Will the “Obsession” effect spark some life in at Toronto International Film Festival?
Last year’s $16 million pickup of Curry Barker’s debut film led to one of the biggest stories over the summer with the film grossing half a billion dollars worldwide. That should provide extra incentive as buyers head to Toronto this week in search of the next indie breakout.
The film festival, which introduces an “official” market for the first time, will look to build upon a livelier output last year, when over a dozen titles sold. Still, gone are the days of overnight bidding wars, with slower sales from the various festivals the new status quo.
Insiders who spoke to TheWrap feel pretty good about this year’s market. Traditionally, there are a fewer number of deals that actually happen at the festival, with some negotiations dragging out long after the festival is over. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot of activity.
“I do feel that the market is in a better place,” Gersh agent Julien Levesque told TheWrap. “There are still things that lean commercial.”
This year’s market features new movies from Werner Herzog, Caleb Hearon and Chase Infiniti that are looking for buyers. What will also be interesting to see is which buyer will stand out from the crowd. Last year had new player Row K Entertainment emerge as a serious buyer, but the company in March lost its key leadership amid reports of financial strain.
Sales are off to a good start as Diego Luna’s migrant drama “Ashes” sold ahead of it’s TIFF premiere, along with “Kick On” which will world premiere at Toronto Midnight Madness. The Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick-starring comedy “Babies,” directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, also landed at Roadside Attractions and Vertical ahead of its debut at the festival.
Here are TheWrap’s buzziest titles still up for grabs going to TIFF this year.
“Bucking Fastard”
Despite having already premiered at Venice, there’s a Werner Herzog movie hitting TIFF that’s still on the table. “Bucking Fastard” stars Mara sisters Kate and Rooney as “siblings who speak as one, fall in love with the same person, and eventually spiral” (with Orlando Bloom and Domnhall Gleeson along for the ride). This marks Herzog’s first narrative feature since 2019’s “Family Romance, LLC,” and the Mara sisters’ first time sharing the screen — unless we’re counting Rooney’s cameo in the Kate-led “Urban Legends: Bloody Mary” as “Classroom Girl #1.”
Sales: Gersh
“Everybody Wants to F*ck Me”
In Jonathan Schey’s “Everybody Wants to F*ck Me,” Taron Egerton stars as a man who … well, you get the idea. CinemaCon audiences got a first look at this feature, which will have its world premiere at TIFF, back in April, teasing a comic thriller about a man who has somehow become dangerously irresistible to women. Jessica Henwick co-stars in Schey’s feature film debut, which takes aim at “nice guy” culture and virtue-signaling in a thriller-romcom hybrid.
Sales: StudioCanal
“The Face of Horror”
“The Face of Horror” marks Anna Biller’s return to horror, her first feature in 10 years since she steered 2016’s modern cult classic “The Love Witch.” Like her last film, “The Face of Horror” sees Biller (who also serves as writer and costume designer, among other roles) tell a vibrant, throwback horror story through a feminist lens. This feature revamps the famous Japanese ghost story “Yotsuya Kaidan,” now set in 14th-century feudal England as it follows a man haunted by the ghost of his wife after a deep betrayal. It’s gory, colorful, arch, immaculately designed and oh so fun.
Sales: WME
“The Julia Set”
Chase Infiniti made waves on the awards circuit this year, picking up multiple nominations (but coming just short of the Oscar nod) for “One Battle After Another,” her first feature role. Now, with an Emmy nomination also under her belt for “The Testaments,” Infiniti returns to the screen for her second film: “The Julia Set.” The coming-of-age film from Niki Byrne (in her feature debut) follows Infiniti as a college student who starts a relationship with her TA (“The Summer I Turned Pretty’s” Christopher Briney) as they’re preparing for a prestigious mathematics competition. Gillian Anderson, Jason Isaacs and Nina Hoss fill out the cast of this TIFF premiere.
Sales: Gersh
“The Last Photograph”
Zack Snyder’s “The Last Photograph” was a late addition to TIFF, with audiences only learning on Aug. 31 that the film would have its world premiere at the festival. This news came just weeks after Snyder uploaded a teaser for the film, which is still seeking a buyer, to his personal social media accounts, sans distribution plans.
The “Man of Steel” filmmaker has tried to get this project, penned by “300” writer Kurt Johnstad, off the ground since the early 2000s, but his work in the DCEU and time on “Rebel Moon” delayed this story about an ex-DEA agent seeking revenge in a South American jungle, complete with graphic sex and violence. Whoever ends up taking this project on will have at least one dedicated fanbase lining up for tickets.
Sales: CAA
“The Man I Love”
After hitting the festival circuit in 2025 with “Peter Hujar’s Day,” Ira Sachs returned in 2026 with “The Man I Love,” a film about a gay New York theater actor diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s. Rami Malek leads the cast, joined by Tom Sturridge, Luther Ford, Rebecca Hall and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Despite receiving rave reviews out of Cannes, the music-filled drama (written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias) has yet to find a buyer before heading to Toronto.
Sales: WME
“Stuffed”
When you hear “body horror musical romance,” I can’t imagine many movies come to mind. But that’s the intersection of genres that Theo Rhys placed his feature debut, “Stuffed,” within. The movie follows Harry Melling as a man who volunteers his body to be preserved by a taxidermist, played by Jodie Comer. Alongside co-writer/composer Joss Holden-Rea, Rhys adapts his short film of the same name that won both the Midnight Jury and Audience Awards at South by Southwest in 2021 before scoring a BAFTA nomination for Best British Short Film in 2022.
Sales: Cornerstone Films
“Trash Mountain”
“Trash Mountain” sees popular comedian Caleb Hearon (who recently appeared in “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” among other projects) take center stage in a semi-autobiographical feature. The film, directed by Kris Rey and written by Hearon and Ruby Caster, stars Hearon as a Chicago drag show emcee who returns home to rural Missouri to deal with the death of his father (and his hordes of personal effects) alongside his sister (played by Zooey Deschanel). It’s a charming, emotional feature that takes loose inspiration from Hearon’s life, translating the podcaster’s signature voice to the big screen.
Sales: CAA, WME
“Vintage Violence”
This year, TIFF’s teen committee, which searches for films that speak to younger audiences, picked Eugene Kotlyarenko’s drug-and-denim-fueled crime caper “Vintage Violence” as its official selection for the Midnight Madness section. “Vintage Violence” follows in some pretty big footsteps, as last year the teen committee picked a $750,000 indie horror flick as its official choice: Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” which went on to become the highest-grossing festival acquisition of all time at $500 million and counting. So now, all eyes are on Midnight Madness to see if another money-making genre gem lies in hiding. Maybe this mixed-media crime film, led by Cole Sprouse and Kiko Mizuhara, will become some audiences’ latest obsession.
Sales: WME