Distributor Monday #6: Amazon-MGM / One Battle...No Venice?

 DISTRIBUTION MONDAY #6: AMAZON-MGM

Today we take a look at the sixth distributor that has a common appearance profile at the Telluride Film festival and that is Amazon-MGM.  

Since starting this series of reviews of frequent TFF distribution companies I have been taking them in the order of the outfits that have been most prevalent at Telluride over the last nine years.  Amazon-MGM (Amazon Studios) has screened a dozen films at T-ride in that time.  Actually, it's been eight years in a row with at least one film being screened at TFF:

2016: Manchester by the Sea

2017: Wonderstruck

2018: Cold War, Peterloo

2019: The Aeronauts, The Report

2020: No Fest but would have screened All In: The Fight for Democracy

2021: Encounter

2022: Goodnight Oppy, Wildcat

2023: Saltburn, Cassandro

2024: Nickel Boys

So one or two films per year consistently since 2016 but trying to decipher what Amazon-MGM might have for the 2025 edition of TFF is challenging.

The big film for them this year is Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt.  The other was Nia DaCosta's  Hedda but we now know that it will World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Once you get past those two there are a few other projects that just don't seem to have a lot of TFF juice.

Here's the rundown:

After the Hunt.  Dir. Luca Guadagnino*.  Stars: Julia Roberts, Ayo Ediberi, Andrew Garfield*, Chloe Zevigny*, Michael Stuhlbarg*.  Release date: Oct. 10th.  IMDb description:

A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

Guadagnino was at TFF in 2022 with Bones and All after it premiered at Venice.  Since then his two big 2024 releases- Challengers and Queer -both did not play Telluride.  Notably, Queer did play Venice.  So...

A Julia Roberts tribute would be cool though.

Preparation for the Next Life.  Director: Bing Liu.  Stars: Sebiye Behtiyar, Fred Hechinger.  Release date: TBD  IMDb description: 

Upon her release from a detention center, undocumented Uyghur immigrant Aishe moves to New York City, vowing to outrun the many things chasing her. In Queens, she falls in love with Skinner, a recently discharged army vet, and they help each other combat the complexities of starting a new life in America. A gritty love story about two unforgettable people the world forgot..

The thing that makes me list this title is that T-ride regular Barry Jenkins is a producer on the film as is Plan B's Dede Gardner.  Could be  a real sleeper choice.

The Map that Leads to You.  Director: Lasse Hallstrom.  Stars: Madelyn Cline, Josh Lucas.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

A woman meets an enigmatic stranger on a European trip. Their instant attraction faces challenges from life, duty and secrets that change her life forever.

I include this mostly because of director Lasse Hallstrom's past films: The Cider house Rules, Chocolat and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.  Currently, it appears that Amazon-MGM may just send this direct to streaming.

Amazon-MGM has a couple of comedies (Oh.What.Fun. and The Pickup) neither of which seem TFF possibilities. 

Overall, After the Hunt probably has the best TFF shot but I just don't feel it.  At the moment I expect a Venice play and then to Toronto just as Queer did.  

Chances:

After the Hunt 30%

Preparation for the Next Life 25%

The Map that Leads to You 0%

Update as of 10:47 am EDT on 7-14-25-Amazon-MGM has dated The Map that Leads to You streaming debut on August 20th.

Up next Monday...Focus Features...and wooooo....they are loaded for 2025.

ONE BATTLE...NO VENICE?

World of Reel reported Saturday that Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another is likely to miss the Venice Film Festival.  It has been frequently mentioned that the film would probably World Premiere there.

Jordan Ruimy, who runs WOR, made clear that there is no official word as yet regarding One Battle but also claims that the source from Italy is reliable.

The post also talks a bit about whether that means the the film plays Toronto, which Ruimy suggests is the most likely scenario but which he also admits isn't a cinch either.  As for Telluride, Ruimy doesn't entirely rule it out writing, "Telluride? Probably not in the cards." but that's a 100% denial of the possibility.  Ruimy also writes the thinks the film almost has to land somewhere in the fall fest and it can't be New York as OBAA opens the same day as NYFF opens.

So where?  If at all?

Warners, who has the film, has had a fairly regular presence at Telluride.  Including the now defunct Warner Independent Pictures, here's what they have screened at Telluride in the time thatI've been attending:

2006: Infamous

2007: Rails and Ties

2012: Argo

2013: Gravity

2015: Black Mass

2016: Sully

2019: Motherless Brooklyn

2022: King Richard

And, of course, PTA was in Telluride in 2007 for the Daniel  Day-Lewis Tribute and screening of some of There Will Be Blood.

So...who knows?  Not me, but I'll keep my ear to the ground.

