While the Toronto International Film Festival won’t officially launch its market until 2026, it has always been a place for acquisitions, and this year’s crop of films includes buzzy titles from cinematic greats including Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant with movies that have the potential to pop if they find the right distributor.
In 2023, Netflix paid an eye-watering $20 million for Richard Linklater’s comedic thriller “Hit Man” and the Glen Powell film went on to debut at No. 1 when it was released on the streamer. Last year, Hulu bought David Gordon Green’s Ben Stiller-led Christmas comedy “Nutcrackers” for a reported eight figures, while Neon snapped up director Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck,” which won the festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award, often seen as a precursor to a Best Picture Oscar. Neither performed particularly well, and overall there were disappointing sales at TIFF last year.
TIFF, alongside the other fall festivals Venice and Telluride, marks the unofficial start of awards season and can be one of the year’s more frenzied marketplaces. The festival is also still an essential community for filmmakers and for buyers, as both studios and streamers search anxiously for their next big commercial hit or word-of-mouth sensation.
Among the big, distributor-less titles debuting at TIFF in 2025 are a new Soderbergh drama (“The Christophers”), a Van Sant heist film (“Dead Man’s Wire”), a new comedy from Bobby Farrelly (“Driver’s Ed”) and an edge-of-your-seat thriller from David Mackenzie (“Fuze”).
“Going into this TIFF, there is a bit of buzz and a bit of conversation, and it feels like every festival that we go to, we’re building back that sales market,” Gersh agent Julien Levesque told TheWrap. “A lot of these projects seem very commercial to me, or definitely have an audience, so I feel pretty good going into this festival.”
TIFF also comes at a crucial time for the indie film market as a whole. This year’s Sundance had record-low sales during the festival, and while acquisitions picked up in the months that followed, insiders told TheWrap that the fest’s lineup was “super indie,” with a feeling that films were too niche to find broad appeal — especially in the challenging market for movies overall.
Cannes, by contrast, was fairly robust with sales in May but in keeping with that festival’s international bent, most of the deals were for projects with global appeal or awards contenders. As a result, distributors like Neon and Mubi snapped up a number of titles in a healthy market.
That should come as good news to buyers hitting Toronto, then, that sales titles include such commercial hooks as Sydney Sweeney’s transformation into a professional boxer in “Christy,” a thriller that teams Aaron Taylor-Johnson with the director of “Hell or High Water” and a teen movie starring “White Lotus” breakout Sam Nivola.
While it’ll be a reach for a TIFF film to hit the record purchase price of $25 million that “CODA” scored in 2021 from Apple, there’s reason to be optimistic.
“It’s good to see that the pipeline is still good, and my impression is that we have a lot of quality things that I think is a return to form, or at least where we’re getting closer,” Levesque said.
TheWrap spoke with several insiders ahead of this year’s festival — which gets underway on Sept. 4 — and these are the buzziest titles for sale.
“Motor City”
“Reacher” headliner and overall very large man Alan Ritchson stars as John Miller in Potsy Ponciroli’s “Motor City.” Set in 1970s Detroit, Miller falls in love with a local gangster’s girl. In retaliation, the gangster uses his corrupt police connections to send the innocent man to prison. Ruined, Miller plots a revenge campaign against the man who took his life and love away. The action script by Chad St. John, known for reliably pulp action movies like “Peppermint” and “London Has Fallen,” got a lot of attention when it made the 2009 Black List, most notably for its complete absence of dialogue.
Range Select and WME Independent are handling U.S. sales
“Tuner”
“Tuner” is the feature film debut of Oscar-winning writer/director Daniel Roher (“Nalvany”) that stars Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu and Lior Raz. Woodall plays a former piano prodigy turned piano tuner apprentice who is down on his luck. Using his excellent auditory skills to help out his found family (Hoffman) in a time of dire need while finding love and inspiration in unexpected places with a composer (Liu), he’s forced to make tough decisions as he gets involved in the unsavory business of cracking safes.
WME Independent and UTA Independent are handling U.S. sales.
