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Boom times are back for movie sales at TIFF 2013

More than a week before TIFF’s opening night, artistic director Cameron Bailey told the Star that this year’s lineup of movies for sale was the strongest he had seen in his six years in the job. And based on his enthusiasm, it seemed a safe prediction that two – Bad Words and Can a Song Save Your Life? – would spark bidding wars.

Well, did they ever. According to the film trade papers and websites, each of these movies sold for around $7 million. And as far as I can tell, that is an all-time record for a sale coming out of TIFF.

Meanwhile, several other movies are in the process of scoring seven-figure deals. Clearly, the feverish competition, astronomic numbers and all-night negotiations have returned to Toronto after the cool-down of recent years.

And The F Word, a Canada/Ireland co-production, filmed in Toronto and directed by Calgary-born Michael Dowse, is one of the movies destined to be on the list of the biggest winners.

According to Deadline.com – a website that has led the way in reporting deals at TIFF – Harvey Weinstein emerged as the winner over rival Lionsgate for Can a Song Save Your Life? That was despite pre-festival fears that Weinstein already had such a strong lineup of movies to launch in Toronto – including August: Osage County and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – that he might not have the appetite to acquire more.

Can a Song is a musical by the Dublin-born writer-director John Carney in the same vein as his earlier hit Once. It’s the story of Greta and Dave — songwriting partners and lovers who come to New York to break into the big time, only to find their romance crashing. Additional star power is supplied by Mark Ruffalo as the record-label exec who wants to make her a star.

Meanwhile, Focus Features announced it has acquired world rights to Bad Words – the comedy directed by and starring Jason Bateman of Arrested Development. He plays a foul-mouthed middle-aged dropout who, through a loophole, enters a national spelling bee intended for kids. According to reports in the trade press, Focus prevailed over other suitors in negotiations that went on all night following the film’s triumphant world premiere.

Also doubling as lead actor and director is John Turturro, who brought Fading Gigolo to Toronto for its world premiere — and has sold U.S. rights to Millennium Entertainment for more than $2 million and likely closer to $3 million, according to deadline.com. Turturro plays a struggling florist who tries to find a new career as a Don Juan, and Woody Allen plays his pimp.

One Canadian director whose movie is entering the seven-figure club is Dowse with The F Word. CBS Films is on the verge of acquiring U.S. rights for $2 million or more, again according to Deadline.com.

But another Canadian-born director, Paul Haggis, is likely to land a bigger deal for his new movie, Third Person, which had its world premiere on Monday. Officially this is a Belgian production. Canadian rights have been sold to D Films, but U.S. rights are up for grabs. The movie tells three inter-related stories of three troubled couples in three different cities – Paris, Rome and New York. And it has a starry cast including Liam Neeson, Maria Bello, Adrien Brody, James Franco, Olivia Wilde and Kim Basinger.

On Tuesday morning, Haggis — who wrote and co-produced Third Person as well as directing it – told me no deal has been made yet. “We’re having a lot of good conversations, and we are not in a rush.” It will not be released until 2014, he says, and even more important than the selling price is how the ultimate buyer will handle marketing his movie.

His movie career took off in 2004 when Crash had its world premiere at TIFF and was sold to Lionsgate for $5 million, eventually winning the best picture Oscar.

Other movies that have been sold in years past for $4 million or more include Thank You for Smoking, Trust the Man, The Wrestler, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Apostle.

Haggis is in a special position this year because he is not only presiding over the launch and sale of Third Person, but also over the charity he created, Artists for Peace and Justice – dedicated to ending poverty in Haiti by raising money to build schools.

On Sunday afternoon, he spoke passionately at a wonderful fundraising garden party. A high point came when Bello dived in a swimming pool during the bash, at the Forest Hill home of Roots tycoon Michael Budman. That’s because one of the guests paid $20,000 in an auction to watch her do so.

The event, which featured performances by Michael Bolton, Daniel Lanois and Rufus Wainwright, was a big success.

“We raised almost $600,000,” says Haggis, beaming, “and we spent almost nothing.”

Now it’s time to play a different kind of Let’s Make a Deal.