 

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Indiewire's Cannes Analysis Intrigues / Exploring Amazon / Images from Cannes Films / The Greatest at T-ride?

 INDIEWIRE'S CANNES ANALYSIS INTRIGUES

As I do each year, once the dust had settled from the announcement of the Cannes lineup last Thursday, I began looking at what industry focused websites were saying about the films chosen and not chosen trying to glom onto some nuggets that could point the way to possible Telluride titles.  The most intriguing, to me at any rate, was Eric Kohn's piece for Indiewire.  Here are some nuggets of interest from that article for those of us who are Telluride junkies.

1) The French Dispatch news...If you've been reading here the last couple of years, you've likely picked up on the notion that I'm hot to see this film play T-ride.  Wes Anderson snuck Rushmore into Telluride in 1998 and hasn't been back since.  I have been thinking that there was a chance that Anderson might return to Telluride last year and then again this year with the film and Kohn adds some fuel to that fire as he writes:

"Cannes held the door open for... titles that wanted to wait. “The French Dispatch,” Wes Anderson’s imaginary vision of 20th-century journalists, has been one of Searchlight’s most promising new titles for some time. The movie was set for a Cannes premiere last year and would have later played Telluride"

Yes indeed, Kohn reports that "Dispatch" would have played TFF #47 had it happened.  To me that suggests the possibility that last year's plan could become this year's reality.  Other factors suggesting that it might play: From Searchlight, already announced fall release date post-Telluride (Oct. 22) and no suggestion of its premiere status re: its announced play at the New York Film Fest.

2) Films NOT in Cannes (barring something still to be announced-and there are other films that are still to be announced):

Dune

Soggy Bottom

The Power of the Dog

The Card Counter

Spencer

All or none of which might land a slot at Venice and then???

3) A couple of docs to keep an on: Kohn mentions a few documentaries that we maybe should keep an eye on moving toward Labor Day weekend.

The Val Kilmer doc "Val" is one.  Andrea Arnold's Cow, Todd Haynes The Velvet Underground and Oliver Stone's JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass all seem like possibilities.

The complete Indiewire story is linked here.

EXPLORING AMAZON

My look at film distributors that have had a significant presence at Telluride over the past five years continues today with Amazon Studios.

Here's their complete past at TFF:

2016: Manchester by the Sea

2017: Wonderstruck

2018: Cold War. Peterloo

2019: The Aeronauts, The Report

2020: All In; The Fight for Democracy

Best shots at TFF #48:

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

Being the Ricardos (if it's done)

Val (see above)

AND...if the MGM deal is done and Amazon has control of the MGM inventory???  In play could be:

The Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson project (Soggy Bottom)

Ridley Scott's House of Gucci

George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing

Joe Wright's Cyrano

IMAGES FROM CANNES FILMS

The Film Stage has put together a collection of images from a number of the films that were announced for Cannes last week including some for films that might make the cut for TFF #48.

Examples: The French Dispatch:

And Andrea Arnold's Cow:

Check out some of the other images at The Film Stage linked here.

THE GREATEST AT T-RIDE?

Over the weekend I saw that PBS had dropped a teaser for the latest documentary from Ken Burns; Florentine Films: Muhammad Ali.

The teaser reveals that the doc will land on Sept. 19th which suggests that we could have a shot a seeing it in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.

Here's the link to the teaser imbedded in a Tweet from PBS:

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Two Years Running / Blues and Brews Bows Out of 2020 / Add to Amazon / Nomadland Is Imminent / The Distribs: Bleecker Street / Netflix Adds the Chicago 7

TWO YEARS RUNNING

For the second consecutive year Michael's Telluride Film Blog has been denied press accreditation for the actual fest itself.  Here's a screenshot of the email informing me yesterday afternoon:

So again, after having been granted that status from 2011-2018, TFF has said no. 

When I was denied last year, I asked at the time if there was a specific reason (I've sent that question again this year) and also if there was an appeal process.  I never got an answer.

As I said last year, I fully grasp that the fest can chose who to accredit who not to accredit.  I get that.

Further, I understand that I have published articles that have not been well received within the fest's hierarchy. This past year I have tried to be circumspect with regard to the stories I post and have, on a number of occasions, self-edited as I determined that a particular  thought or story might land badly.  That doesn't seem to have curried any favor.

And, of course, I'm aware that the very point of the blog (sussing out what might play at the fest) is antithetical to the fest's goal of keeping the lineup under wraps.

Still, after having been granted the status for eight years and then being denied for these last two, I am curious as to whether MTFB will ever be accredited again. 