“The Christophers”
The third Steven Soderbergh movie of 2025, after ghost story “Presence” and spy thriller “Black Bag,” concerns the estranged children of a great artist (Ian McKellan), who hire a forger (Michaela Coel) to complete some masterworks so that they’ll have some inheritance after he dies. Along with that great premise is an equally great cast, including James Corden and Jessica Gunning, and the renowned filmmaker working alongside some of his closest collaborators – chiefly writer Ed Solomon (who worked with Soderbergh on “No Sudden Move,” “Full Circle” and “Mosaic”) and composer David Holmes (who scored “Out of Sight,” the “Ocean’s” trilogy, “Haywire” and “Black Bag”). Soderbergh is fairly agnostic when it comes to means of distribution. While his recent films have been released theatrically, he spent five years making movies exclusively for streamers and even made an HBO movie years before streaming became cool. Hopefully “The Christophers” is such a splash that it demands a theatrical component.
CAA Media Finance is handling U.S. sales.
“Driver’s Ed”
After his college freshman girlfriend breaks up with him, a high school senior (played by “White Lotus” breakout Sam Nivola) steals a Driver’s Ed car with three classmates in it and sets out to win her back. “Driver’s Ed” was directed by Bobby Farrelly, one half of the Farrelly Brothers (the one that didn’t win the Oscar for “Green Book”), whose last film was the bizarro, direct-to-Paramount+ “Dear Santa,” which starred Jack Black as the Prince of Darkness. Hopefully this one has more meat on its bones. The official TIFF program describes it as “a charming and lively romantic comedy about what happens to young love when it runs smack into different realities, new opportunities and the fact that absence does not necessarily make the heart grow fonder.”
UTA Independent and AGC are handling U.S. sales.
“Christy”
If you’ve never heard of Christy Martin, you’re about to. Martin was a professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2012, and “Christy” looks to bring her professional and personal life to the screen in dazzling detail, with Sydney Sweeney eschewing her usual blonde bombshell looks for the lead role. (She also produced the film.) “Christy” hails from Australian director David Michôd, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Katherine Fugate and Mirrah Foulkes. Ben Foster plays her trainer and husband James V. Martin, who was said to be emotionally and physically abusive throughout their relationship. (He also, later in life, tried to kill her — and died in prison.) The supporting cast includes Ethan Embry, Merritt Weaver and fighter-turned-actor Katy O’Brian. Expect this one to be a knockout.
UTA Independent Film Group, AC Independent and Black Bear are co-representing U.S. sales
“Canceled: The Paula Deen Story”
From acclaimed director Billy Corben (“Cocaine Cowboys”), “Canceled: The Paula Deen Story” chronicles how Paula Deen rose from a small-town caterer to one of America’s most beloved celebrity chefs, building an empire on charm, grit and butter. She became an early food-world influencer, a TV icon and a symbol of Southern hospitality — until it all came crashing down in 2013 after admitting to using racial slurs.
UTA Independent is handling U.S. sales.
“Easy’s Waltz”
“True Detective” creator Nic Pizzolatto writes and directs “Easy’s Waltz,” which stars Vince Vaughn as a middle-aged Las Vegas lounge singer who gets the opportunity for a second act by gaining the attention of an old-school entertainment manager at The Wynn (Al Pacino), while trying to rescue a brother (Simon Rex) whose downward spiral threatens his last chance for redemption.
Range Select, WME Independent and CAA Media Finance are handling U.S. Sales.
“Normal”
Just a few weeks after the release of “Nobody 2,” Bob Odenkirk returns with another action movie. In “Normal,” which was written by his “Nobody” collaborator Derek Kolstad from a story concocted by Odenkirk and Kolstad, the actor plays Ulysses, who comes to the sleepy town of Normal as a temporary sheriff after the town’s original sheriff dies. But wouldn’t you know it, he uncovers a vast criminal conspiracy and is forced to take care of business. What makes “Normal” even more exciting is that it was directed by Ben Wheatley, the chameleonic filmmaker behind cult favorites like “Kill List” and “High-Rise” and, in 2020, Netflix’s “Rebecca” remake and the 2023 big budget monster movie “Meg 2: The Trench.” We’re looking forward to seeing if Wheatley can mix his distinct artistry with something more straightforward.
