Cannes 2024 Sales: A24 Acquires Rights to Ruben Öslund’s New Film ‘The Entertainment System Is Down’

Brian Welk

May 19, 2024 at 3:53 p.m.·8 min read

For those keeping score, and we know Neon is, it’s four Palme d’Or victories for Neon, who bought “Anatomy of a Fall” out of last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The boutique shingle didn’t stop there, and also acquired “Robot Dreams” and “Perfect Days” as well. Netflix plunked down $11 million for “May December,” and the festival produced sales for other buzzy titles like “Jeanne du Barry” and “The Taste of Things.” All that, and with the specter of the writers strike hanging over it.

So what will sell big this year? Many of the titles in competition as part of this year’s Official Selection are up for grabs, even as Neon, A24, MUBI, and Searchlight are all arriving with at least one contender in the main race. We’ll be tracking everything that gets bought below throughout the festival and beyond.

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Films Acquired During the Festival

“The Entertainment System Is Down”

Section: Package
Director: Ruben Öslund
Buyer: A24
Date Acquired: May 19
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Nicholas Braun, Daniel Brühl, Samantha Morton
Buzz: Two years after winning his second Palme d’Or for “Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Öslund returned to Cannes with one of the hottest packages for sale at the festival. His latest project, “The Entertainment System Is Down,” appears to be another satire of opulent living in the vein of “Triangle of Sadness.” The film follows a group of passengers on a lengthy flight who react in horror after finding out that the entertainment system has crashed. IndieWire can confirm that A24 acquired the rights to the film after a competitive bidding war at Cannes.

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Section: In Competition
Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Buyer: Neon
Date Acquired: May 18
Cast: Setareh Abdolmaleki, Zahra Rostami, Amineh Mazroei Arani
Buzz: The international film community watched in horror this month as Mohammad Rasoulof, who has faced years of legal harassment from Iranian authorities over his provocative filmmaking, was sentenced to eight years in prison and a flogging just days before his new film was slated to premiere at Cannes. He eventually escaped Iran and planes to come to Cannes with his latest film, which offers his perspective on the country’s oppressive legal system. The film’s topicality could make it a major player in the Palme d’Or race when it premieres on Friday.

“The Unknown”

Section: Package
Director: Arthur Harari
Buyer: Neon
Date Acquired: May 17
Cast: Léa Seydoux
Buzz: It’s no surprise Neon would want a reunion with Harari, the co-writer of last year’s Palme winner “Anatomy of a Fall.” But a team-up with Seydoux is even more exciting, even if plot details are still as unknown as the film’s title. Harari is writing and directing the feature, his first feature since 2021’s “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle,” and Neon is already eyeing a 2026 theatrical release for the film.

“Memoir of a Snail”

Section: Completed Market Title
Director: Adam Elliott
Buyer: IFC Films
Date Acquired: May 16
Cast: Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver, Eric Bana, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Buzz: “Memoir of a Snail” is just the second stop-motion animated feature from the director of the acclaimed “Mary and Max,” and it’s also the first animated voice role for “Succession” star Sarah Snook. The film is about a lonely misfit girl who falls into anxiety and depression when she’s separated from her twin brother.

“Tenzing”

Section: Package
Director: Jennifer Peedom
Buyer: Apple
Date Acquired: May 14
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Willem Dafoe
Buzz: The first competitive deal out of the Cannes market was a worldwide buy from Apple for this Mt. Everest thriller about the true story of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Tibet, who in 1953 after six failed attempts became the first person to summit Mt. Everest alongside New Zealander Edmund Hillary (Hiddleston). Casting is underway for the role of Tenzing. Luke Davies (“Lion,” “Beautiful Boy”) wrote the script, and Peedom, known for her mountaineering documentaries “Sherpa” and “Solo,” has a close relationship with the Tenzing family and Sherpa community.

“Alpha”

Section: Package
Director: Julia Ducournau
Buyer: Neon
Date Acquired: May 14
Cast: Golshifteh Farahani, Tahar Rahim
Buzz: Described as another “genre-defying” film in a reunion between the “Titane” director and Neon, Julia Ducournau’s next feature “Alpha” will begin shooting this fall and was one of IndieWire’s hot package titles heading into the Marché du Film. Charades and FilmNation Entertainment are selling the movie for the rest of the world.