BLUES AND BREWS BOWS OUT FOR 2020

The Telluride Daily Planet reported yesterday that the Telluride Blues and Brews Fest has been canceled for this year.  That leaves TFF as the only fest left standing for Telluride this year.  Blues and Brews was scheduled for Sept. 18-20-two weeks after The SHOW.

Festival director Steve Gumble is quoted in the paper with this:

“We held on to each day and each update and watched our hopes of holding Blues & Brews fade as each day passed.  Having said that, it is with tremendous sadness that I sit here forced to write what I thought I would never have to write — the 27th Telluride Blues & Brews Festival will be canceled for 2020. This is the toughest decision I have made, but without a doubt, it is the right thing to do.”

The complete story is here.


ADD TO AMAZON

Last Monday I took a look at the films that I thought might be possible TFF #47 players from Amazon Studios.  Since then, Amazon Prime Video has acquired a new foreign film title that probably should enter in our consideration

Variety reported on Monday that the streaming service had snagged Chilean hit Jailbreak.  The film is based on the true story escape that occurred in 1990.  Variety reports that the film is Chile's biggest hit in the past few years.

My guestimate at the chances of Jailbreak making a stop in Telluride are 25%.

The Variety story is linked here.


NOMADLAND IS IMMINENT

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland seems to be done...complete...wrapped and locked.  Next Best Picture's Will Mavity tweeted the info yesterday that Nomadland has received its MPAA rating.  It's R by-the-by.

Here's Will's Tweet:

In the comments following Will's Tweet are a couple of references to its possible inclusion for Telluride.

Many readers know that I had Nomadland on my list for a good long while last year as a TFF #46 potential title.  I even still listed as a "possible" choice outside the final 25 "Bets" posted the day before Telluride announced its lineup.

Nomadland stars Frances McDormand.  Its IMDb listing is linked here.



THE DISTRIBS: BLEECKER STREET

Bleecker Street Media is the definition of a specialty house/film distribution company.  Their presence at Telluride over the years has been spotty but not invisible.  Last year they were represented at Telluride with Kitty Green's The Assistant which has gotten very good reviews since its theatrical release in late January.  Some have included it in their Ten Best lists for the first half of 2020.

The Bleecker Street T-ride profile looks like this:

2019- The Assisstant
2015- Beasts of No Nation (partnered with Netflix)


As we look to TFF for 2020 Bleecker could have a couple of films that we should consider:

The Secrets We Keep from director Yuval Adler whose Bethlehem was included by TFF in 2013.  The Secrets We Keep is a post-World War II story of Holocaust survivors trying to make their way in New York.

The other project is John Patrick Shanley's Wild Mountain Thyme.  Shanley is an Oscar, Pulitzer and Tony award winning writer.  He previously directed Doubt (Based on his own stage play) and Joe Versus the Volcano.  Wild Mountain Thyme stars Emily Blunt, Jon Hamm and Jamie Dornan.  IMdB's description of the film reads:


"A pair of star-crossed lovers in Ireland get caught up in their family's land dispute."

My guestimate:

The Secrets We Keep 45%
Wild Mountain Thyme 20%


NETFLIX ADDS THE CHICAGO 7

After weeks of teasing that a deal was probably coming and reported hangups regarding international rights, Netflix has acquired Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 from Paramount for $56 million.  In a normal year that would shoot the film right to the top of my Telluride chart but because Netflix has announced that they're not taking any of their films to any of the festivals that won't be happening.

Now, just for fun, close readers of this space have noticed that I have picked up on a couple hints here and there that the Netflix decision may not be as ironclad as it seems.  I have wondered if we might see some Netflix titles as a "surprise" in Telluride.  Those aforementioned hints, Netflix's presence at the fest over the last half decade, Netflix saying that they will continue sponsoring fests- they sponsored the Chuck Jones Theater last year and the Labor Day Picnic in 2018 and I believe they'll be a sponsor of some sort again this year- all make me think that there's at least a glimmer of a chance that some of their projects could end up in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.

Now that list of projects includes Sorkin's Chicago 7 film.

Variety has the acquisition story here.

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First Ten Bets of 2020 / Some Surprising Tidbits / The Distribs: Amazon

FIRST TEN BETS OF 2020

The last post of June has, over the past few years, become the post in which I lay down my first "Ten Bets" guesses for the Telluride Film Festival.  Most years, when I go back and look at the success rate of first "Tens" I'm feeling pretty good if I land 5 out of 10 that actually play over Labor Day weekend.  Here's the track record since I began the "Ten Bets" model of TFF predicting:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10
2017: 7/10
2018: 5/10
2019: 4/10

Average: 5.4 per year.

