Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson & Dave Bautista Among A-Listers Headlining EFM Packages: What’s Behind The Turbocharged Market?

Sundance dealmaking was buoyant, the awards season is coming to a head with a number of critically acclaimed movies having done well at the box office, and apparently peak TV is over. Whisper it quietly, but after years of movies being almost a dirty word compared to the lustre of TV, is independent theatrical film staging a comeback?

If the turbocharged and upbeat European Film Market (EFM) — which officially got underway today in Berlin, but has been in swing for a while — is anything to go by, the indie sales and production sectors are in decent health, at least.

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Things were looking up even before the market. A week ago we broke news of the biggest North American deal in years for an indie movie when Paramount stumped up around $25M for Michael Gracey’s Better Man with a big theatrical commitment. “That gives you hope,” one movie financier texted at the time.

As for EFM, there are a host of A-list-led commercially oriented packages, the type that often haven’t made it to market in recent years. There are new projects for Will Smith, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Margot Robbie and Dave Bautista, among many others. Below is our hot list.

“In terms of projects, this is the busiest EFM in at least five years,” one packaging agent told me. “There was an inevitable slowdown on development and production during the strikes but things have finally woken up again.”

Another agent posited: “I think we’re seeing an offset from the TV business dipping a little and actors becoming more available with slightly fewer TV show commitments.”

Sales companies are usually optimistic at the start of a market, but this optimism is different: “I don’t remember it being so busy for at least two years, maybe more,” one veteran UK seller told us. “All our meeting slots were fully booked two weeks prior to the market. Audiences are returning to cinemas and distributors need to fill their slates. There appears to be a genuine appetite for pre-buying again in all major territories. Material still needs a clearly identifiable audience and the talent package in front and behind the camera to deliver that.”

Domestic and European box office were both up year-on-year in 2023 — not back to pre-pandemic levels, but both are heading in a happier direction for theatrical. Meanwhile, most streamers and studios have had to make tough cuts in the last 12 months, but appetite for acquisitions seemingly remains.

Another European seller commented: “There is a renewed sense of buyer enthusiasm bolstered by the string of box-office performing director-led independent films (Celine Song, Justine Triet, Wim Wenders, Jonathan Glazer, Hayao Miyazaki, and more). Last year was muted due to the strikes and repositioning of the streaming landscape but there is larger international attendance this year in Berlin, more evenly spread across all five continents. It feels like we are back to basics, with a return to windowed releases to maximise film’s full value potential from theatrical to ancillary, and distributors are feeling more empowered again in their territorial roles. Sundance’s active deal-making across studios, streamers and theatrical indies has sent positive wavelengths to kickstart the year, with solid packages announced here at EFM too.”

Will the packages sell and come to fruition? Last year’s EFM underdelivered on splashy deals. We’ll know more in a few days. The early noises are good.

EFM Hot List (English-language pre-sales titles, mostly at their first market)

Featherwood
Dir: Andrea Arnold
Cast: Scarlett Johansson
Plot: Johansson will portray Carol Blevins, a heroin addict and “Aryan Princess featherwood” (property of a gang member) who became one of the FBI’s most important informants during an epic, six-year investigation into the murderous, neo-Nazi crime and drug syndicate known as the
Aryan Brotherhood Of Texas.
Sales: FilmNation , CAA Media Finance

H Is For Hawk
Dir: Philippa Lowthorpe
Cast: Claire Foy, Brendan Gleeson
Plot: Based on author Helen MacDonald’s well-received New York Times memoir of the same name, the film follows Helen (Foy) who, after losing her beloved father (Gleeson), finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a stubborn hawk named Mabel. Through the bond, Helen rediscovers the beauty of being alive.
Sales: Protagonist Pictures (World)

The Dreadful
Dir: Natasha Kermani
Cast: Sophie Turner, Kit Harington
Plot: The is film set against the backdrop of the War of the Roses and follows Anne (Turner) and her mother-in-law Morwen, who live a solitary, harsh life on the outskirts of society. But when a man (Harington) from their past returns, he will set off a sequence of events that become a turning point for Anne.
Sales: Film Bridge International (International), UTA Independent Film Group (Domestic)

Roofman
Dir: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Channing Tatum
Plot: Pic is based on the remarkable story of Jeffrey Manchester, an eccentric and charming serial robber who broke into more than 60 McDonald’s overnight via their roofs, then emptied the cash register in the morning after herding staff into freezers. The former U.S. Army Reserve officer became known as the ‘Rooftop Robber’ or ‘Roofman’ and was known for his gentle demeanor and for rarely resorting to violence.
Sales: FilmNation, CAA Media Finance

Normal
Dir: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Bob Odenkirk
Plot: Story follows Ulysses (Odenkirk), who is thrust into the temporary role of the sheriff for the small sleepy town Normal after the previous one’s untimely death. When the town’s bank is robbed by an out-of-town couple, Ulysses arrives on the scene to find that the town is hiding much more sinister deep-seated secrets under its surface and everyone – from the bartender to the priest – is in on it. And now Ulysses, who’s up-till-now focused only on running away from the demons of his past, must uncover the full extent of this criminal conspiracy.
Sales: WME Independent (World)

Fuze
Dir: David Mackenzie
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Plot: Fuze opens on the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb in a London construction site, sparking a mass evacuation, which serves as perfect cover for a heist.
Sales: Anton (World) and will co-rep U.S. rights with UTA Independent Film Group and WME
Independent.

