TORONTO – Dozens of films – starring everyone from Michael Caine to Paris Hilton – are for sale at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, but there are few takers so far.
The worsening economy, preceded by a ticket-sales slowdown for specialized films, has created a buyer’s market where bidding wars are a thing of the past.
“Distributors just don’t have money to throw around to take a chance on a title,” said one studio veteran. “People are taking a very hard look at whether films are commercially viable, and trying to acquire them at a realistic price.”
Even the available title with the hottest buzz is being eyed warily because it has an Iraq war setting – something US audiences have shunned in movie after movie.
Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” a suspenseful action drama about the leader of a bomb-demolition squad, received an enthusiastic response in its debut here.
It’s the sort of film that might have been snapped up by a major studio’s specialized film division a couple of years ago, but a deal was struck earlier yesterday with Summit Entertainment, an upstart smaller distributor.
The film’s producers are supposedly requiring a wide release – a tough proposition for a film that stars the little-known Jeremy Renner as the squad leader.
The only major sale of the festival so far is “Slumdog Millionaire,” an ecstatically received film by Danny Boyle about an Indian lad from a Dickensian background who was a big winner on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” only to be accused of fraud and tortured by authorities.
The film reportedly fetched $4 million for US rights, a relatively modest sum compared to major sales in recent years. The comedy “Hamlet 2” fetched a record $11 million this January at Sundance, only to flop in theaters.
Magnolia Pictures is expected to announce a deal shortly for US distribution of Steven Soderbergh’s “Che,” which premiered in Cannes and was cut by 17 minutes for showing here.
As Page Six reported last week, Paris Hilton tried to whip up interest in an authorized documentary about her, “Paris, Not France,” by having the festival cancel three of its four screenings here.
Her efforts were for naught. Tickets were available right up until the remaining screening Tuesday night – even though it was widely advertised that she herself would be in attendance.
Hilton did not take to the stage when the screening was over, but the heir-head stood in her seat and tried to lead the applause for director Adria Petty and, as usual, posed for cameras afterward.