So, I'm rolling up my sleeves and am going to make an attempt at a first Ten Bets for this year...but I'm already pleading a pre-emptive "mea culpa" for getting so much wrong.

10) Ammonite
9) Undine
8) The Secrets We Keep
7) Forgotten We'll Be
6) Untitled Garbus/Cortes Voting Rights Doc
5) Fireball
4) Nomadland
3) John Prine: Hello in There
2) Small Axe (Mangrove and/or Lover's Rock)
1) There Is No Evil


SOME SURPRISING TIDBITS

I ran across a couple of eye-opening news items since my last post.  First, the revelation from member of the TFF Board of Governors Ken Burns in an interview/Awards Chatter podcast with The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg that he will not be attending TFF #47.  From the article accompanying the podcast:

"However, Burns, whose Beatles-like haircut makes him instantly recognizable wherever he goes, laments that because of the pandemic, he cannot to some places he would like to, such as the Telluride Film Festival, which takes place in Colorado's Rocky Mountains each Labor Day weekend. "I've gone for 30 straight years, 31 overall," he says. "I premiered Huey Long [his 1985 doc] there, and then The Civil War, and I've never not gone [since]. It's incredibly painful not to go there, but I don't want to turn Telluride into Manhattan when it was a hot spot."

That's a lightning bolt.

The Feinberg article as well as the link to the complete interview are here.

Additionally both Indiewire's Anne Thompson and Deadline's Pete Hammond had some thoughts on Saturday about Telluride and the other fall fests in an interview with Gold Derby.

Thompson talks about TFF perhaps being a down-sized event:

"Anne Thompson of Indiewire and Pete Hammond of Deadline — they are both doubtful that an event in the less-populated state of Colorado will welcome outsiders with open arms this year. Thompson has booked a room for the time being, but also adds it is refundable. “I am prepared to go if it is happening.” But, realistically, she can’t see the festival allowing film journalists to attend who live in such large metropolitan areas as New York City and Los Angeles, where the COVID-19 numbers are high. She believes it just might be a local event, given all the restrictions it would have to overcome."

Hammond is even more provocative in a couple of statements.  He suggests that Telluride should announce titles beforehand rather than following their normal practice of announcing the day before the fest starts:

“Telluride is a big question mark for me. I haven’t decided if I am going , and definitely won’t if they don’t announce what movies they have a la TIFF. They normally don’t until the day before the fest, but this year is different and I don’t know if it is worth it."

We had heard (via Thompson in an earlier story at Indiewire) that Telluride would be announcing further plans in mid-July.  Hammond suggests that deadline might carry more weight than a listing of precautions that the festival would take:

"Heard as of two weeks ago for them the movies still aren’t there and they are waiting until mid-July to make a final call on go or no go.”

The complete article from Gold Derby is here.



THE DISTRIBS: AMAZON STUDIOS

Amazon Studios has been a constant player at Telluride since appearing for the first time in 2016.  Last year, however, their TFF entries did not become awards season players.  Here's the rundown of Amazon Studios films that have played TFF in their relatively short history:


2019: The Aeronauts, The Report
2018: Peterloo, Cold War
2017: Wonderstruck
2016: Manchester by the Sea

This year's most likely Amazon players look to be:

Steve McQueen's two Cannes "selected" films that are a part of his Small Axe project.  Both Mangrove and Lover's Rock carry the "Selection of Cannes" label as two of the 56 films named a few weeks back.  McQueen has a significant history with Telluride having screened Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave there.

Will Sharpe's feature directing debut is the biopic of 19th century artist Louis Wain starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  The film also stars Andrea Riseborough and Claire Foy.

The untitled Liz Garbus/Lisa Cortes Voting Rights documentary featuring former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams-particularly timely in this election year.

And finally, Julia Hart's woman on the run film starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Rachel Brosnahan.

Chances:

Mangrove and/or Lover's Rock 50%
Garbus/Cortes Doc 40%
Louis Wain 25%
I'm Your Woman 20%

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The Distributors 2019: Amazon Studios / The Report Release / Just Off the "If I Had To"

Welcome back from your Father's Day weekend.  Twas also my dad's birthday weekend...he's 83!


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: AMAZON STUDIOS

Last Friday I talked about Netflix and it's no secret that streaming platforms have changed the landscape when it comes to film festivals, Oscar and T-ride.  Amazon Studios has also been a huge player in that transition and as such has become, over the last three years, an outfit to be noticed when trying to handicap The SHOW as well as the Oscar race.

Amazon had serious Oscar players last year with Cold War (Three Oscar nominations including Best Director) and in 2016 with Manchester by the Sea (which allowed Casey Affleck to win the Oscar for Best Actor and Kenneth Lonergan to win for Best Original Screenplay).

