Cannes opens with noticeably fewer Hollywood superstars — buyers still attending market

Cannes opened on Tuesday, May 12, with a very un-Cannes-looking kind of headline. The red carpet is still there. The market is still massive. But the usual Hollywood show of force — giant studio premieres, obvious Oscar bait, stars everywhere — is noticeably thinner this year. Instead, the 79th festival is starting with Pierre Salvadori’s French opener, “La Vénus électrique,” while buyers flood into the Marché du Film anyway. ### So what’s actually missing? The big missing piece is the studio parade. Variety’s opening-day read is blunt: no major Hollywood blockbusters are hitting the Croisette this year, and some of the films people expected to show up — including titles linked to Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and David Fincher — are not in Cannes. That leaves the festival’s glamour load much more heavily on international directors and casts. (hollywoodreporter.com) ### Did Cannes get smaller? Not at all — and that’s the key to the whole story. The festival side looks less starry, but the business side looks bigger. The Cannes market says it is opening with record registration: 16,000 participants from more than 140 countries, plus 1,700 buyers, 600 exhibiting companies, 1,500 screenings, and 250 industry events. So the vibe is leaner in public, but the deal floor is crowded. (au.variety.com) ### Why are studios backing off? Basically, Cannes is no longer an automatic win for Hollywood marketing. A big premiere here is expensive, early, and risky. If a film screens months before release, the studio can spend a fortune only to get mixed buzz, harsh reviews, or social-media pile-ons long before tickets go on sale. Variety also notes a simpler reason in some cases — some films just were not finished in time. But even when they are, studios now seem less eager to hand control of the first big conversation to Cannes. (variety.com) ### Who fills the space instead? International auteurs and indie packages do. Variety points to filmmakers like Cristian Mungiu, Paweł Pawlikowski, and Nicolas Winding Refn as part of the group supplying this year’s festival heat. On the market side, Screen’s running list is full of the kinds of projects buyers can actually build schedules around — Florence Pugh in “The Midnight Library,” Felicity Jones as Agatha Christie in “Eleven Missing Days,” and Jessie Buckley with Paul Mescal in “Hold On To Your Angels.” That is a different kind of excitement. (au.variety.com) Less flash, more inventory. ### Why are buyers still showing up in force? Because distributors still need movies. The theatrical business has been shaky for years, but it is not dead, and companies need films for 2026 and 2027 slates. Cannes is useful precisely because it is not just a premiere machine. It is a place to buy finished films, pre-buy projects, meet sales agents, and patch holes in release calendars. If studios bring fewer event movies, that can actually create more room for smaller deals. (au.variety.com) ### Is this a one-year blip or a real shift? It looks more like a structural shift than a weird calendar accident. The official festival still has prestige — Park Chan-wook is jury president, and Cannes remains Cannes — but the center of gravity keeps moving toward international cinema and market efficiency. When the public-facing festival has fewer American giants and the market still hits record attendance, that tells you the brand is no longer dependent on Hollywood spectacle in the old way. (au.variety.com) ### What does opening night tell us? It tells you Cannes is comfortable leaning into its own identity. “La Vénus électrique” is a French period romantic comedy, not a franchise teaser or a studio flex. That choice fits the larger mood: discovery over domination, curation over noise, and business that happens behind the scenes instead of on the carpet. ### Bottom line? (festival-cannes.com) Cannes did not lose its relevance. It just looks different. Fewer Hollywood superstars does not mean fewer deals — it may mean the festival is becoming even more useful to the people who actually buy and sell movies. (variety.com) (hollywoodreporter.com)