Toronto Film Festival 2024 Hot List: Can Promising Acquisition Pic Slate Overcome Post-Strike Movie Malaise & Mixed Box Office Results?
The crowds of film sellers and buyers are still rolling into Toronto from Venice and Telluride, but the puck dropped Thursday night on the acquisitions marketplace with the premiere of Nutcrackers.
David Gordon Green has taken a detour from genre to serve up a Ben Stiller-starrer that proved a crowdpleaser in two opening-night showings.
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That kind of movie — with promising premises with stars and directors with proven track records — is all over the schedule. There is a lot to like in this 2024 TIFF acquisitions market. But I’ve just come from an L.A. visit and cannot recall as bleak a black cloud hangover from the twin strikes of last year. It will take time for the business to recover, and this caution could factor into the dealmaking. Also on the minds of distributors is how elusive box office has become. Comparable films to the ones on sale here such as Fly Me to the Moon, Blink Twice and Borderland had stars and quality, and they fell flat.
Since the pandemic, the pace of TIFF dealmaking has been glacial, with buyers not jumping into all-night auctions but preferring to see all the films over the first weekend and then engage to fill out their film slates.
Then again, I can’t remember this many TIFF films with this level of star power.
Past that, there are sleepers like Anderson.Paak’s K-Pops!, which marks the Grammy winner’s directing debut. He and his son (Soul Rasheed) star, and there is the draw of Paak and the global popularity of K-pop groups in general. Then there is Eden, a survival tale by Ron Howard with a star cast. How often does a Ron Howard film come into a film festival as an acquisition title? Another potential sleeper sale is Sketch, a crazy tale about a young girl’s peculiar drawings that come to life.
Add to that films buyers saw in Telluride or Venice that created positive buzz. There is September 5, about how the ABC Sports team in Munich to cover the 1972 Olympics suddenly were the real-time chroniclers of the kidnap of the Israeli Olympic team by terrorists. And The Friend, where many in Telluride got to pet the film’s star, Bing, the giant Great Dane. There also is The Brutalist, one of those films that received an extended ovation in Telluride where moviegoers must have blisters because so many of these films spurred clapping fests that spanned up to 17 minutes. Telluride saw the premiere of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, the directing debut of Embeth Davidtz, who we know from acting turns in Schindler’s List, Matilda and others.
The two big pre-sales packages for TIFF are crime-thriller Blood On Snow and female ensemble comedy Spa Weekend, both of which we broke news of on Deadline. More on those below.
I think this will be a festival chock-full of deals, but it might take weeks before a meaningful count can be made. Here are the titles most often mentioned to me by buyers and sellers:
Toronto 2024 Hot List
BLOOD ON SNOW: Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train), Tom Hardy (Venom) and director Cary Fukunaga (No Time To Die) are teaming for Jo Nesbo crime-thriller adaptation, Blood On Snow, which is being sold by WME Independent and Range. Nesb? is scripting the project based on his own best-selling novel of the same name. The story unfolds in 1970’s Oslo, where two rival gang leaders vie for control.
SPA WEEKEND – This female ensemble comedy will be led by Leslie Mann (Knocked Up), Isla Fisher (Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy), Michelle Buteau (Babes) and Anna Faris (Scary Movie). The buzzy package has been written by and will be directed by Bad Moms writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film follows three best friends as they embark on some much-needed pampering during a luxury spa break in Palm Springs. But when their trainwreck friend turns up, the relaxation quickly descends into chaos. Black Bear is handling sales.
THE BRUTALIST – Director, Brady Corbet; Cast: Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn. Oscar-winner Brody is expected to be in the awards-season mix again for his portrayal as a Jewish Hungarian architect who flees Europe after WWII and tries to put the pieces back together. 8 p.m. Tuesday, TIFF Lightbox
DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT – Director: Embeth Davitz; Cast: Davidtz. Exploration of the collapse of colonialism as Rhodesia approaches the 1980 election and the end of white rule.
