What will the buyers be snapping up at the fall festivals? With this year’s Toronto International Film Festival already touting a high number of premieres for movies that originally bowed at Cannes or Sundance, there’s fewer world premiere sales titles that aren’t already with distributors than we’re used to. Still, the festival (with its very first market in place), plus Telluride, Venice, and New York are loaded with options, and there’s always the potential for another historic breakout like last year’s “Obsession.”
We’ll be tracking all the sales as they come in here, so check back frequently.
Films Acquired After the Festivals
“The Julia Set”
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Niki Byrne
Festival: TIFF Special Presentations
Buzz: Sony Pictures Classics have acquired all rights in the United States, Benelux, Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe (excluding Poland), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel and Asia (excluding Singapore) to “The Julia Set,” written and directed by Niki Byrne. The film had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and follows a gifted young math prodigy (“One Battle After Another” breakout Chase Infiniti) who is “recruited into an elite prep course culminating in the most punishing exam in mathematics, while at the same time falling into a romantic relationship with her charismatic teaching assistant, Pascal (Christopher Briney).”
“The Daughters of Abraham”
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Director: Hanaël El Yousfi
Festival: TIFF Discovery
Buzz: This directorial debut follows two friends, one Muslim and one Jewish, spending a carefree summer in Marseille, only to see the expectations and tensions between their traditional families start to get in the way of their friendship and leads them to take hold of their own destinies. El Yousfi both wrote and directed the feature, co-writing it with Raphaël Chevènement and Mia Grace Brown. It had its international premiere at TIFF, but it actually had a small bow at a French festival called the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, where it won an Audience Award and a Special Prize for its cast. “The Daughters of Abraham” first opens in France on December 30. But Strand, a Culver City-based distributor behind recent releases like Mexico’s Oscar submission “On the Road,” “In a Whisper,” and the 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s “Mysterious Skin,” will release it in North America in 2027.
“Honeymoon/Funeral”
Distributor: Black Bear
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Festival: TIFF Market
Buzz: This market title is a rom-com starring an indelible trio of Greta Lee, Rebecca Ferguson, and Carrie Coon, and it wrapped production in September. Read more about the film here.
Films Acquired During the Festivals
“A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Director: Jacqueline Lentzou
Festival: Venice Orizzonti
Buzz: This Greek coming-of-age story won filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou the Best Director prize in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival, but 1-2 Special picked it up after its North American premiere at NYFF and head of additional screenings at BFI London Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival. Blending what the release describes as both the “cosmic and the mundane,” the film follows a 15-year-old girl who meets a new classmate named Phaedra but also begins to notice signs and symbols from a dream world surfacing around her, ultimately leading her to an ethereal transformation. This is Lentzou’s second feature after 2021’s “Moon, 66 Questions.” 1-2 Special is planning a theatrical release for 2027.
“The Surgeon”
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Roshan Sethi
Festival: TIFF Centrepiece
Buzz: This action-thriller starring Michelle Yeoh as a surgeon who is abducted and forced to operate on a mysterious patient is a bit of a departure for Sethi. Sethi’s previous film was the charming rom-com “A Nice Indian Boy,” and he’s also the co-creator of the medical drama “The Resident.” But reviews for the film were solid, and it’s not typical for the majors to buy festival titles, but Sony is already dating it for release on April 2, 2027.
“River”
Distributor: Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Atomic Monster
Director: Joshua Giuliano
Festival: TIFF Midnight Madness
Buzz: IndieWire first broke the news about the film originally set up at the Independent Film Company and Shudder being picked up by Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster for a deal that could surpass $10 million as the companies hope to find the next “Obsession,” just as they did last year. Read more here.
“Rapinoe”
Distributor: HBO Documentary Films
Director: Rebecca Huntt
Festival: TIFF Docs
Buzz: “Rapinoe” about US Women’s National Soccer star Megan Rapinoe was the opening night documentary at TIFF. Rapinoe was in attendance at the premiere screening of director Rebecca Huntt’s (“Beba”) film, which grapples more with Rapinoe’s progressive politics, such as her kneeling in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and her coming out story, than it does on the stories from her soccer career about how she led the US Women’s team to two World Cup titles, an Olympics Gold, and the Ballon d’Or. HBO Documentary Films has North American TV and streaming rights to the film. THR first reported the news.
Films Acquired Before the Festivals
“Babies”
Distributor: Roadside Attractions and Vertical
Director: Lauren Miller Rogen
Festival: TIFF Gala Presentation
Buzz: Lauren Miller Rogen directs her husband Seth Rogen alongside Anna Kendrick and Kate Berlant in this comedy about parenthood and prospective parenthood. It follows a childless couple who begin debating the merits of having kids when their divorced friend and her child move in with them. The cast is stacked, including Issa Rae, Dan Stevens, Zach Cherry, Ed Helms, Ashley Park, Sharon Stone, and David Strathairn in supporting parts.
“Babies” is described as heartfelt and poignant in what is shaping up to be a strong year for Seth Rogen. The movie launched sales at TIFF nearly a year to the date prior to its Roy Thomson Hall premiere. The distributors are planning for a release in early 2027.
“Elsinore”
Distributor: Focus Features
Director: Simon Stone
Festival: Telluride and TIFF
Buzz: Andrew Scott is said to be fantastic in this performance based on the true story of “Chariots of Fire” and “Gandhi” star and thespian Ian Charleson, who died of AIDS at the age of 40 but managed to raise awareness for the epidemic after his death. Focus has already dated the film for late November, the same time slot it gave “Hamnet” last year.
“Ink”
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Danny Boyle
Festival: Venice Competition
Buzz: The opening night film for this year’s Biennale, “Ink” is the story of the birth of The Sun tabloid in the ’60s and the collaboration between editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell) and Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) that made it the notorious publication it is today. Netflix didn’t acquire worldwide rights to the film, so it could easily be something it sees as both commercial and an awards play.
Continue Reading: Fall Festival Movies Sold So Far: Niki Byrne’s Chase Infiniti-Starring College Drama ‘The Julia Set’ Goes to SPC
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