingly still Mr. Drummond in Severance season 2, joins Apple’s series 12 12 12 about a disgraced FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) and an American career criminal (Jamie Dornan) who play a zero-sum game of cat and mouse across Europe.
FESTIVALS
Cannes adds four films to its line-up. Including one that could win the Palme d’Or. Click here for the full breakdown: https://theindustry.co/p/cannes-new-4
The Last One for the Road (Un Certain Regard) sells to two territories (Italy and France). The film has a subtle intensity and follows two blustery 50-somethings who have an obsession: going for their last drink.
Having appeared in nearly 70 Czech films, Jirí Bartoška has died at the age of 78. Known best for his supporting role in the war drama All My Loved Ones (Všichni moji blízcí), the Czech actor played a key role in saving the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, which he had served as president since 1994.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Longtime film and TV director James Foley has passed at 71 after a year-long battle with cancer. His wide-ranging career has included mainstream films like the crime thriller film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), and the two Fifty Shades of Grey sequels: Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018), the latter his last work.
His directing resume in television includes:
Billions
House of Cards
Twin Peaks
Hannibal
He worked with Al Pacino, Sean Penn, and Paul Giamatti and was even the man behind Who’s That Girl (1987), the Madonna-led feature film, which would become his most frequent collaborator. The Brooklyn-born filmmaker has left a lasting impact on the entertainment industry.
Mubi has signed a three-year co-production and distribution deal with Rome-based Our Films, founded by European producers Mario Gianani (Conclave) and Lorenzo Mieli (Challengers), to finance and release auteur-driven films globally. The first project will be a new feature by Oscar-winner Paweł Pawlikowski (Cold War), as Mubi continues expanding from a streaming service into a major international production and distribution powerhouse. This is Mubi’s first co-production collaboration deal they have established, signalling further that their end goal is a studio-like atmosphere. Which tracks as they’re in the process of closing $100M from Sequoia Capital, an early investor in Google. That would value Mubi at $1bn.
Greenwich Entertainment grabs Andre Holland’s heart. The production company has picked up the Holland-starring Love, Brooklyn, which premiered at Sundance. The film follows three Brooklynites as they navigate the ups and downs of life. Holland wears his heart on his sleeve in every performance, so even though this synopsis sounds generic, it’s wonderful. Releasing later this year.
Muse Films (Spring Breakers, American Psycho) has acquired the rights to New Millennium Boyz, Alex Kazemi’s Y2K-set novel about a teen drawn into chaos by two reckless friends. Kazemi will co-write the adaptation with Brittany Menjivar (Fragil.com).
Glen Powell and filmmaker Dan Cohen’s recently launched production company Barnstorm (Hit Man) has brought on Ryan Schwartz and Jacquelina Rosso for high-profile positions. Schwartz, who worked nearly a decade at Anonymous Content, will serve as VP of Film & Television, and former Walden Media producer Rosso will take on the role of Chief Executive. Barnstorm was founded just last year, with just months after its launch inking a first-look deal with Universal Pictures.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Guy Nattiv doesn’t just make films. He sears them into your brain. He won the Academy Award for best short film, Skin, then followed it up with the feature, which premiered at Tribeca. His latest is Tatami (he co-directs w/ Holy Spider star Zar Amir), which premiered at Venice and centers on an Iranian woman’s judo championship shot in stunning B&W, where every image feels like a gut punch (trailer).
Wong Kar-wai returns after a 12-year hiatus with Blossoms Shanghai, a 30-episode TV adaptation of Jin Yucheng’s novel chronicling the rise of a self-made millionaire in 1990s Shanghai. The series, a visual collaboration with Peter Pau, has already aired in China to critical and cultural acclaim, with MUBI acquiring international rights for several territories. Though no U.S. or U.K. release date is set, the series marks a long-awaited comeback for the iconic director. With this Mubi deal, now more will be able to see the rise of Ah Bao. Trailer here.
Stefan Ruzowitzky’s historical thriller Kristallnacht is led by César winner Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds). Set in Berlin on the brink of WWII, Kristallnacht translates to Night of Broken Glass. Laurent is joined by Bradley James (Vikings: Valhalla) and Steven Berkoff (Beverly Hills Cop). The film will be present for sale at Cannes with production currently underway in Vienna.
ON THIS DAY
1958. Vertigo is released.
That’s all for the week. See you Monday!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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