Train Dreams
Dir: Clint Bentley
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones
Plot: Based on Denis Johnson’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated novella, pic tells the story of Robert Grainier (Edgerton), a day laborer employed as a logger helping to expand the railways across America. Forced to spend prolonged periods away from his wife, Gladys (Jones), and their young daughter, Grainier struggles to make sense of his place in a rapidly changing world. As his story unfolds, he experiences great love, unspeakable loss, and unique bonds, on a journey that is both distinct and universal.
Sales: WME Independent (U.S.), Black Bear (International)

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Dir: Kogonada
Cast: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell
Plot: Plot details are under wraps, but A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is described as an imaginative tale of two strangers and the unbelievable journey that connects them.
Sales: Neon, CAA Media Finance and 30West.

The Housewife
Dir: Ben Shirinian
Cast: Naomi Watts, Tye Sheridan, Michael Imperioli, Norman Reedus
Plot: Based on a true story from 1964, the film follows a determined young New York Times journalist (Sheridan) as he tracks down a potential Nazi officer living secretly in Queens. When he befriends the suspect’s elegant and charming wife (Watts), the implications of his investigation become much more unsettling.
Sales: Neon International (World)

The Materialists
Dir: Celine Song
Cast: Dakota Johnson in talks, and Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal circling. 
Plot: Plot details have been kept under wraps, but we hear it deals with a professional matchmaker who gets involved with a wealthy man but still harbors feelings for the broke actor-waiter she left behind.
Sales: A24 (World)

Afterburn
Dir: J.J. Perry
Cast: Dave Bautista, Samuel L. Jackson 
Plot: Bautista will play ex-soldier Jake, who works as a treasure hunter recovering valuable objects from the old world for powerful clients. His latest mission is to team with freedom fighter Drea to recover the Mona Lisa before an unhinged warlord gets there first.
Sales: Black Bear (International), CAA Media Finance (Domestic)

The Swallow
Dir: Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer
Cast: Grace Van Dien
Plot: Van Dien stars as Ziggy, who, along with her four friends, journeys out on a camping trip to a picturesque remote forest. But trespassing into an off-limits area, they awaken an uncanny terror in the woods… and a ravenous hunger from within the Earth. Soon, the ground itself is trying to swallow anything and anyone it comes into contact with and Ziggy and her friends have nowhere to run as every trembling step they take could be their last.
Sales: Architect (world) and co-repping US with Verve Ventures.

Ice Fall
Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Cast: Joel Kinnaman And Cara Jade Myers
Plot: The story follows a young Indigenous game warden who arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and dirty cops are alerted to the poacher’s whereabouts, the warden and the poacher team up to fight back and escape across the treacherous lake before the ice melts.
Sales: Arclight Films (world).

Mr Burton
Dir: Marc Evans
Cast: Toby Jones, Lesley Manville
Plot: The film will tell the true story of the relationship between Welsh schoolmaster Philip Burton and a wild young schoolboy called Richard Jenkins. Richard dreamed of becoming an actor, but his ambitions were in danger of being derailed by a combination of family trouble, the pressure of war, and his own lack of discipline. Mr Burton recognised the raw talent in his pupil, and made it his mission to fight for him, becoming his tutor, strict taskmaster, and eventually his adoptive father.
Sales: Independent Entertainment (World)

Untitled Todd Haynes
Dir: Todd Haynes
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix
Plot: Haynes previously said about the secretive project: “It’s a love story between two men set in the ’30s that has explicit sexual content, or at least it challenges you with the sexual relationship between these two men. One is a Native American character and one is a corrupt cop in LA. They have to flee L.A. ultimately and go to Mexico.”
Sales: Cinetic, MK2

Palette
Dir: Zach Strauss
Cast: Hunter Schafer, Noomi Rapace
Plot: The film follows Dolly, a woman suffering from extreme synesthesia, a rare condition through which she is able to hear colors. She is recruited into a secretive, cult-like industry of color design, where she discovers the dark reality of what it takes to make the world’s greatest hues.
Sales: Anton (International) and will co-rep U.S. with CAA Media Finance and Verve Ventures.

Tooth Fairy
Dir: Tony Morales
Cast: Casting underway
Plot: The Spanish-language movie follows a series of child disappearances in a tight-knit rural
community in Spain. As a social worker begins to dig into the village’s myths and legends, she
discovers she has unwittingly reawakened a terrifying, vengeful spirit.
Sales: Architect (world)

The Magic Faraway Tree
Dir: Ben Gregor
Cast: Casting underway.
Plot: The Magic Faraway Tree will follow Polly and Tim and their children Beth, Joe and Fran –
a modern family who find themselves forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. Soon
after their arrival, the children discover a magical tree and its eccentric residents such as the
characters Moonface, Silky, Dame Wash-a-lot and Saucepan Man. At the top of the tree, they
are transported to spectacular and fantastical lands and, through the joys and challenges of
their adventures, the family learn to reconnect and value each other for the first time in years.
Sales: Palisades Park Pictures (World) and co-repping U.S. with CAA Media Finance.

Sugar Bandits
Dir: Tamika Miller
Cast: Will Smith
Plot: The movie is understood to follow a former Special Forces solider who joins an elite, vigilante squad aiming to wipe out the drug trade in Boston, but soon learns things are not what they seem.
Sales: AGC, CAA Media Finance

The Epiphany
Dir: Will Eubank
Cast: Sylvester Stallone
Plot: The movie follows a hard-nosed, soon-to-retire police detective (Stallone) who must team up with a younger cop and former priest to stop a serial killer on a murderous crusade through the streets of Philadelphia.
Sales: CAA Media Finance (Domestic) AGC Studios (International)

Batso
Dir: Kyle Marvin
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Daniel Radcliffe, Jessica Biel
Plot: In 1970, ‘The Wall of Early Morning Light’ was an unthinkable climb. For larger-than-life climbing legends Warren ‘Batso’ Harding and Dean Caldwell, it represented a near-impossible physical and mental challenge. For iconoclast Batso, it also offered one last chance to stick it to the naysayers who thought him too old, too out of touch and too crazy. For novice Dean, it was a way to see beyond his 9-to-5 existence and unlock the awesome potential of the human spirit.
Sales: CAA Media Finance and WME Independent (North American rights), north.five.six (International)

Tow
Dir: Stephanie Laing
Cast: Rose Byrne
Plot: Tow will chart the true story of Amanda Ogle, a homeless Seattle woman who fought her way out of tow-company hell to reclaim her life and the car that held it all together after receiving a tow bill for $21,634. Ogle also serves as an executive producer on the film.
Sales: CAA Media Finance, The Exchange

Famous
Director: Jody Hill 
Cast: Zac Efron
Plot: Meet Lance. 38-years-old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. With one glaring exception…he has a million-dollar face. Lance has been mistaken 228 times for the Oscar-winning movie star James Jansen. And for the last ten years, he’s saved his money, studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies, even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance decides to go after his dream. Come with Lance on his journey of self-abandonment to become his likeness. 
Sales: CAA, WME Independent, Black Bear

Huntington
Director: John Patton Ford
Cast: Glen Powell
Plot: Revenge thriller about Becket Redfellow (Powell), the heir to a multi-billion-dollar fortune who will stop at nothing to get what he deserves…Or what he thinks he deserves. 
Sales: Studiocanal

The Mother
Dir: Mélanie Laurent 
Cast: Michelle Yeoh
Plot: Follows an immigrant mother and businesswoman, Ann, who’s attempting to make the best of her new life in America with her family. When her two teenage sons stumble into trouble with a Boston dirty cop and a crime ring, the mother has no choice but to rekindle her past and will stop at nothing until they are safe.
Sales: AGC and CAA

Love Child
Dir: Todd Solondz
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen and Charles Melton
Plot: The story follows Misty who is stuck in a loveless marriage to a brutish husband. Junior, her precocious 11-year-old is her only consolation. When Easy, a handsome vagabond stranger, appears, Junior hatches a plan to get rid of his father so that his mother can marry him instead. But things end up backfiring, so Junior comes up with yet another plan, this one even more devious, and with more disastrous—and unexpected—consequences.
Sales: Rocket Science and CAA Media Finance

Titan
Dir: Mike P. Nelson
Cast: Kiana Madeira & Jessica Rothe
Plot: Titan is set against the backdrop of Brazil’s Curuçá River in the present day. When a team of young doctors embark on a local humanitarian mission through the Amazon rainforest, it soon becomes clear that not everyone – or everything – is happy to see them. Their arrival draws the attention of an ancient predator, the “Boiúna”. This ancient killer, dominant on land and water, clashes to reclaim the jungle. The ensuing fight for survival blurs the roles of hunter, prey, and hero.
Sales: north.five.six and CAA

Wilder And Me
Dir: Stephen Frears
Cast: Christoph Waltz, Maya Hawke, John Turturro & Jon Hamm 
Plot: Hawke will play Calista, a young musician whose life takes on a whole new meaning while working on the set of Billy Wilder’s film Fedora. Waltz will play legendary film director Wilder, known for classics including Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard and The Apartment. Turturro will play his lifelong friend and screenwriting partner I.A.L. Diamond. Hamm will play famed actor William Holden.
Sales: HanWay, CAA Media Finance

The Beacon
Dir: Ralph Fiennes
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Indira Varma, Charles Babalola and Alison Oliver
Plot: A meditation on family, class, race and identity.
Sales: Cornerstone, CAA Media Finance

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