Pim Hermeling, head of Benelux-based September Films, has warned the territory’s buyers are becoming more cautious due to high asking prices.
“Normally, all Cannes Competition films are pre-sold for Benelux. This year, a lot of films were still available,” Hermeling noted. “On the hot films, there is still a lot of competition but not as early as it used to be.”
As of press time, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope was unsold in the region.
“MGs have gone up in general, which is a bit strange,” said Hermeling.
“Home entertainment/VoD is completely gone. SVoD is OK on the successful films but not on all the others. TV is completely gone - so you need to have an enormous box office hit to recoup those MGs.”
Despite this rival Benelux distributors are stacking their slates. September Films won the bidding war for Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With The Needle, and added buzzy market titles Pillion, Das Licht, The End, Franz, and Heldin to its slate. It is also releasing All We Imagine As Light, The Seed Of Sacred Fig, Wild Diamond and Three Kilometers To The End Of The World in the territory.
Cineart has pre-bought Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and an untitled Todd Haynes feature from mk2 in addition to several of this year’s competition titles, including Beating Hearts, Marcello Mia and Bird.
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