US buyers have not been in an adventurous mood as the last few markets will attest. However hope springs eternal and acquisitions teams will be on the hunt at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to bulk up pipelines following the Hollywood strikes of 2023.

How theatrical buyers fare against streamers remains to be seen. Financiers and sales agents, many of whom are avowed fans of the theatrical experience, must recoup.

The lure of a worldwide deal with a platform can be hard to resist, and while the North American summer box office rallied well and there are lucrative opportunities for the right theatrical releases, that landscape remains challenged.

Joe Plummer, president of New York-based Wavelengths Productions, a co-financier on Special Presentations selection and sales title On Swift Horses starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi, says he is “cautiously optimistic” heading into TIFF.

“[On Swift Horses] deserves to be seen on the largest screen and looks beautiful wherever it’s seen,” he says, adding: “I want it to reach the widest possible audience.”

TIFF intends to ramp up its on-site business activity and will launch an official market in 2026. Until then, watch the number of private screenings creep up this year and next. They used to be banned but TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey tells Screen they are soon likely to be categorised as market screenings.

Republic Pictures handles worldwide sales on two TIFF selections – Edward Burns’s Special Presentations choice Millers In Marriage and K’naan Warsame’s Somali film Mother Mother in Discovery.

Dan Cohen, Paramount Global chief content licensing officer and president of Republic Pictures, notes: “It feels very much business as usual… There’s interest and need for movies. I feel good about things.”

It may even turn out that the hottest title on Cohen’s docket is not playing at TIFF. Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 premiered in Venice and was the talk of Telluride last weekend. Do not be surprised if a deal goes down in Toronto on the dramatic recreation of ABC Sports’ coverage of the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli team at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Many films in official selection arrive with distribution in place, and two acquisition titles have ust got snapped up. Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American and multiple rights to Laura Piani’s Centrepiece selection Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, while Lionsgate’s Grindstone and Roadside Attractions took US rights off the table on Special Presentations crime comedy Riff Raff.

ABC New Studios said it would plan a short theatrical release on TIFF Docs world premiere Patrice: The Movie, before it debuts on Hulu on September 30.

Below is a list of some of the most anticipated sales titles in TIFF. The first public screenings and P&I screenings are listed for each film in Eastern Time. World premieres are denoted as WP, North American premieres as NAP, and international premieres as IP.

TIFF runs September 5-15.

INDUSTRY SELECTS
Buyers screenings only

London Calling
Dir. Allan Ungar
Josh Duhamel plays a hitman who has fled the UK after a botched job and finds himself babysitting the son of his new crime boss and showing the youngster how to become a man. Jeremy Ray Taylor and Aiden Gillen also star.
Screening: Sept. 7, 3pm, TIFF Lightbox
Sales: Verve Ventures (US); Highland Film Group (international)

By Jeremy Kay, Screen Daily