WME Independent is handling U.S. sales.
“Poetic License”
Maude Apatow makes her feature directorial debut with “Poetic License,” which follows a middle-aged mother Liz (Leslie Mann), as she becomes the unexpected point of tension between Sam (Andrew Barth Feldman) and Ari (Cooper Hoffman), two inseparable best friends and college seniors.
WME Independent is handling U.S. sales.
“Fuze”
Last year at TIFF, Scottish director David Mackenzie, whose 2016 western “Hell or High Water” was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, debuted his corporate thriller “Relay.” This year he’s back with another new thriller, which seems even more intense. In “Fuze,” Central London is evacuated after an unexploded World War II-era bomb is discovered on a construction site. Amidst the chaos, a band of criminals embarks on a heist. If that doesn’t hook a potential distributor, we don’t know what will. Oh, wait, maybe it’s the all-star cast that includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Sam Worthington, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Honor Swinton Byrne that’ll do it. Or the score by pioneering Scottish music producer Tony Doogan. Honestly, who knows what will draw the right partner for “Fuze”? All we know is that the clock is ticking.
WME Independent and UTA Independent are handling U.S. sales.
“Couture”
French filmmaker Alice Winocour, whose most recent film “Paris Memories” premiered at Cannes in 2022, returns with “Couture.” Anchored by a French-speaking performance by Angelina Jolie, the film is described in the official TIFF program as “a compelling new film, set in the Parisian fashion industry, that weaves together multiple threads in which women of different ages and cultural backgrounds seek to wrest control of their destinies.” Set in the lead-up to a fashion show and featuring characters from Ukraine, France and Sudan, the movie “balances the glamour of her film’s milieu with a cool gaze on how women’s bodies are measured, monetized and represented.” French actor and filmmaker Louis Garrel, “Raw” breakouts Ella Rumpf and Garance Marillier and French/British actor Finnegan Oldfield co-star. “Couture” is ready to walk the runway.
UTA Independent is handing U.S. Sales.
“Carolina Caroline”
Over the past few years, director Adam Carter Rehmeier has established himself as one of the most exciting American filmmakers working today with the acerbic “Dinner in America” and the sweet “Snack Shack.” And “Carolina Caroline,” his latest, has easily become one of the most anticipated titles of the festival. (We all just have to get past its truly atrocious title.) In his latest, Samara Weaving stars as a small town nobody who falls under the spell of a drifter (Kyle Gallner, reuniting with his “Dinner in America” director). Together they embark on a criminal enterprise. “Bonnie and Clyde” 2025, if you will. With a supporting cast that includes Jon Gries and Kyra Sedgwick, “Carolina Caroline” will hopefully be Rehmeier’s breakout feature. It’s time everybody knew what a thrilling filmmaker he really is.
CAA Media Finance, UTA Independent Film Group and Verve Ventures are handing U.S. sales.
“Dead Man’s Wire”
It’s been seven years since Gus Van Sant last directed a feature film. Sure, he’s been busy (most notably directing six of the eight episodes of FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”), but considering he’s one of America’s most reliable auteurs, those seven years have felt long. His latest, “Dead Man’s Wire,” is a based-on-a-true-story thriller starring Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis, an Indianapolis man who had fallen behind on his mortgage payments and became convinced that his mortgage broker (Dacre Montgomery) was attempting to steal Kiritsis’ land. So, of course, that leads to a kidnapping and 63-hour police standoff. Van Sant is the kind of compassionate filmmaker who can make this situation feel alive without it ever veering into sensationalism. And he’s backed by a truly outstanding cast that includes Colman Domingo, Myha’la, Cary Elwes and Al Pacino. Ready to be riveted?
WME Independent is handling U.S. Sales.
