Overview
- The Cannes Film Festival, which opens Tuesday, will feature no big-budget studio premieres after majors and streamers chose not to participate.
- Festival leaders and industry voices cite risk control as the main reason, pointing to fears that early negative reviews can sour months-long marketing plans.
- Berlin saw a similar pullback earlier this year, and the rough Venice 2024 reception for Joker: Folie à Deux followed by weak ticket sales is widely cited as a cautionary tale.
- Hollywood is not entirely absent as two independent U.S. films compete—James Gray’s Paper Tiger and Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love—along with a Fast & Furious 25th‑anniversary screening set to bring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to the Croisette.
- Cannes leans more auteur-heavy this year, and analysts note studios treat festival premieres as a case-by-case tactic that returns when dates and risk tolerances line up.