Amazon Studios Telluride resume is small but mighty:

2018: Peterloo, Cold War
2017: Wonderstruck
2016: Manchester by the Sea

And here were my numbers attempting to predict their chances at Telluride for 2018.  I posted the Amazon picks on June 21st last year.

Peterloo- 75%
Cold War- 50%
Beautiful Boy 40%
Photograph- 30%
Life Itself- 20%


And, as you can see, the high percentages for Peterloo and Cold War panned out.

Looking at this year, Amazon's potential for T-ride inclusion is substantial.  As of today, they have at least five films that are part of the conversation:

Against All Enemies/Andrews
The Goldfinch/Crowley
Les Miserables/Ly
Radioactive/Satrapi
The Report/Burns

Andrews, Crowley and Satrapi have all had films play at Telluride previously each with a single film:

Andrews: 2016: Una
Crowley: 2003: Intermission
Satrapi: 2007: Persepolis

On Friday last week, you may have noticed that I listed Crowley's The Goldfinch as one of my ten "If I Had To" list.  The Goldfinch is actually split between Amazon and Warner Bros.

Consequently, The Goldfinch leads the Amazon list in terms of chances to play T-ride in 2019 but each of the five films have a serious chance to make it.

The chances:

The Goldfinch 60%
Radioactive 50%
Les Miserables 40% (Cannes prize winner: Jury Prize)
Against All Enemies 40%
The Report 35% (played Sundance but so did Manchester by the Sea...see below)


Tomorrow, I'll take a stab at evaluating the lineup from Focus Features.



THE REPORT RELEASE

Adam Driver in The Report (via IMDb)

The Report was very well received at its original screening at Sundance in February (94% at Rotten Tomatoes) and since then I have been suggesting that it might be one of the films for which the programmers at Telluride might make an exception.

Telluride rarely...and I mean rarely...programs a film that has played previously at Sundance.  It happened a couple of years back with Manchester by the Sea which was produced by Amazon Studios.  The Report is being distributed this year by Amazon as well.

Not surprisingly, we found out over the weekend that The Report will have a theatrical release prior to its streaming debut on Sept. 27th.  Tom Bruggeman at Indiewire, among others, posted that on Thursday.  You can find more details in the Indiewire story linked here.

That date would certainly allow The Report to make the lineup at The SHOW as well as Toronto.   New York seems unlikely as that fest opens on the 27th as well.


JUST OFF THE "IF I HAD TO"

Friday I kind of did an unofficial list of films that I was spitballing as possible TFF #46 films.  If you missed them, that list again was:

Atlantics
The Climb
Country Music
Family Romance LLC
The Goldfinch
Nomadland
Parasite
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Untitled Todd Haynes Project
Varda by Agnes

In addition to those ten films there are a few others that I feel like may also be semi-serious potentials:

Harriet, Motherless Brooklyn, Synonyms, Little Women, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, The Truth.


More to come on Tuesday...

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The Distributors 2018: Amazon Studios / The Front Runner Looks at Awards Season / Welcome to Marwen Trailer Arrives / And Maybe The Don Is Back On

Thursday marks the return of MTFB for this week with an assessment of the chances of five films that are being distributed by Amazon Studios.

THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: AMAZON STUDIOS

Amazon had Oscar nominee/winner Manchester by the Sea play in 2016.

Wonderstruck in 2017.

This year could see multiple entrants from Amazon Studios including Mike Leigh's Peterloo, Ritesh Batra's Photograph, Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War. All of these directors have some TFF history, especially Leigh.  In addition, we have to consider Felix Van Groeningen's Beautiful Boy and Dan Fogelman's Life Itself.

Chances in order of likelihood for TFF #45:

Peterloo- 75%
Cold War- 50%
Beautiful Boy 40%
Photograph- 30%
Life Itself- 20%


As a matter of fact, Peterloo will almost certainly be on the opening Top Ten List coming out in a week or two.  Cold War could make that list as well.

I'll look at Netflix tomorrow.


THE FRONT RUNNER LOOKS AT AWARD SEASON

Sony has dated Jason Reitman's The Front Runner with a Nov. 7th limited release date putting it smack in the middle of the awards season.  A wider release will occur the following week on Nov. 14th.

The Front Runner re-visits the real story of Gary Hart's ill-fated 1988 presidential run.  Hugh Jackman stars as Hart.

Deadline reported the story on Wednesday.  Also reporting the dates was Clayton Davis's Awards Circuit.  Both sources suggest that Telluride is a real possibility for Reitman's film despite the fact that Sony/Columbia have a meager TFF profile. 



