Cannes 2012: 24 A-List Films Being Sold This Year

A slew of new titles wll be offered to foreign distributors at the Cannes Film Market. A look at some of the hot projects waiting in the wings.

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The Bling Ring

Starring: Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, Taissa Farmiga
Director: Sofia Coppola
Sales Company: FilmNation

Inspired by true events -- and the subject of a 2011 Lifetime movie of the same name -- the film is about a group of fame-obsessed teenagers who use the Internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. Currently shooting.

The Butler

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Matthew McConaughey, Jane Fonda, Oprah Winfrey
Director: Lee Daniels
Sales: Company IM Global

The project is based on the real-life story of a butler who worked in the White House for decades, spanning the Civil Rights era. Pre-production.

Catching Fire

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth
Director: Francis Lawrence
Sales Company: Lionsgate Intl.

The sequel to the global blockbuster The Hunger Games is certain to be a big draw among foreign buyers. Pre-production.

The Coup

Starring: Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Sales Company: Sierra/Affinity

The thriller, from Crime Scene Pictures, is about an American family caught up in a violent overthrowing of the government in a Southeast Asian country. Starts shooting in October.

Emperor 

Starring: Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones, Eriko Hatsune
Director: Peter Webber
Sales Company: Sierra/Affinity

Webber is expected to be in Cannes to plug the historical epic, set in post-World War II Japan as the American government debates whether to try Emperor Hirohito for war crimes. In post-production.

Good Vibrations

Starring: Richard Dormer, Dylan Moran, Jodie Whittaker
Director: Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D'Sa
Sales Company: The Works

The co-directors have mounted a biopic of Belfast, Ireland, music legend Terri Hooley, founder of the Good Vibrations record store and record label, home of punk rockers The Undertones and Rudi and the Outcasts. In post-production.

Grand Piano

Starring: Elijah Wood
Director: Eugenio Mira
Sales Company: The Solution Entertainment Group

Produced by Adrian Guerra and Rodrigo Cortes -- the team behind Buried -- Grand Piano is about a piano prodigy who must play for his life when a mysterious man threatens to kill him and his wife, who is in the audience. Starts shooting in July.

Haunter

Starring: Abigail Breslin, Stephen McHattie
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Sales Company: Wild Bunch

The mystery-thriller stars Breslin as the ghost of a murdered teenager who
tries to save a living girl from the same fate. Currently shooting.

Hotel Noir

Starring: Rufus Sewell, Danny DeVito, Carla Gugino, Rosario Dawson, Malin Akerman
Director: Sebastian Gutierrez
Sales Company: Locomotive Entertainment Group

A sexually charged crime film set in 1950s Los Angeles that tells the story of a detective holed up in a downtown hotel waiting to be killed. Completed.

Lone Survivor

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster
Director: Peter Berg
Sales Company: Foresight Unlimited

Based on true story, turned into a novel by Marcus Luttrell, the film centers on a failed Navy SEAL's mission to kill a Taliban leader named Ahmad Shah. Starts shooting in September.

Look of Love

Starring: Annette Bening, Ed Harris, Robin Williams, Amy Brenneman
Director: Arie Posin
Sales Company: Exclusive Media

Five years after losing her husband, a woman (Bening) falls in love with a handsome art teacher (Harris) who happens to look exactly like her
deceased spouse. In production.

Manhunt 

Starring: Gerard Butler
Director: Brek Eisner|
Sales Company: IM Global

The FBI is tasked with tracking down a terrorist who is living in the wilderness. Production is set to start later this year.

Mission: Blacklist

Starring: Robert Pattinson
Director: Jean-Stephane Sauvaire (attached)
Sales Company: Embankment Films

This psychological thriller is based on the true story of the man who spearheaded the capture of Saddam Hussein. In pre-production.

Old Boy

Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley
Director: Spike Lee
Sales Company: Good Universe

A remake of the cult Korean revenge film of the same name. Pre-production.

An Ordinary Man 

Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Abbie Cornish
Director: Brad Silberling
Sales Company: Radiant Films Intl.

This contemporary suspense tale, also penned by Silberling, centers on the unexpected relationship between a fictitious war criminal in hiding and his only contact -- his maid. Silberling plans to start shooting in Serbia this fall.

Out of the Furnace

Starring: Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe
Director: Scott Cooper
Sales Company: Red Granite

A man released from prison (Bale) risks his freedom to seek justice for his brother (Affleck) from one of the most ruthless crime rings in the Northeast. Relativity Media has domestic rights. Currently shooting.

Paranoia

Starring: Liam Hemsworth
Director: Robert Luketic
Sales Company IM Global

An entry-level employee is offered a chance to save his job by spying on a rival telecom giant. Production begins in July.

Plus One

Starring: TBA
Director: Dennis Illiadis
Sales Company: Sierra/Affinity

A big party descends into chaos when it is invaded by a mysterious phenomenon. Starts shooting June 11.

Prisoners

Starring: Hugh Jackman 
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Sales Company: Lionsgate Intl.

Jackman plays a dedicated husband and father who thinks he can handle almost anything -- until his neighbor's daughters disappear on Thanksgiving day. Pre-production.

Promised Land

Starring: Matt Damon, John Krasinski
Director :Gus Van Sant
Sales Company: Focus Features

A corporate salesman and his partner travel to a destitute rural town hoping to win drilling rights, but their efforts are stymied by a respected schoolteacher. Currently filming.

Struck by Lightning

Starring: Chris Colfer, Christina Hendricks, Allison Janney
Director: Brian Dannelly
Sales Company: Lightning Entertainment

Based on a script by Colfer and Dannelly, the film is about a young man who is struck by lightning and gets a case of remorse for all his bad antics in high school. It recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Suspiria

Starring: Currently casting
Director: David Gordon Green
Sales Company: Wild Bunch

Based on Dario Argento's 1977 horror classic about an American student attending a European school who gets entangled in a series of brutal murders. Starts shooting in September.

33 Liberty Lane

Starring: Emily Watson, Sandra Oh, Nia Vardalos, Melora Hardin
Director: Peter Hewitt
Sales Company: Level K

Raunchy female comedy about a group of friends who set up a telephone sex hotline. Pre-production.