Source: The Toronto Star

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Front Page, Industry News

Boom times are back for movie sales at TIFF 2013

More than a week before TIFF’s opening night, artistic director Cameron Bailey told the Star that this year’s lineup of movies for sale was the strongest he had seen in his six years in the job. And based on his enthusiasm, it seemed a safe prediction that two – Bad Words and Can a Song Save Your Life? – would spark bidding wars.

Well, did they ever. According to the film trade papers and websites, each of these movies sold for around $7 million. And as far as I can tell, that is an all-time record for a sale coming out of TIFF.

Meanwhile, several other movies are in the process of scoring seven-figure deals. Clearly, the feverish competition, astronomic numbers and all-night negotiations have returned to Toronto after the cool-down of recent years.

And The F Word, a Canada/Ireland co-production, filmed in Toronto and directed by Calgary-born Michael Dowse, is one of the movies destined to be on the list of the biggest winners.

According to Deadline.com – a website that has led the way in reporting deals at TIFF – Harvey Weinstein emerged as the winner over rival Lionsgate for Can a Song Save Your Life? That was despite pre-festival fears that Weinstein already had such a strong lineup of movies to launch in Toronto – including August: Osage County and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – that he might not have the appetite to acquire more.

Can a Song is a musical by the Dublin-born writer-director John Carney in the same vein as his earlier hit Once. It’s the story of Greta and Dave — songwriting partners and lovers who come to New York to break into the big time, only to find their romance crashing. Additional star power is supplied by Mark Ruffalo as the record-label exec who wants to make her a star.

Meanwhile, Focus Features announced it has acquired world rights to Bad Words – the comedy directed by and starring Jason Bateman of Arrested Development. He plays a foul-mouthed middle-aged dropout who, through a loophole, enters a national spelling bee intended for kids. According to reports in the trade press, Focus prevailed over other suitors in negotiations that went on all night following the film’s triumphant world premiere.

Also doubling as lead actor and director is John Turturro, who brought Fading Gigolo to Toronto for its world premiere — and has sold U.S. rights to Millennium Entertainment for more than $2 million and likely closer to $3 million, according to deadline.com. Turturro plays a struggling florist who tries to find a new career as a Don Juan, and Woody Allen plays his pimp.

One Canadian director whose movie is entering the seven-figure club is Dowse with The F Word. CBS Films is on the verge of acquiring U.S. rights for $2 million or more, again according to Deadline.com.

But another Canadian-born director, Paul Haggis, is likely to land a bigger deal for his new movie, Third Person, which had its world premiere on Monday. Officially this is a Belgian production. Canadian rights have been sold to D Films, but U.S. rights are up for grabs. The movie tells three inter-related stories of three troubled couples in three different cities – Paris, Rome and New York. And it has a starry cast including Liam Neeson, Maria Bello, Adrien Brody, James Franco, Olivia Wilde and Kim Basinger.

On Tuesday morning, Haggis — who wrote and co-produced Third Person as well as directing it – told me no deal has been made yet. “We’re having a lot of good conversations, and we are not in a rush.” It will not be released until 2014, he says, and even more important than the selling price is how the ultimate buyer will handle marketing his movie.

His movie career took off in 2004 when Crash had its world premiere at TIFF and was sold to Lionsgate for $5 million, eventually winning the best picture Oscar.

Other movies that have been sold in years past for $4 million or more include Thank You for Smoking, Trust the Man, The Wrestler, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Apostle.

Haggis is in a special position this year because he is not only presiding over the launch and sale of Third Person, but also over the charity he created, Artists for Peace and Justice – dedicated to ending poverty in Haiti by raising money to build schools.

On Sunday afternoon, he spoke passionately at a wonderful fundraising garden party. A high point came when Bello dived in a swimming pool during the bash, at the Forest Hill home of Roots tycoon Michael Budman. That’s because one of the guests paid $20,000 in an auction to watch her do so.

The event, which featured performances by Michael Bolton, Daniel Lanois and Rufus Wainwright, was a big success.

“We raised almost $600,000,” says Haggis, beaming, “and we spent almost nothing.”

Now it’s time to play a different kind of Let’s Make a Deal.