WELCOME TO MARWEN TRAILER ARRIVES

We passed along Trailer Track's Anton Volkov's news earlier this week that a trailer would be released for Robert Zemeckis's Welcome to Marwen and that trailer dropped yesterday.  Here it is via YouTube:

Further reporting on the film and its trailer release can be found at:

FirstShowing

SlashFilm

The Playlist

Trailer Track


AND MAYBE THE DON IS BACK ON

Reporting from the Czech Republic suggests that Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will play at the Karlovy Vary Film Fest.  The news was reported by both The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

That comes after the news reported here Monday that Gilliam had suffered a legal set back with a French court finding in favor of producer Paolo Blanco. 

I wondered  if that decision might nix the chances of Quixote playing T-ride. 

Now, with this latest news that TMWKDQ will screen at Karlovy Vary despite the court ruling, I am again considering that the Gilliam passion project might still have a shot at the San Juans in a couple of months.



That's all for today.  More tomorrow.

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The Don Quixote Saga Continued / Everybody Knows Goes Is in Focus / Cannes Will Honor Rissient

Good Thursday to everyone...

THE DON QUIXOTE SAGA CONTINUED

On our previous episode of "What Else Could Happen to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" we were wondering how a French court would rule and if that would allow or prevent the film's screening as the closing night entertainment in Cannes...well...

Since Monday...Terry Gilliam had a "health episode" that was described as a possible stroke but was apparently not that...

Distributor Amazon Studios dropped plans to distribute the film and

The Court ruled and said, essentially, roll that film on May 19th.

It's been an eventful few days for the Don Quixote crew.

All of the sound and fury led one Twitter account to suggest that attending the screening on the 19th might be risky as it is likely to end in a disaster of biblical proportion.  Such has been the beleaguered history of the film.

Here's what I want to know:  Why did Amazon pull out?  And...what the hell else could happen to this production in the next 10 days?

Here's a sampling of the coverage for this past three days worth of developments:

The Court decision:

Indiewire

The Hollywood Reporter

Amazon's Decision:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

Gilliam's Health Scare:

Deadline

Indiewire

EVERYBODY KNOWS IS IN FOCUS

Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows opened the 71st Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to mixed reviews (I'll start passing along links to various critics' compilation sites beginning with next Monday's blog post).

Despite the so-so nature of the critical reception, a reportedly significant battle ensued for U.S. distribution rights for the film among a number of players.  Netflix had been reported earlier in the week as a likely bidder and reportedly they were but in the end were bested by Focus Features.

Focus was said to gain an advantage die its traditional theatrical release structure meaning that the film could be aimed at awards season.

Additionally, the win by Focus probably still keeps the film in the convo for Telluride although, as astute friend of MTFB Patrick Pringle noted via Twitter, the recent decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal could create problems for screenings of the film.

Here's coverage of the Focus deal from:

Deadline

Variety

Indiewire

CANNES WILL HONOR RISSIENT

As you might expect, the Cannes Film Fest will honoring the late Pierre Rissient, who died last weekend.  The film "warrior" was an incredible part of the fabric of both Cannes and Telluride.  I ran across this comment from former TFF co-director Gary Meyer in the comment section of the Eric Kohn/Indiewire story reporting Rissient's passing: 

Thank you for this wonderful and personal look at Pierre Rissient who was truly unique. His passion for the films and talent he loved was infectious. He was demanding in a way that a first timer might not embrace until they realized that he was usually right and listening to him would reveal things we didn’t know about cinema of the past and turn us on to filmmaking on the horizon. The two films about him are a great start to understanding Pierre. I am honored to have been among the lucky ones to have spent time learning and being inspired by one of the art’s true believers.

Additionally, I have linked reportage of Cannes decision to honor Rissient here from:

The Hollywood Reporter

And that;s a wrap for this Thursday.  Please come back for more on Monday including the first collective looks of the films that will premiere at Cannes over the weekend.

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Who's Coming to the Party? / The List Gets Smaller / Toronto's Final Word Today / Inadvertent Confirmation / A New Consideration

Howdy everybody...hope you survived your Monday.  Today is Tuesday, August 22, 2017...Nine days until The SHOW.


WHO'S COMING TO THE PARTY?

I think it's always fun to think about the stars that we could rub elbows with during each Labor Day weekend.  Ultimately, I always seem to kind of choke when I actually come face to face with the talented, beautiful and famous.  I'm talking awkward here.

Nevertheless, over the years I have been lucky enough to be meet and speak briefly with some people who have been kind enough to respond.

So, each year, I can't help but imagine who could be in Telluride based on the films that I think will make the journey.  So to that end I'll start by re-posting last Friday's 21 Bets...

