Film Buzz: Cannes & CinemaCon

Cannes usually spends weeks building suspense, but on April 9 the festival dropped its 2026 Official Selection all at once, putting Na Hong-jin’s “HOPE” and Cristian Mungiu’s “FJORD” straight into the main competition and Nicolas Winding Refn’s “HER PRIVATE HELL” into the out-of-competition slate. (festival-cannes.com) That locks in the first big shape of this year’s race before the festival even opens on May 12, because Cannes runs May 12 through May 23 and its competition titles become the movies every distributor, critic, and awards watcher studies for two straight weeks. (festival-cannes.com) “HOPE” is the one that looks least like a typical Cannes bet, because Na Hong-jin built his name on brutal thrillers like “The Chaser” and “The Wailing,” and this new film is described as a science-fiction thriller set around a mysterious discovery near a remote harbor town. (imdb.com) The cast explains why people were whispering about it before the lineup landed: the film pairs Korean stars Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, and Jung Ho-yeon with Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton. (wikipedia.org) (variety.com) Mungiu’s “FJORD” arrives with a different kind of Cannes gravity, because he already won the Palme d’Or for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” and Cannes just placed his new film in competition again alongside Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, and Hirokazu Kore-eda. (festival-cannes.com) (deadline.com) Refn’s “HER PRIVATE HELL” is taking the side door instead of the main race, because Cannes listed it out of competition, which usually means a red-carpet launch without a run at the Palme d’Or. Mubi had already bought the film in multiple territories last week, and reports say it is Refn’s first feature since 2016’s “The Neon Demon.” (festival-cannes.com) (yahoo.com) While Cannes was unveiling auteur films in Paris, the theater business was setting up its own power center in the United States. On April 8, Cinema United said it had created a Filmmaker Leadership Council led by producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Emma Thomas. (cinemaunited.org) (hollywoodreporter.com) The charter group also includes Brad Bird, Ryan Coogler, Jason Reitman, and Celine Song, and Cinema United said the council will help support the theatrical experience as studios and exhibitors meet at CinemaCon in Las Vegas from April 13 to April 16. (cinemaunited.org) (cinemacon.com) Lionsgate timed its own move to that same convention calendar by pushing out the final trailer for “MICHAEL,” Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, just days before CinemaCon begins. The film stars Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson and is set for theaters and IMAX on April 24, 2026. (goldderby.com) (michael.movie) So the movie business is doing two different kinds of launch at once. Cannes is telling the world which directors will define the prestige conversation in May, and CinemaCon is telling theater owners which studio titles are supposed to sell tickets before summer starts in late April. (festival-cannes.com) (cinemacon.com)