If real estate is all about location, location, location, the international film market is all about timing, timing, timing.
Berlin in mid-February is not an ideal place for red carpet fashion. It’s a shame for the stars who will be exposed to freezing and freezing temperatures at this year’s Berlinale, but if you want to do business, the timing of the European Film Market is perfect.
“We are the first market of the year. Foreign buyers come here with their pockets full,” says Tanya Meisner, director of Berlin’s European Film Market, which opens today. “Buyers are really hungry in Berlin, so[EFM]has traditionally been a strong market for pre-sales.”
“Last year, we sold ‘The Uprising’ (Paul Greengrass’ historical action film starring Tom Hollander and Andrew Garfield) to Focus Features and ‘Good Sex’ (Lena Dunham’s comedy starring Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo) to Netflix,” said Alice LaFill, vice president of international sales for FilmNation Entertainment. “Berlin has always seemed like a strong market for film pre-sales for us, and it will continue to be so for us this year.”
Arriving in Berlin after a successful Sundance, Film Nation, which had secured the festival’s biggest deal with Olivia Wilde’s sex comedy “The Invitation to A24,” hitting eight-figure sales in the U.S., built on that momentum at EFM by offering buyers Strange Darling director J.T. Molnar’s creature horror “Skeletons,” starring Brie Larson, and stop-motion master Laika (Coraline, ParaNorman).
Lionsgate’s “The From blockbusters such as “Housemaid” ($268 million worldwide) and A24’s “Marty Supreme” ($126 million) to SPC’s “Nuremberg” ($268 million worldwide) Recent indie success stories bode well for business in Berlin, from the solid numbers posted by Neon’s The Monkey ($70 million) and Neon’s The Monkey ($70 million).
“(Independent films) overall at this time of year have grossed more than $300 million internationally over the past two years,” said Rob Carney, FilmNation senior vice president of international sales. “I think there’s a lot of optimism (in the market) that with the right projects, we can get audiences to go see movies.”
Berlin will have no shortage of packages this year. Among the hottest pre-sale stories are new projects featuring Sidney Sweeney, Kate Hudson, Chris Hemsworth and Zoe Saldana.
If international markets remain strong, sales to the US will remain a challenge. That many of the completed high-profile films to be screened at the Berlinale are still seeking distribution in the U.S. — titles such as WME Independent’s action-adventure “The Weight,” starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, and family drama “Josephine,” starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan — proves how risk-averse domestic buyers have become.
“They want to see finished material, have a clear marketing plan and audience strategy, and even wait for reviews before committing,” Meisner said.
However, despite the market uncertainty, the wave of new indie distribution companies entering the market has not stopped. Last year saw the likes of Black Bear (Christy), Row K Entertainment (Dead Man’s Wire) and 1-2 Special (Urchin) enter the fold. Ahead of this year’s Sundance, Warner Bros. launched its own specialty label led by former Neon executives, and industry veterans Daniel DiGiacomo, Brian Levy, and Teddy Liouliakis launched a new indie producer and distribution company, Subtext.
And then Markiplier, aka YouTube influencer Mark Edward Fischbach, comes out to show everyone what his independent directorial debut Iron Lung is all about, grossing over $20 million worldwide to date.
It is too early to tell whether this new wave is an updraft or just a bubble. But the fact that so many new buyers are entering the market is a sign of “optimism that there’s business to be done,” Carney said.
Meissner also sees hope in the success of international titles, from the animated hit Demon Slayer ($730 million worldwide) to the Norwegian soap opera Sentimental Value ($20 million), which she attributes to a young “letterbox” audience looking for “unique, authentic stories” like those abundant at Berlin and EFM.
“There is a strong appetite in the market for unique, culturally rooted European, Asian and other international stories,” she says. “For a long time, it felt like this kind of film, this very distinctive, culturally specific film, was successful despite its identity. Now it feels like it’s successful because of it.”