Source: The Toronto Star

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Front Page, Industry News

Boom times are back for movie sales at TIFF 2013

More than a week before TIFF’s opening night, artistic director Cameron Bailey told the Star that this year’s lineup of movies for sale was the strongest he had seen in his six years in the job. And based on his enthusiasm, it seemed a safe prediction that two – Bad Words and Can a Song Save Your Life? – would spark bidding wars.

Well, did they ever. According to the film trade papers and websites, each of these movies sold for around $7 million. And as far as I can tell, that is an all-time record for a sale coming out of TIFF.

Meanwhile, several other movies are in the process of scoring seven-figure deals. Clearly, the feverish competition, astronomic numbers and all-night negotiations have returned to Toronto after the cool-down of recent years.

And The F Word, a Canada/Ireland co-production, filmed in Toronto and directed by Calgary-born Michael Dowse, is one of the movies destined to be on the list of the biggest winners.

According to Deadline.com – a website that has led the way in reporting deals at TIFF – Harvey Weinstein emerged as the winner over rival Lionsgate for Can a Song Save Your Life? That was despite pre-festival fears that Weinstein already had such a strong lineup of movies to launch in Toronto – including August: Osage County and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – that he might not have the appetite to acquire more.

Can a Song is a musical by the Dublin-born writer-director John Carney in the same vein as his earlier hit Once. It’s the story of Greta and Dave — songwriting partners and lovers who come to New York to break into the big time, only to find their romance crashing. Additional star power is supplied by Mark Ruffalo as the record-label exec who wants to make her a star.

Meanwhile, Focus Features announced it has acquired world rights to Bad Words – the comedy directed by and starring Jason Bateman of Arrested Development. He plays a foul-mouthed middle-aged dropout who, through a loophole, enters a national spelling bee intended for kids. According to reports in the trade press, Focus prevailed over other suitors in negotiations that went on all night following the film’s triumphant world premiere.

Also doubling as lead actor and director is John Turturro, who brought Fading Gigolo to Toronto for its world premiere — and has sold U.S. rights to Millennium Entertainment for more than $2 million and likely closer to $3 million, according to deadline.com. Turturro plays a struggling florist who tries to find a new career as a Don Juan, and Woody Allen plays his pimp.

One Canadian director whose movie is entering the seven-figure club is Dowse with The F Word. CBS Films is on the verge of acquiring U.S. rights for $2 million or more, again according to Deadline.com.

But another Canadian-born director, Paul Haggis, is likely to land a bigger deal for his new movie, Third Person, which had its world premiere on Monday. Officially this is a Belgian production. Canadian rights have been sold to D Films, but U.S. rights are up for grabs. The movie tells three inter-related stories of three troubled couples in three different cities – Paris, Rome and New York. And it has a starry cast including Liam Neeson, Maria Bello, Adrien Brody, James Franco, Olivia Wilde and Kim Basinger.

On Tuesday morning, Haggis — who wrote and co-produced Third Person as well as directing it – told me no deal has been made yet. “We’re having a lot of good conversations, and we are not in a rush.” It will not be released until 2014, he says, and even more important than the selling price is how the ultimate buyer will handle marketing his movie.

His movie career took off in 2004 when Crash had its world premiere at TIFF and was sold to Lionsgate for $5 million, eventually winning the best picture Oscar.

Other movies that have been sold in years past for $4 million or more include Thank You for Smoking, Trust the Man, The Wrestler, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Apostle.

Haggis is in a special position this year because he is not only presiding over the launch and sale of Third Person, but also over the charity he created, Artists for Peace and Justice – dedicated to ending poverty in Haiti by raising money to build schools.

On Sunday afternoon, he spoke passionately at a wonderful fundraising garden party. A high point came when Bello dived in a swimming pool during the bash, at the Forest Hill home of Roots tycoon Michael Budman. That’s because one of the guests paid $20,000 in an auction to watch her do so.

The event, which featured performances by Michael Bolton, Daniel Lanois and Rufus Wainwright, was a big success.

“We raised almost $600,000,” says Haggis, beaming, “and we spent almost nothing.”

Now it’s time to play a different kind of Let’s Make a Deal.

Source: The Toronto Star

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Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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