Films Acquired Before the Festival

“The Substance”

Section: In Competition
Director: Coralie Fargaet
Buyer: MUBI
Date Acquired: May 8
Cast: Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore
Buzz: Just one of four films playing for the Palme coming from a female director in 2024, “The Substance” is a body horror film from the director of “Revenge” with an elusive premise about a revolutionary new product designed to make a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” you. “What could possibly go wrong,” the synopsis reads.

“Parthenope”

Section: In Competition
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Buyer: A24
Date Acquired: May 3
Cast: Gary Oldman
Buzz: A24 didn’t wait to jump into the Palme d’Or race, acquiring what will be Sorrentino’s seventh film in competition over a week before its festival premiere. The film stars Gary Oldman and was shot in Capri and Naples with Sorrentino’s “Hand of God” cinematographer Daria D’antonio.

Films Arriving with Distribution

“Anora”

Section: In Competition
Director: Sean Baker
Distributor: Neon
Cast: Mikey Madison, Ivy Wolk
Buzz: Described only as a story about a sex worker that’s also an adventure rom-com, Baker’s eighth feature was shot on 35mm and is his second to compete for the Palme after 2021’s “Red Rocket.”

“Kinds of Kindness”

Section: In Competition
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hunter Schafer
Release Plans: June 21, 2024
Buzz: Fresh off winning Emma Stone her second Oscar, Lanthimos’ triptych anthology film, previously titled “AND,” is a welcome return for the director to a contemporary setting.

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”

Section: Un Certain Regard
Director: Rungano Nyoni
Distributor: A24
Cast: Henry B.J. Phiri
Buzz: Filmed in Zambia with the backing of A24, BAFTA winner Rungano Nyoni is returning to Cannes for just her second feature after she competed for the Golden Camera in 2017 for her debut “I Am Not a Witch.”

“Universal Language”

Section: Director’s Fortnight
Director: Matthew Rankin
Distributor: Oscilloscope
Buzz: The director of 2019’s “The Twentieth Century” returns with this surreal comedy of intertwining stories across Winnipeg, in which he directs, writes, and this time around even stars. Oscilloscope’s head of acquisitions Aaron Katz tells IndieWire the film is “weird and kooky,” and like an Iranian movie that was actually made in Canada, and thus an homage to Iranian cinema and its auteurs. It also reunites O-Scope with Rankin and pairs him with a producer who is a Cannes veteran and Xavier Dolan collaborator.

“Ernest Cole: Lost and Found”

Section: Special Screenings
Director: Raoul Peck
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, as the voice of Ernest Cole
Synopsis: Magnolia picked up Raoul Peck’s (“I Am Not Your Negro”) latest documentary about the Black freelance photographer Ernest Cole as a package back at least year’s Cannes and are premiering it finally this year. The film explores how Cole fled South Africa in 1966 and found exile in the U.S. to become a seminal figure in photographing New York City and the American South, leading him to publish his book “House of Bondage.” It also uncovers 60,000 of his 35mm film negatives previously thought to be lost.

“Rumours”

Section: Out of Competition
Director: Guy Maddin, Galen Johnson, Evan Johnson
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Cate Blanchett
Buzz: Executive producer Ari Aster described Maddin’s “Rumours” — incredibly, the eccentric Canadian filmmaker’s first formal trip to Cannes — as “stoopid, hilarious, and wonderful.” Let’s just say it’s better suited for the Croisette than TIFF.

“Horizon: An American Saga”

Section: Out of Competition
Director: Kevin Costner
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Michael Angarano, Jena Malone, Dale Dickey
Release Plans: June 28, 2024
Buzz: It’s been 20 years since Costner was last in Cannes, and he’s returning with his long-gestating Western passion project. Each of the two films set for release this summer will screen at the festival.

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

Section: Out of Competition
Director: George Miller
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Plans: May 24, 2024
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth
Buzz: We would’ve loved to see George Miller in competition with “Furiosa,” but we’re happy to see some vehicular carnage on the Croisette regardless. The early hype for the movie is ecstatic.

“Good One”

Section: Director’s Fortnight
Director: India Donaldson
Distributor: Metrograph Pictures
Cast: Lily Colias
Buzz: This family drama and coming-of-age story set amid a forest backpacking trip first premiered in competition at Sundance earlier this year. IndieWire had the exclusive first-look at the trailer released ahead of its Cannes debut.

“Ghost Cat Anzu”

Section: Director’s Fortnight
Director: Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita
Distributor: GKIDS
Buzz: This Japanese anime first screened as a work-in-progress at last year’s Annecy Film Festival and tells the story of an 11-year-old girl sent to live with her grandfather, a monk who asks his ghost cat to watch over her.

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