The Cannes Film Festival released its 2016 lineup today, and most of it is not unusual. Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, Sean Penn's The Last Face, and the Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger all make an appearance. But, as The Hollywood Reporter points out, at least one thing is notable: Amazon has rights to five of the movies in the lineup, proof that Cannes might be rethinking its past decisions to keep subscription video services out of the loop.
They Cannes't say no
Woody Allen's Cafe Society, which Amazon has the US rights to, will kick off the festival this year. Amazon also has US rights to Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon, Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden, and the aforementioned Gimme Danger, which will all screen at Cannes this year. All of these are prestige films that sound exactly like something that would appear at Cannes, but until now, the festival wouldn't screen movies made for streaming services, THR reports.
Cannes is one of the last big film festivals to get on board with subscription video services. Amazon and Netflix both bought several films at Sundance at the beginning of this year, and Venice Film Festival screened Netflix's Beasts of No Nation last year, according to THR.
Does this mean Cannes loves streaming services now? Not exactly. Festival director Thierry Fremaux pointed out to THR that "Amazon bought the rights of these films, [but] they will be released in theaters first."
Correction, 2:48PM ET: Updated to reflect that Amazon has rights to five movies at Cannes, not four.