Blockbusters Are No-Shows at Cannes

For the major American movie studios seeking to launch their summer blockbusters, there is one rule of thumb: Cannes can’t.

It was rumored as recently as a month ago, for example, that the 53rd Festival International du Film--which opened here this week--would unveil one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the year: Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible-2,” starring Tom Cruise. “M:I-2” hits U.S. theaters May 24, just three days after the festival closes.

But it was not to be. Instead, visitors to the world’s most prestigious cinematic celebration will have to settle for another, much less heralded “Mission” movie: “Mission to Mars,” a proven flop that Disney has already opened--and closed--in the United States.

“We never even considered it. It was never, ever even discussed,” a Paramount source said of bringing “M:I-2” to Cannes. “With a picture with this much of a built-in want-to-see, and with such a successful sequel, we would never go [to Cannes] prior to opening in America.”

Such is the mood at the major studios lately, where executives say there is little to gain by taking a commercial film to Cannes, and way too much to lose. Unlike smaller independent films, which need critical attention to build audience anticipation, big-budget studio films manufacture their own pre-opening buzz via carefully crafted advertising, promotional tie-ins and massive publicity. Used to exerting such control, the major studios look at Cannes and see chaos.

“If a movie is rejected by viewers and critics in Cannes, the whole world knows in two hours,” said Robert Lantos, an independent producer who has had seven films selected for the festival over the years, including this year’s closing-night offering, “Stardom.” “For independent films, I always believe that’s a risk worth taking. But for huge-budget popcorn movies, it’s not.”

Once, Cannes was a place where Hollywood brought its biggest films. But not anymore. Last year’s No. 1 movie at the box office, “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,” wasn’t shown here even though it opened during the festival. Ask studio executives why a potential blockbuster won’t play here and they have a simple answer: timing. The festivals at Park City, Utah, Berlin and Toronto, in January, February and September, are great for acquiring independent films. Deauville, France, and Venice, Italy, in August and September, are perfect for launching films internationally that have already opened in the U.S.

But from a studio marketing point of view, Cannes doesn’t deliver. Screening a big commercial summer film like “M:I-2” here doesn’t translate into extra ticket sales in the U.S., where awareness of the movie--thanks to advertising--is already high. Besides, bringing a film to Cannes is expensive. When you finish paying for the private jet for Cruise, and his room at the swank Hotel du Cap, and the obligatory Cannes bash for 1,000 people, and the air fare, food and lodging for the studio staff, it’s easy to see why executives are looking at the bottom line and saying it’s just not worth it.

To be sure, everyone agrees that in terms of prestige, Cannes is still top dog on the festival circuit. But when it comes to commerce, it’s an extra more and more studios are opting not to pay for.

“It’s not that the importance of Cannes has diminished, but from a timing perspective it’s bad,” said one studio executive.

In addition, studios risk public humiliation when they show films at Cannes. Moviegoers here are known to be expressive, feeling just as free to boo as to applaud.

“Audiences let you know exactly how they feel in Cannes. They do not demur,” said Amir Malin, co-chief executive at Artisan Entertainment, who is attending his 19th festival here, this time with director Darren Aronofsky’s low-budget “Requiem for a Dream,” which is screening out of competition. “There is more press here within five blocks than at all the other festivals and markets combined, so word of mouth starts. The last thing you want is a screening in the Palais that goes badly.”

Studio product has been getting scarcer at Cannes for a few years. In 1999, for example, Disney brought three small films--David Lynch’s “The Straight Story,” Tim Robbins’ “The Cradle Will Rock” and Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam”--all of which it released with unremarkable box-office results later that year. Sony Screen Gems had John Sayles’ “Limbo,” and Miramax unofficially brought “Dogma”--which ended up being released by Lions Gate Films.

New Line Cinema’s “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” had a huge party last year to pump up expectations for its summer release. And in 1998, Disney showed 20 minutes of special-effects footage from “Armageddon” to help sell the distribution rights in a few unsold foreign territories. But the only big-budget studio film fully screened at the 1999 festival was Universal Pictures’ “EDtv,” which had already opened in the U.S. and was about to launch internationally.

