Cannes Boss Thierry Fremaux on Courting ‘Megalopolis,’ Missing Out on ‘Dune 2’ and How Hollywood Strikes Will Impact 2024 Fest (EXCLUSIVE)

Jamie Lang Leading French production-distribution outfit Le Pacte has boarded the upcoming 2D animated feature project “Conference of the Birds,” which will be spotlighted at the Marché du Film’s Animation Day during this year’s Cannes Festival. In addition to co-producing, Le Pacte will handle French distribution and serve as international sales agent on the film, part of the five-title Annecy Showcase at the Animation Day.

Jamie Lang “A New Dawn,” the feature debut of Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, an animator on Makoto Shinkai’s blockbuster “Your Name,” is one draw in a five-title Annecy Animation Showcase which involves producers of real impact on the global independent animation scene. The showcase will unveil a second brand-new animation project, “Mu-Ki-Ra,” co-produced by “Unicorn Wars” backer Abano Producións.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While MipTV is relocating to London with a revamped format, Canneseries Festival is sticking to its guns and will remain as a standalone event in the spring on the Croisette. Benoit Louvet, the managing director of Canneseries, told Variety in an exclusive interview that the festival will return in 2025 on April 22-27 with its major partners, the city of Cannes, the region PACA and the Vivendi-owned pay TV group Canal+.

Thanks to early official announcements a number of the movies debuting at this year’s 77th edition of the Festival de Cannes are already known. Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act” will open the festival.

Cannes Film Festival Delegate General Thierry Frémaux has addressed concerns over security at the event’s upcoming 77th edition in May, saying it will be tight but that measures will be under the radar for the most part.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Following the press conference unveiling the Cannes lineup, festival director Thierry Fremaux addressed a few hot topics, including Francis Ford Coppola’s 135-minute epic “Megalopolis,” which doesn’t yet have a distribution deal. While “Megalopolis,” Coppola’s self-produced $120 million opus starring Adam Driver, has been selected to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, it doesn’t have a distribution deal in France.

Thanks to early official announcements a number of the movies debuting at this year’s 77th edition of the Festival de Cannes are already known. Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act” will open the festival.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In what looks to be another robust year in the making, the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will bring together several iconic filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola with “Megalopolis” starring Adam Driver, George Miller with “Furiosa” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as George Lucas who will be feted with an honorary Palme d’Or. Kevin Costner will also be on hand with the first installment of his Western epic “Horizon, an American Saga.” Hollywood may have a lighter presence due to a combination of factors – including last year’s actors and writers strikes, which created production delays, as well as a tough economy — but this year’s festival will see no shortage of glamor and stars on the red carpet.

French industry and press are gathered this morning at the UGC Normandie theatre in Paris where Thierry Frémaux is about to lay out the official selection for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down for an updated list of titles. 

Alex Ritman Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (“The Blue Caftan,” “Our Mothers,” “Casablanca Beats”) and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival. The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.

Ellise Shafer The first installment of Kevin Costner‘s Western epic “Horizon, an American Saga” is set to premiere out of competition at Cannes Film Festival. Costner directed the four-part project, which he also stars in with Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Jena Malone. The “Yellowstone” and “Dances With Wolves” actor will be on the Croisette to present the film on May 19.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Qatar-based powerhouse BeIN Media Group, a co-owner of U.S. indie studio Miramax, has taken distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to live-action pre-school series “Saïd & Anna,” which has been nominated for this year’s Banff World Media Festival‘s Rockie Awards.

Refresh for latest…: A busy holdover weekend for wide studio releases was led by the trio of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part Two. And, in a soaring performance, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron swooped into China helping the market set a new Qingming holiday record. 

Selome Hailu Netflix is at or near the top of both Nielsen and Luminate‘s streaming rankings every week, but achieved that with some titles that differ from its usual fare during the March 29-April 3 viewing window. As expected, “3 Body Problem” remained the most-watched streaming original series of the week per Luminate with 964.1 million minutes watched (an estimated 3.6 million views) — unsurprising, as the title is the follow-up from “Game of Thrones” helmers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who created the show alongside Alexander Woo.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CANNES — For years, reports of MipTV’s terminal decline were somewhat exaggerated. Now, however, they’re real. On March 26, RX France, organizers of MipTV, announced the launch of Mip London, over Feb.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s some more intriguing casting for Luc Besson‘s big-budget reimagining of the Dracula story, Dracula – A Love Tale.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In an acquisition which underscores the often shared sensibility between Canal+, France’s biggest pay TV operator, and Movistar Plus+, the largest Spanish pay TV player, Canal+ has acquired Canneseries winner “The Left-Handed Son” (“El hijo zurdo”), a Movistar Plus+ original series. The series will bow on Canal+ on April 5 in a deal brokered by Movistar Plus+ International. A psychological thriller with a lyrical undertow which surfaces to moving effect in key scenes, “The Left-Handed Son” marks the auspicious directorial debut of Rafael Cobos, the career-long co-scribe of Alberto Rodríguez, from 2005’s “7 Virgins” through international hit “Marshland” to 2017’s “The Plague,” still one of the biggest series which Movistar Plus+ has ever made.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) will open with Quentin Dupieux‘s French-language comedy road movie Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will kick off with Quentin Dupieux‘s “The Second Act,” a star-studded surreal French comedy headlined by Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, Variety has learned. The anticipated movie is produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, and is represented in international markets by Kinology.

Annika Pham On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on Viaplay’s premium Nordic scripted content.