1) Downsizing
2) Wonderstruck
3) The Shape of Water
4) Battle of the Sexes
5) Darkest Hour
6) Loving Vincent
7) Hostiles
8) Lady Bird
9) A Fantastic Woman
10) The Rider
11) Visages/Villages
12) First They Killed My Father
13) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
14) The Other Side of Hope
15) Wormwood
16) Before We Vanish

17) Lean on Pete

18) First Reformed

19) Loveless

20) Foxtrot

21) The Insult

Here are some of the biggest names from some of these 21 films that might be seen on Colorado Ave. over Labor Day weekend:

Downsizing: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudekis, Neil Patrick Harris

Wonderstruck: Julianne Moore

The Shape of Water: Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Michael Sthulbarg, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins

Battle of the Sexes: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Elisabeth Shue, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Andrea Riseborough

Darkest Hour: Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn

Hostiles: Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Ben Foster, Timothee Chalamet, Bill Camp

Lady Bird: Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Laurie Metcalf

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool:  Normally you'd think star Annette Bening...but Jury Duty in Venice (maybe a satellite linkup?), Jamie Bell, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Waters

Lean on Pete: Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Steve Zahn, Chloe Sevigny, Travis Fimmel

First Reformed: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried

Wormwood: Peter Sarsgaard

If I were guessing, and it seems I am, I'd say the following at least feel like the best bets for a celeb sighting: Laura Dern, Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Saoirse Ronan, Jamie Bell, Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard.

Directors that I'm excited to maybe run into: Alexander Payne, Guillermo Del Toro, Joe Wright, Greta Gerwig, Scott Cooper, Todd Haynes, and somebody named Angelina Jolie.



THE LIST GETS SMALLER

We reported yesterday that The Death of John F. Donovan was moving to 2018 and then yesterday afternoon came the word that The Weinstein Company has moved Garth Davis' Mary Magdalene starring Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix will be moving to March 2018.  In part, the reports claim, because it will not be ready for its previously scheduled release date.

TWC's The Current War will apparently be moved up from December to November.  Two ramifications here:  First, Mary Magdalene moves off my "still possible for Telluride" list and second, that means it's very probable that The Weinsteins won't have any Telluride player for the second year in a row and that is very unusual.

Here's coverage of the TWC announcement From:

Indiewire

Screen International

The Playlist


After removing Mary Magdalene from our still in play list, here's what we have:

Final Portrait
L'amant Double
Marshall
Our Souls at Night
The Snowman
Wonder
You Were never Really Here


TORONTO'S FINAL WORD TODAY

The Toronto International Film Fest announced the final films for its 2017 lineup later today.  Over the past few years it has been my experience that this final announcement usually rules a couple of things out and only rarely allows us to add another film to our list.

Nevertheless, it will probably still be instructive to some extent especially since we are getting so close to the SHOW dates.

Come back here later today for an update that reflects whatever we learn.

UPDATE:  As best as I can discern this morning's TIFF announcement of their Discovery section contains no films that will also play at Telluride.  Consequently nothing was eliminated or added.


INADVERTENT CONFIRMATION

Friend of the blog Tomris Laffly, who freelances for a number of film outlets and will serve as one of the Telluride Pros that will rate films at this year's fest, tweeted yesterday afternoon the curious IMDb entry for The Shape of Water which appears to confirm its inclusion for T-ride:

I'll be lining up for this as it might be most anticipated for the fest this year.

A NEW CONSIDERATION

Variety reported yesterday that Amazon had picked up the distribution for Cold War (Zimma Wojna) from director Pawel Palikowski.  Palikowski was in Telluride back in 2013 with Ida which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film that year.


The timing of that news makes me think that we might see that title pop up in today's TIFF announcement and also for Telluride.

I'll be looking for that later today.


That's a wrap for this Tuesday...until we get news from Toronto...so look for an update later today.


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The Distributors: Streamers: Amazon and Netflix / Oscar Experts at 2017's Halfway Mark

Good Monday film fans...

THE DISTRIBUTORS: STREAMERS: AMAZON AND NETFLIX

I have been writing this last couple of weeks about distribution companies, their recent films that have appeared at the Telluride Film Festival and trying to assess what that means as a predictive tool for the lineup this year.  Up until today, I have focused on traditional distributors but today, it's time to look at non-traditional players Amazon and Netflix.

Both companies have been represented at TFF in recent years.  The two companies have evolved different approaches to the delivery of the films that they have produced.  Amazon has, perhaps made the biggest splash in terms of feature films especially last year with the noise Manchester by the Sea made.  Netflix made news this spring as the Cannes Festival announced a policy of requiring films that played there will have to have a French theatrical release to be considered for inclusion.  That was a decision that was pretty clearly aimed at Netflix.

