Just two years ago, the Toronto market hit a high-water mark when the Chris Rock comedy Top Five sparked a fierce bidding war, with worldwide rights selling to Paramount for $12.5 million. But no one is expecting the 2016 edition to reach those heights, at least not for a finished film. As film companies have fallen away (Alchemy, Radius) and others hover under a question mark (The Weinstein Co., Broad Green), no new players have emerged to pick up the slack. In fact, most predict this year will be a buyer's market, especially since 2015's top finished film sale, the thriller Hardcore Henry, failed to justify its $10 million worldwide rights price tag (it only earned $9 million domestically). After all, most of the flashier titles, like Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, sold long ago. And though Netflix and Amazon continue their buying sprees, the streaming giants increasingly are buying off-market and coming in at an earlier stage. "Buyers like us will have an advantage because some of our competitors are struggling or seem to be off the grid altogether," says Bill Bromiley, president of Saban Films.
But even in a cautious market, a few titles are generating big buzz. These 16 are likely to get buyers to let down their guard:
