Cannes, Kingdom of the Unintentionally Comedic Posters--The Hollywood Reporter: Risky Business

By Steven Zeitchik

The construction crews and tourists are already starting to fill up the Croisette, which means that the tuxedos, the flashbulbs and the Blackberries won't be far behind.

One of the nice things about arriving at Cannes early is a chance to take a leisurely look at the posters promoting market pics, with a general rule that a sign's size is in direct proportion to the desperation of those selling it.

Topping the list so far are a French thrillerm "Secrets of State" ("manipulation is the key to convert human into weapon," as the tagline reminds) and a wartime romance "The Baby Doll Night" (in which the question of whether "a night of pleasure can mend sixty years of pain" is finally -- finally -- answered).

Close behind them is Studio Canal's awkwardly titled "Baby(ies)," which promises a "unique and universal adventure" and lots of close-up on the little ones. Actually, this pic -- a doc tracing the lives of babies across four continents -- looks promising; another Studio Canal movie, Daniel Auteuil's "Me Two" (about "the person who is two persons"), less so.

Somewhat smaller are the promotions for companies like Millennium, which we were pleased to see is already sporting a poster for "Brooklyn's Finest," Antoine Fuqua's Richard Gere-toplined crime-thriller that Warner is releasing Statseisde and which was part of the post-strike spec boomlet.

And, because you know you want it, there is, indeed, a new Jean Claude Van Damme movie: an action-comedy with the very fashionista title of "JCVD."

(Guarded optimism, or at least a less aggressive pessimism, seems to be the mood for the market generally; though the most recent Berlin and AFM have been ice cold, there's a feeling, or at least some hope, that there could be a rebound here, in part because anyone buying in euros will see their money go further. "We're expecting a pretty vibrant market," Summit's Patrick Wachsberger, whose company is selling titles like Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life," told us. "The (international) independents are really short on product, and I don't think they want to release substantially less movies than they used to.")

Grand poster displays here in Cannes are also a province of the tentpoles, which included the gamut of expected biggies like "Tropic Thunder" and the Edward Hopper-ish image for M. Night's upcoming "The Happening." And there's a tantalizing billboard advertising Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna," promoting private market showings of the Disney pic's "first images."

Of course no promotions come grander than "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," signs for which can be seen as far away as the Nice-Cannes highway. An entire temple facade has been constructed in front of the actual facade of the Carlton hotel to go along with the giant banners adorning the face of the hotel.

In an informal focus-group moment that Paramount would be proud of, we heard several young children belting out a few bars of the "Indiana Jones" theme song as they passed one of the ubiquitous posters. The moment underscored what sources had told us about Paramount's thinking: the studio is banking on having locked up anyone over thirty and anyone under 13. The trickier demo will be teenagers and early twentysomethings, who are too young to remember the originals but too old not to harbor skepticism about a franchise their parents remember so fondly.

Of course it's nothing a few thousand shrieking fans on the Croisette couldn't cure.

About Risky Business

Risky Biz blog takes a deep, daily look at the film industry's ups, downs and deals from around the world and the heart of Hollywood. It is edited by media and entertainment journalist Steven Zeitchik, with contributions from The Hollywood Reporter's worldwide team of film editors and reporters. Zeitchik is a Los Angeles-based writer for THR and also has written for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

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