EDEN – Director, Ron Howard; Cast: Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Bruhl, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas. Survival story of Europeans coming to the uninhabited Galapagos Islands for varying purposes, and it winds up as a Lord Of The Flies battle to survive. 5:45 p.m. Saturday Roy Thomson Hall
THE FRIEND – Directors Scott McGehee, David Siegel; Cast: Billy Murray, Naomi Watts, Bing. Murray plays a famous writer who upon his death tasks a protégé and former lover (Naomi Watts) to adopt his giant dog. Even though she hates dogs and lives in a rent controlled Manhattan apartment with a no dogs policy. 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Scotiabank Theater P&I; 9:30 p.m. Tuesday Roy Thomson Hall
THE LAST SHOWGIRL – Gia Coppola; Cast: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista. Las Vegas showgirls for 30 years must prepare for a different future when the show prepares to close, not an easy transition when the ladies are 50 and not 20. 3 p.m. Friday, Princess of Wales.
THE CUT – Director: Sean Ellis; Cast: Orlando Bloom, Orlando Bloom, Caitriona Balfe. Boxer who retired after suffering a devastating cut in the ring makes a comeback under the brutal steering of a trainer. About physical and existential wounds that don’t heal. 5:45 p.m. Friday, Scotiabank
SHELL – Director: Max Minghella; Cast: Kate Hudson, Elisabeth Moss. Dark comedy about society’s obsession with youth and good looks. 8:45 a.m. Sunday, Scotiabank Theatre
THE DEB – Director, Rebel Wilson; Cast: Charlotte MacInnes. Pic has awareness because of Wilson’s highly public dispute with her producers, but insiders say there is a real film here, a musical about a town’s annual debutante ball that has satirical overtones.
K-POPS! – Director: Anderson .Paak; Cast: Paak, Soul Rasheed. A washed up drummer desperate to revive his career stumbles into meeting in South Korea an aspiring boy band singer who turns out to be the son he never knew he had. 3 p.m. Saturday, Princess of Wales
THE LIFE OF CHUCK – Director: Mike Flanagan; Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hiddelston, Karen Gillan. Adaptation of Stephen King novella that is departure from the usual genre stomping grounds for author and director. An accountant’s normal life unravels. 6 p.m. Friday, Princess of Wales
NUTCRACKERS – Director: David Gordon Green; Cast: Ben Stiller, Linda Cardellini. Chicago real estate developer becomes instant parent to his late sister’s kids. They conspire to put on a show. Opening night film. Next showing 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, P&I
FRIENDSHIP – Director: Andrew DeYoung; Cast: Paul Rudd, Tim Robinson. A suburban dad obsessively seeks camaraderie with his charming neighbor. 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Royal Alexandra Theatre
RELAY – Director: David Mackenzie; Cast: Lily James, Riz Ahmed. Thriller about a reclusive middleman for potential whistleblowers who tries to settle things with corporate malefactors. 3 p.m. Sunday, Princess of Wales
THE ASSESSMENT – Director: Fleur Fortune; Cast: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel. Government controls who can and cannot have children and a couple puts itself through a grueling physical and psychological test process to pass muster and become parents. As we reported this week, Amazon has taken international off the table. 6:15 p.m. Sunday, Princess of Wales
ON SWIFT HORSES – Director: Daniel Minahan; Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva. 1950s-set tale of a newlywed and her brother in law as they undertake parallel journeys of risk, romance and self-discovery. Saturday, Princess of Wales 6:15 p.m.
SKETCH – Director: Seth Worley; Cast: Tony Hale, Kue Lawrence, Bianca Belle. A child’s peculiar drawings come to life, creates challengers for her parents in a romp with a comp to films like Gremlins, The Goonies and Jumanji. Saturday TIFF Lightbox 12 p.m.
WITHOUT BLOOD — Director: Angelina Jolie; Cast: Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir. Jolie has been drawing festival raves for her turn as Maria Callas in Maria. Here, she’s back behind the camera, where she focuses on stories of war and survival that have included Unbroken, In The Land Of Blood and Honey, and First, They Killed My Father. Without Blood is a parable-like tale of family, war, and revenge, which Jolie filmed at Cinecittà Studios in Rome. Sunday, TIFF Lightbox, 6:45PM.
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