Cannes’ Marché du Film has partnered with the CNC, France’s national film body, to launch Cannes Remakes, a new programme that will curate a selection of European feature film IP with strong potential for international adaptations.
Cannes Remakes will showcase film IPs that have been successful in their original territories and aims to facilitate connections between international buyers and producers.
The inaugural half-day event is set to take place on May 20 on the CNC beach on the Croisette. It will include a pitching session, presenting titles sourced from France, Spain and Italy with the most potential for feature adaptation followed by pre-booked one-on-one meetings and an invite-only networking cocktail event.
The initiative is part of a series of new Marché du Film initiatives supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, and launched in collaboration with Spain’s Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) and Italy’s Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Italian Ministry of Culture (DGCA-MiC), and Cinecittà.
The move comes as the IP market continues to thrive as streamers and studios in particular search for lower risk projects with proven marketability in an unstable global landscape.
Guillaume Esmiol, executive director of the Marché du Film, explained: “Remakes are injecting a fresh dynamism into the film industry, hinting at a notable shift.“
The programme will not only focus on English-language remakes, but what Esmiol calls “a rising trend of adaptations across various languages.” He added that that Marché aims to expand the existing IP market in Cannes and “create a platform where IP holders can engage with producers and IP buyers, unlocking potential business opportunities.”
Jérémie Kessler, director of European & international affairs at the CNC, said the global drive to adapt IP “is particularly evident with American studios and buyers from Asia” and said Cannes Remakes fits in the CNC’s ongoing strategy to promote European IP, adding that such IPs “create value for producers, international sellers and companies, and make it possible to support truly free and independent European creation.”
The launch comes during a year rich in remakes from once successful IP particularly out of Hollywood. Familiar titles to have hit cinemas in fresh forms include recent releases Mean Girls and Roadhouse, and upcoming 2024 titles like Twisters, Fall Guy and Garfield. In the more arthouse space, Catherine Breillat’s Cannes 2023 competition feature Last Summer is a French remake of Danish film Queen of Hearts and John Woo’s remake of his own The Killer starring Omar Sy just wrapped shooting in Paris.
The Marché du Film runs May 14-22, 2024 alongside the Festival de Cannes whose 77th edition will run May 14-25.
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