After a sluggish opening week that left many sellers staring at their phones, the Cannes Film Market found something like a second wind in its final days, with a flurry of high-profile acquisitions injecting some much-needed energy into what had been a cautious, defensive Marché.
The late surge was headlined by two deals that had been quietly percolating on the Croisette. Netflix moved to acquire the animated feature In Waves, while Warner Bros.’ nascent specialty label Clockworks entered exclusive negotiations to take Park Chan-wook‘s upcoming revenge Western The Brigands of Rattlecreek — a project that had been flagged by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the market’s most coveted packages before the first screening had even unspooled.
Netflix took worldwide rights outside of France for In Waves, which opened Cannes Critics’ Week. The hand-drawn French animated feature, from Franco-Vietnamese director Phuong Mai Nguyen, is an adaptation of the graphic novel by AJ Dungo and is a love story set in L.A. between AJ, a shy, skateboard and art-loving teen, and Kristen, a surfer girl. Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu voice the English-language version. Charades is handling sales.
The Brigands of Rattlecreek, the next feature from Cannes 2026 Jury President Park, is set to star Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Tang Wei and has been a long-gestating passion project for the Oldboy and Decision to Leave director.
The Park acquisition, if it closes, would mark a significant early statement of intent for Clockworks, the newly minted Warner Bros. division still establishing its identity.
The deals followed A24’s big buy of Cannes, taking worldwide rights to Jordan Firstman’s crowd-pleaser Club Kid for a reported $17 million following a bidding war of the kind Cannes once reliably produced but has struggled to replicate in recent years. UTA and Charades handled sales.
Amazon also added heat to the Marché, picking up Pumping Black, another THR Hot List title. The package, from Fresh director Mimi Cave, stars Jonathan Bailey and Natalie Portman in a psychological thriller set in the world of competitive cycling. Amazon picked up the majority of international rights. CAA Media Finance and Anton are co-repping world rights.
But the strong finish for the Cannes Market only underscored the relative quiet that preceded it — this was a Cannes that needed a last-minute sprint to get marked down as a win.
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