Big buys bookend slow weekend

Bauer cages Benigni's 'Tiger'

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK, PATRICK FRATER

AFM 2005

Bauer Martinez surprised a sleepy AFM Sunday with the acquisition of Roberto Benigni's 'The Tiger and the Snow' for distribution.

Benigni

Bauer Martinez lit up the weekend with Sunday's acquisition of Roberto Benigni-helmed "The Tiger and the Snow," which it will release through its new North American distribution arm. But otherwise the mood in the Loews was crabby and business slow.

Bauer reportedly paid northward of $1 million and committed to a release on more than 200 prints. "For us, it's a big coup," Bauer Martinez Studios chair-CEO Philippe Martinez said. "It goes to our strategy of attracting real artists."

Aside from "Tiger," the only other pic that drew a top-level U.S. deal was Arclight-repped Hong Kong actioner "SPL," which the Weinstein Co. announced it was acquiring on Friday.

Indeed, "see you in Berlin" was the common refrain dominating the first five days of the 2005 American Film Market. Sellers were mostly reluctant to unveil much new product, while many distributors did not show up, left early or shied away from pre-buys on unfinished pics.

"I definitely get the sense that sellers are waiting for Sundance and Berlin," said Paramount Pictures acquisitions exec Monica Chuo. "There's no doubt that Berlin will be more of a market than it has ever been."

But a small cadre of companies logged solid business, including New Line Intl., Summit Entertainment and Bauer Martinez's international sales division. Bauer Intl. closed sales on its slate of films in all territories except for the U.K. and recorded about $20 million in business.

Among the foreign-language sellers there was the usual strong trade between Korea and Japan, with titles "My Girl," "Daisy" and "Sad Movie," all handled by IHQ, and "Welcome to Dongmakgol" (Showbox) finding Nippon homes.

Several of the completed pics that attracted pre-market heat left North American buyers -- ever interested in projects with name stars -- feeling very lukewarm.

Reception was muted to the Toni Collette starrer "Like Minds," an Aussie pic sold by Becker Intl. in which Collette stars as a forensic psychologist investigating a minor who kills a classmate. Collette is in the current Fox release "In Her Shoes," which has wowed critics but underperformed at the box office.

Another pic with high expectations that didn't attract much attention from U.S. buyers was the Susan Sarandon-Sam Neill vehicle "Irresistible." Repped by U.K. seller Intandem, pic features Sarandon as a woman consumed with the idea that her husband's being wooed away.

Buyers and sellers alike pointed to the growing strength and depth of the Toronto Film Festival's market as a likely factor behind the paucity of new arthouse and crossover launches or headline-grabbing dealmaking.

"Problem seems to be the timing of this market, if you are trying to launch something," said Fortissimo Films co-chief Michael Werner. "If you had a film that was good for Toronto, then it would already have played. If you have a film that is right for Berlin, then you won't be unveiling it here. And more and more these days, everyone seems to want some kind of festival play."

Imbalance between supply and demand was not a healthy sign. The number of sellers was up, with a whole corridor of sales booths erected in Le Merigot Hotel next door to the Loews, but buyers seemed thinner on the ground. Corridor traffic and the number of European buyers were visibly down on recent frames.

"We have not done any big deals yet. Some Latin American deals. And we've had lots of meetings about meetings. It's been a very good market for the next market," said one seller.

"Plenty of people left early. There was a lot of pre-buying in the last two years. But that is now slowing down," said Media Asia's Jeffrey Chan, who did a $5 million deal selling Chinese drama "The Banquet" to Gaga for Japan.

But buyers said the issues go deeper than timing. "The crap level has reached a new high," said one.

Handful of projects and in-production pics generating heat and some sales included the following:

• New Line's "Meg," based on Steve Allen's book of the same name that Jan de Bont is directing. Allen is adapting the screenplay.

• Summit Entertainment's "Miss Potter," starring Renee Zellweger, and its Colin Farrell-Scarlett Johansson vehicle "Borgia."

• Barry Levinson's new directorial project "What Just Happened," starring Robert De Niro, for 2929 Intl. Film, which doesn't have a U.S. distrib, has sold in France (M6/SND), Italy (Medussa), Spain (Manga), Benelux (Paradiso), Greece (PCB) and Turkey (Avsar).

• Revolution Studios' Nicolas Cage starrer "Next," repped by Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group overseas. Sci-fi actioner is drawing a positive response.

• Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto," repped by Icon Entertainment Intl. Disney is releasing the pic in the U.S.

• Wild Bunch's "Call of the North," widely referred to as "the polar bear movie," drew strength from recent docu hit "The March of the Penguins," which was previously sold by Wild Bunch and has been a $77 million hit for Warner Bros in the U.S.

Bauer Martinez-produced titles including "Crash Bandits," helmed by John McTiernan and starring Hayden Christensen; Andrew Lau's "The Flock," starring Richard Gere and Claire Danes; and Amy Heckerling's "I Could Never Be You," starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd.

(Ian Mohr contributed to this report.)