Netflix also made some news recently with a new hire that suggests that they may make a bigger push at awards season recognition.  Anne Thompson at Indiewire reported a couple of weeks ago that the streaming powerhouse had added Julie Fontaine to their crew.  Fontaine has an Oscar track record including last year's La La Land.  That complete story is here.

All of that is a preamble to get to the point that we probably need to look at the lineups for both as a means of trying to fully predict the TFF lineups of the immediate future.  So...

AMAZON STUDIOS

As mentioned, Amazon had Sundance hot Manchester by the Sea make the Telluride lineup in that rare instance where a feature film played both fests.  Manchester ultimately won twos Oscars: Casey Affleck as Best Actor and Kenneth Lonergan for Best Original Screenplay was nominated for an additional four including Best Picture and Direction.

You have to believe that they return to T-ride this year and if you saw last Friday's first Ten Bets for TFF #44 in this space, you know that I have two Amazon Studios pictures on that first list:  Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck (at #3) and Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here (at #7).

Other films that might seem to have the pedigree to make the TFF #44 playlist won't.  Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying was recently named the opening film for the New York Film Fest as a world premiere thus moving it out of T-ride consideration and Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky will open in August.

The only real question is whether we might see Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel which is the only other Amazon film that fits within the potential TFF parameters.  The scheduling of Allen's film with a Dec. 1 release date, Allen's first non-summer release date in a number of years, made me perk up and take notice.  Additionally, I have recently mentioned that Allen films have played Telluride in the past (Bullets Over Broadway and Sweet and Lowdown).  Consequently, you have to at least consider the chance that Wonder Wheel could play Telluride...

But not for very long.  My expectation is that Wonder Wheel plays New York and maybe AFI.

So...

Chances:

Wonderstruck-75%
You Were Never Really Here-55%
Wonder Wheel- 10%


NETFLIX

Netflix jumped into the Telluride mix in 2015 with Beasts of No Nation and Winter on Fire.  Despite the disappointment that Beasts didn't make some noise at the Oscars (though Idris Elba did get a Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination), Netflix returned to Telluride last year with The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno and The White Helmets which git Netflix and Oscar win for Best Documentary Short.

All that said, it appears that the best and maybe only bet for a Netflix play at Telluride this year is Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories which did play Cannes and was generally well received.  As I write this, Netflix has not scheduled a date for it to stream but has also nit indicated any plays for a theatrical release.

Adding to the difficulty in assessing its chances is Baumbach's history at Telluride having played Margot at the Wedding and Francis Ha there but also not having played Mistress America or While We're Young.

My best guess at this time is that the film probably doesn't play T-ride but I'm also not going to completely rule it out.  Chances: 20%.

The other film that could make a play is Mudbound.  The film's debut at Sundance probably moots its T-ride chances despite the success for Manchester by the Sea last year playing Sundance and then Telluride.  Still, the door might be open.  The film was very well received and is thought to be an Oscar contender.  Additionally, star Carey Mulligan seems to have a love affair with T-ride...so...maybe?

Chances:  Also 20%.


OSCAR EXPERTS AT 2017'S HALFWAY MARK

As June has turned into July we've crossed the the halfway point of 2017 and some Oscar prognosticators took the time to review the lay of the land Oscar-wise as we hit the backstretch of the year.

Kristopher Tapley at Variety broke it down into two parts at the end of last week, looking at more indie fare in a Thursday post and then big studio players in  a post on Friday.

If you take a look at both articles, you'll find a number of titles (especially in the indie post) that have been mentioned here over the past few months as possible TFF #44 titles.  Specifically, Tapley suggests that Alexander Payne's Downsizing is a probable TFF play.

Similarly if you take a look at Greg Ellwood's Oscar predictions update for 2017 at the half at The Playlist you'll see that three films from lats Friday's MTFB Ten Bets are on his list of "Likely Contenders" for Best Picture : Downsizing, The Florida Project and You Were Never Really Here.   Also on the "Likely" list is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Current War which I have listed just below my Ten Bets. Additionally, Ellwood includes in his "Potential Nominees" Wonderstruck, Lean on Pete and Battle of the Sexes which also appear either on or just below last week's Ten Bets.

Meanwhile, Clayton Davis of Awards Circuit has also updated his Oscar charts as of yesterday.  His "Predicted Nominees" for Best Picture include: Downsizing and Battle of the Sexes.  His "Next In Line" films include: Three Billboards, Wonderstruck and The Current War.

Other films he mentions that are also somewhere on or near last week's Ten Bets are Lean on Pete and You Were Never Really There.


That's all for today.  More tomorrow.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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