The year before saw a similar drought of new, big-budget American fare. Universal brought “Primary Colors,” which it had already released in the U.S. And Sony’s “Godzilla” was the festival’s closing-night film, having opened in the U.S. a few days before. The goal: setting up the international release.

This year for “Mission to Mars,” director Brian De Palma’s film about an ill-fated journey to the red planet, Disney’s international distribution partner, Spyglass Entertainment, is using much the same strategy. The film, played out in the U.S.--where it cost more than $90 million to make and took in just $59 million at the box office--is about to be released abroad. The hope is that the imprimatur of Cannes will help it do more than limp across Europe.

If “Mission to Mars” is to lift off, however, it will have to do so without the benefit of its stars--neither Tim Robbins nor Gary Sinise is here to promote it--though De Palma is. There are no posters on Cannes’ famous seaside boulevard, the Croisette, which makes the huge “M:I-2” display at the Carlton Hotel even more noticeable.

Why would festival chief Gilles Jacob deign to put “Mission to Mars” in his lineup?

“Just like for a good lunch you need a good appetizer and a great entree,” explained Jean-Gabriel Fredet, a correspondent at Le Nouvel-Observateur, France’s leading newsmagazine. Part of the menu for a successful festival should include a blockbuster-type movie, Fredet said.

An American movie executive put it another way.

“It’s important to the festival to have stars walking down the red carpet, for people to talk--’I just saw Sharon Stone!’--or to walk down the Croisette and see Mel Gibson,” said this executive. “You will see films here every year that make you scratch your head and say, ‘Why is that here?’ The answer is glitz.”

This year, George Clooney will be here promoting Disney’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”; Calista Flockhart, Holly Hunter and Amy Brenneman (of TV’s “Judging Amy”) will promote MGM’s “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her”; Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock will show for USA Films’ “Nurse Betty” and Uma Thurman for Miramax’s “The Golden Bowl.”

Big-name stars also are part of this year’s festival jurors--among them Mira Sorvino (for short films) and Britons Jeremy Irons and Kristin Scott Thomas (for features). Fans are keeping a special eye out for Zellweger since she’s accompanied by her boyfriend, Jim Carrey. (Carrey has no movies at the festival, but huge banner posters on the Croisette tout two upcoming films, Universal’s “The Grinch” and 20th Century Fox’s “Me, Myself and Irene.”)

The festival, of course, has been a great launching pad for many edgier American independent films and filmmakers. Spike Lee’s feature debut “She’s Gotta Have It” was here in 1986. Steven Soderbergh’s “sex, lies and videotape” was here in 1989. Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” won the Palme d’Or in 1994.

For foreign directors, too, the festival not only raises profiles, it can lead to distribution and job offers from Hollywood. No one had ever heard of Gillian Armstrong, the first woman to direct a feature film in Australia in 50 years, when her film “My Brilliant Career” premiered at Cannes in 1979. But after it got standing ovations, Hollywood came calling. She later directed “Mrs. Soffel” (starring Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton) for MGM and “Little Women” with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder for Columbia Pictures.

More recently, after Canadian director Atom Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter” won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize in 1997, it was picked up for U.S. distribution and would go on to garner two Academy Award nominations.

Director Rodrigo Garcia is hoping for a similar bounce. His debut feature, “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her,” already has distribution and will be released this summer. But Garcia knows it is not the usual studio movie. It interweaves several women’s stories to give a glimpse into the nature of love and loneliness. He hopes Cannes will help it find an audience in a place he expects to rely on in the future: Europe.

“I’m not dissing the American audience. This movie is about Americans, and I want to have that audience. But if you’re a certain kind of oddball filmmaker, you need a foreign market,” he said.

As for what Cannes means to him personally, he said: “You can’t underestimate the sheer vanity of it. This is your 15 minutes. And it’s in the south of France.”