If you happen to be employed by one of the solvent international airlines and their related business partners, you’re probably feeling a little busier and more bullish than usual these days. And if you happen to be one of movers and shakers in entertainment you’re likely directly the cause of said ebullience.
We’re knee-deep into both the Cannes Film Festival and the LA Screenings, two of the more prestigious gatherings of talent at any time of the year that just so happen to overlap. The former got under way a week ago Tuesday and as is par for the course is showcasing the most beautiful people imaginable and the most award-worthy creative projects from around the globe. Notably, this year in particular is being eschewed by the bigger and more populist entities that, frankly, are a little too busy getting ready for the summer blockbuster season. With bottom-line mentalities calling the shots, it’s created a particularly elitist air on the Croissette this year, But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as our ever-trusty ally Copilot spells out:
Major U.S. studios have gone quiet at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival for the first time since 2017, leaving no blockbuster premieres on the Croisette. This absence is the result of a mix of financial, scheduling, and risk-averse industry factors.
High costs and risk of negative reviews
Premiering at Cannes is expensive — producers often cover all travel and accommodation for cast and crew, plus pay for high-end festival tickets that can cost thousands. Critics’ reviews can be published months before a film’s theatrical release, and a poor reception can hurt box office performance. Studios have been wary after flops like Joker: Folie à Deux at Venice 2024, where bad reviews hurt earnings.
Scheduling conflicts
Many major films are set to release in the summer or fall, meaning they won’t be ready for Cannes’ May–June window. Others, like Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day (June 12), simply weren’t finished in time . Studios may also see little point in spending millions to promote films that won’t hit theaters for months
Industry instability and political tensions
The festival has become a flashpoint for political debates, including controversies over Gaza and other global issues, which can complicate press coverage and star appearances. Rising travel and accommodation costs have also made the trip less attractive.
Shift in studio strategy
With fewer blockbuster budgets and a more competitive awards season, studios are increasingly controlling their own release schedules rather than relying on festival premieres. This year’s lineup reflects a broader trend toward fewer Hollywood tentpoles and more focus on international auteur cinema.
All of this does leave the door open for the likes of those with aspirations to be king of the world, as the ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Jake Coyle noted last week:
Neon — a 60-person company founded in 2017 — rides in as an unlikely heavyweight. It’s backing more than a quarter of the 22 films in competition for the Palme… (C)hief and co-founder Tom Quinn has watched the last six Palme d’Or ceremonies from the same spot: gathered with colleagues around a laptop on the breakfast tables at his Cannes hotel…In all six of those awards ceremonies, Neon has won the Palme, the prestigious top honor of the Cannes Film Festival. It’s an unparalleled streak for one of the most sought-after prizes in movies, second only to the best picture Oscar. No other studio has ever come close to anything like it.
Its odds of making it seven in a row are good. Some of the most hotly anticipated titles — including Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” Korean auteur Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” and James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” — are Neon’s.
The latter title was the talk of the ville this past weekend, as the globetrotting DEADLINE duo of Anthony D’Alessandro and Tom Tapp gushed:
James Gray’s sixth film at the Cannes Film Festival, Paper Tiger, drew a ten-minute standing ovation tonight in its world premiere at the Grand Theatre Lumiere… The last time Gray was here was in 2022 with his personal Armageddon Time. He received a five-minute standing ovation and delivered a teary, heartfelt speech at the premiere. This time he encouraged the crowd to clap longer, jokingly pointing to his watch as he looked up to the audiences in the rafters.
Among those leading the applause were Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and director Pawel Pawlikowski. A visibly-moved Gray stopped to acknowledge the crowd, thanking them for being the driving force behind keeping cinema alive…The movie, starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller, follows two brothers who pursue the American Dream but get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme that terrorizes their family. Bonds are tested and betrayal boils.
You might already know I’m particularly envious of those who get to enjoy the works and company of folks like this–heck, I’ve mused about with the regularity of Sheldon Cooper’s bowel movements in each of the previous three Mays. It’s companies like Neon and well-heeled auteurs like Gray that are likely going to be the saving grace for the preponderance of consultants in pretty much every behind-the-camera discipline that have been cast aside by the mergers and acquisitions that have gutted legacy studios this decade. So aside from sheer envy of the beautiful people that get all dolled up to schlep to France Sud there’s a practical reason for my interest.
Said interest is redoubled when the reality check is given to the influx of global buyers descending into LAX for the annual post-upfronts schmoozefests that began a tad earlier than usual thanks to a May 25th Memorial Day. Yet another DEADLINER, Jesse Whitlock, provided the sobering backdrop in his preview piece which dropped last Friday:
As the world’s top international acquisitions executives passed through border control at LAX this week, they weren’t only getting their minds in gear for a week of LA Screenings, but were also thinking how Hollywood’s big merger might change their futures. With Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $110B, the entire buying ecosystem could be set for an overhaul not seen in many years. Many of those buyers were in situ when Disney bought Fox’s entertainment assets in 2018, so to see one studio snap up another is not an unprecedented scenario, but there’s a real sense the Par-WBD deal is different. What it will mean is almost entirely unknown right now, but many believe it will ultimately shrink the number of studio vendors at LA Screenings of the future.
“We’ve had to deal with this in the past when we had deals with Disney and 20th Century Fox,” one buyer observes. “We watched as Fox was absorbed and a player was moved off the board. In the early days, it was about who was getting retained, and it will be the same here…A senior European buyer similarly sees change on the horizon. “We know it could potentially be the final Warner Bros. LA Screening,” they say.
I get even more emotional about the LA Screenings since I have an actual history with them as opposed to the aspirational one I have with Cannes. My Sony years were particularly memorable; as the self-declared “arms dealer” to the world this is practically my former employer’s Super Bowl. They went through a changing of the guard a year ago while simultaneously announcing a greenlight for a spinoff of its just-canceled SWAT that as of this writing is still to announce any global or even regional deals despite the fact that Shemar Moore and a new band of merry men (and women) have already completed production. When the U.S. broadcast networks are no longer ordering anything close to the number of new series they once did, and almost exclusively staying in house when they do, a man’s gotta do what they gotta do.
And just last night THE WRAP’s Jose Alejandro Bastidas broke the news that the team is at it again creating new opportunties for some familiar faces I used to see a lot of:
It’s a “Good Doctor” reunion! Freddie Highmore and series creator David Shore have teamed up for “I’m Not Here to Hurt You,” a new family crime drama from Sony Pictures Television and Bell Media. Highmore also stars in the Crave original series, which follows an upstanding family man who spirals into a life of crime after killing someone in a bicycle accident, “driven by the noble but futile goal of never hurting anyone ever again,” per the logline. The series is inspired by the true story of a man who became known as “Ireland’s most polite bank robber,” and The Irish Independent podcast of the same name. “I’m Not Here to Hurt You” is produced by Blink49 Studios, and marks the first co-commission by SPT and Bell Media.
Yep, them’s the same folks who are bankrolling my friends Pillar/Segan with both WILD CARDS and PRIVATE EYES, a couple of projects very near and dear to me. As you might recall, they’ve been on a roll themselves as of late. And at least this time Sony has cemented a place on perhaps the buzziest Canadian platfrom around–Crave is indeed home ice to HEATED RIVALRY. So if one combines that sort of association with the track record of THE GOOD DOCTOR the pitch practically writes itself. I oughta know; I wrote plenty of them for that show– starting with the one that secured its cushy Monday night time slot that started a successful seven-year run
Serving notice, just in case anyone might need a little boost on I’M NOT HERE TO HURT YOU. And I’m still within walking distance, FYI. Save the flights for those who can rock the red carpet.
Until next time…