The yachts will still cruise in, but there won't be as many. The parties will continue well into the night, yet not with the same excesses. And while most American distributors will still come to the French Riviera, some others won't.
Given all that's gone wrong in the economy, it's not surprising that this year's Cannes Film Festival will be more restrained than in recent years. And that could present a problem for independent filmmakers and their financial backers hoping to score a big sales payday or even land a theatrical distribution deal.
The festival, which runs May 13 to 24, is best known for its starry, black-tie premieres and creatively ambitious competition films -- which this year includes Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock" -- but the heart of Cannes is its film market, where some 3,000 features come looking for global distribution offers.
Many of the movies in the Cannes market this year are low-budget exploitation titles, but a fair number are filled with recognizable stars like Hilary Swank and established directors such as Peter Weir. A handful of the several dozen movies in Cannes' main showcases also are looking for American distributors, including the late Heath Ledger's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Rachel Weisz in "Agora" and director Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," which features soccer superstar Eric Cantona.
Even though domestic box-office admissions are soaring, the global movie business -- particularly overseas DVD and television sales -- is slumping. International distributors can't get financing to buy movies, piracy is cutting into overseas ticket sales, foreign currencies are falling in value and key international territories have essentially discontinued acquiring American films.
"Japan has stopped buying English-language movies," says Jere Hausfater, the chief executive of the international sales company Essential Entertainment, which is headed to Cannes to sell the comedy "Middle Men," starring Luke Wilson and James Caan. "The indigenous Japanese movies are continuing to dominate the box office."
On top of everything else, the supply and demand equation has been out of whack; there were more movies (thanks to the surge of production investment from private investors such as hedge funds) aimed at fewer distributors (with former buyers like Paramount Vantage, Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures closing up shop), an imbalance that swung to the buyers' advantage.
