Welcome to Going Bionic, coming to you live from the Marche du Film, otherwise known as the Cannes Film Market.
By the Numbers
The 2016 edition of the Cannes Film Market had already registered a record, 11,900 registered professionals, which is a record.
985 films, 790 of which are “market premieres,” are being shown at 1,426 market screenings.
There are 800 film festival organizers, 3,200 producers, 1,,200 sales agents, and 1,785 buyers attending the Marche du Film, with 3,450 films for sale.
What’s Hot With Buyers
Regarding independent cinema, family content is currently quite a healthy genre for films without well-known talent. More specifically, stories involving tweens or teenage characters with animals are the easiest genre to close a deal on. While the offers on these films tend to be in the spectrum between better than marginal to solid, they may not change anyone’s tax bracket (unless they crank out a slew of them per year). Furthermore, as always, action pictures with sellable names are always good, as are thrillers with names.
What’s NOT Hot With Buyers
Coming of age films, dramas, most comedies and romantic comedies, which are void of A-list talent. Of course, this is nothing new, and these genres have not been in favor for many years. Should you be wondering how long, just know that several American Presidents have served in the White House since the last time these genres thrived internationally without being injected with star power.
Temperature at the MarketÂ
Film buyers are taking a healthy amount meetings so far, but it seems like we’re still in the calm before the storm. However, I fully expect the market to be buzzing within 24-hours, so stay tuned!
I thank you for lending me your eyes, and I look forward to borrowing them again. Until then, I can be reached @HammadHZaidi on Twitter.