As the Cannes film festival entered its second half on Tuesday, players in the market for buying and selling movies looked ahead with cautious optimism that tough times may be near an end. The forecast for brighter skies in this French Riviera town was underpinned by a strong global box office and feelings that players were back to basics in the independent film business.
But industry experts said there are clouds that could further dampen the outlook after roughly two years. Among those shadowy spectres are lower DVD and television revenues, lack of funds for film production and jittery financial markets. "There's a feeling better times are ahead, but everyone is cautious - very, very cautious." said Michael Barker, co-chief of Sony Pictures Classics, the specialty film label of major studio Sony Pictures Entertainment.
His comments were echoed by Jonathan Wolf, executive vice president of the US-based Independent Film & Television Alliance, which runs the American Film Market. He used the term "tempered optimism" to describe the outlook. The Cannes film festival is known for bringing together top directors like Oliver Stone and actors such as Russell Crowe in a gathering that celebrates what is new and fresh in cinema.
In late 2008 and 2009, distributors exited the business or began paying less - some players say 30-40 percent less - for film rights, and producers began pushing down costs. Key to Bruner's summation is box office, a basic element of the movie business. Even as DVD and TV revenues fell, theatre ticket sales rose in 2009 - roughly 9 percent in the US to $10.6 billion and 6 percent in the European Union to $8.7 billion, among examples supplied by Cannes market organisers.
At the same time, film productions were about constant in the US at more than 1,100 in 2008 and 2009, while in the European Union, they fell about 5 percent to 677 in 2009 from 716 the previous year. Producers and distributors say most indie productions being funded now - hence, and those being bought-and-sold at Cannes - are of two types: movies made at the high end of indie film, budgeted around $10-$15 million, with marketable stars, or ultra low-budget movies in the cost area of $500,000 or less.