Yahoo Lifestyle Cannes & Venice Film Festival Lineups Start To Take Shape: Tom Cruise Is Mission Possible For The Croisette – The Dish
EXCLUSIVE: With one of Europe’s three flagship film festivals approaching half way stage, minds are already beginning to focus on the shape of the next two: Cannes and Venice. The former will be upon us before we know it.
As ever, there is no shortage of anticipated movies in contention. Indeed, one leading producer we spoke to remarked that 2025 is looking like “a particularly tough year, a much stronger year than 2024”. The surprise to us during our research for this piece is just how many big movies look like they will push to fall rather than launch on the Croisette. That’s not to say that Cannes won’t be box office. It remains the gold standard. The importance of both Cannes and Venice as launchpads is at an all-time high. Just look at how many Oscar nominees now start out at those two festivals — five of this year’s Best Picture hopefuls started at the two festivals with Cannes titles Anora and Emilia Perez and Venice entry The Brutalist dominating this year’s U.S. awards scene.
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As for Cannes, one of the fun guessing games before the event is which blockbusters might light up the Riviera, bringing that extra star dust and spotlight to the arthouse jamboree.
Things can change, but the most likely right now is seemingly Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. A decision has not been made either way yet but we understand the door is open. Our sources have not shut down the possibility, which they tend to do if a movie isn’t going. The film’s May 21 French launch date is during the second week of the festival and Tom Cruise’s history with Cannes (Top Gun: Maverick was a hit launch for Cruise and Paramount three years ago) points to the potential for a Riviera launch. We should know more in the next few weeks — it feels 50:50 at the moment.
Among summer blockbusters we’ve been told won’t be at Cannes are Apple’s Brad Pitt F1 movie (as we first reported back in December) and Warner Bros’ Superman. Pixar’s Elio seemed like a potential fit but we understand it isn’t going. Same for 28 Years Later.
Among films we’d be surprised not to see somewhere in the Cannes lineup are Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, the Dardenne brothers’ Young Mothers, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Disappearance Of Joseph Mengele and Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, especially given its recently announced global release date of May 30. We’re hearing that Fatih Akin’s Amrum with Diane Kruger will likely play somewhere in the selection, while thirteen of Arnaud Desplechin’s fourteen films to date have debuted on the Croisette and latest An Affair seems all but nailed on. Richard Linklater’s anticipated Nouvelle Vague, about the production of Jean-Luc Godards’s cinematic classic Breathless, is expected at the festival and there would be few more fitting films.
A fresh voice to look out for is Germany’s Mascha Schilinski, whose sophomore feature spanning four generations is currently titled The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright, But I’m Feelin’ Blue. The film is understood to have impressed greatly and could even play in Competition.
Meanwhile, other arthouse crossover fare in the running for slots include Ari Aster’s starry A24 movie Eddington and Spike Lee’s Kurosawa adaptation Highest 2 Lowest. Lazlo Nemes’ Orphan will be screened for the festival, as will Alice Winocour’s Couture with Angelina Jolie, Bi Gan’s Resurrection and Nadav Lapid’s Yes.
Expected to be in with a shout are Pathé’s big-canvas biopic De Gaulle — potentially filling a similar slot to The Count Of Monte Cristo — and Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privée. Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology Of Water is also in with a shot though there’s also a chance it won’t be ready in time. Same for Ildiko Enyedi’s Silent Friend. Oliver Hermanus’ The History Of Sound, with Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, has been tipped.
Raoul Peck’s documentary Orwell, which would be a timely fit, will screen for the festival, as will Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor The Great, of which we’ve heard good things. So too should Saeed Roustaee’s Woman And Child and Egyptian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky’s The Stories. Four of Karim Aïnouz’ last five films have debuted in Cannes and Rosebush Pruning could bloom just in time. The Sean Baker-edited Left-Handed Girl is another that should screen for the festival if it’s ready.
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s last three narrative films have played at Cannes: he has The Secret Agent in post. Calle Malaga, the upcoming Spanish-language film from Maryam Touzani, is also due to screen for programmers if ready in time and the director has prior with the festival.
Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love could be Cannes, Venice or another fall festival. There is the same question mark over Paul Greengrass’ The Lost Bus, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind and Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Unidentified. Sergey Loznitsa’s films tend to play at either Cannes or Venice and the prolific Ukrainian should be at one of the two with his latest Two Prosecutors. The same is true of Mario Martone who has Fuori. Terrence Malick’s The Way Of The Wind has been on Cannes speculation lists for years now but we’re still none the wiser as to when it’ll finally catch flight. Luc Besson’s Dracula has a July 30 release date in France and the Croisette doesn’t seem to be in the plans for this one.
Cannes wildcards, particularly for sidebars, include Akinola Davies’ My Father’s Shadow and Harry Lighton’s Pillion. Both are expected to screen for the festival.
Once again, things can change, but films we hear are more likely to launch sometime in the fall include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia (Focus have dated for November), Romain Gavras’ Sacrifice, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman, Park Chan Wook’s No Other Choice, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, David Lowery’s Mother Mary, Pablo Trapero’s & Sons, and Julie Ducournau’s Alpha (though if it’s quick in post this could sneak in for Cannes). Most of Luca Guadagnino’s films have debuted at Venice and After The Hunt has recently been given an October release date so another Lido berth seems likely. Venice could also be the destination for Alex Gibney’s highly anticipated Elon Musk documentary (when and how the filmmakers end their story on this one will be interesting given how fast things are moving in U.S. and global politics). Sebastián Lelio has been in post since last spring on The Wave, while Margot Robbie starrer A Big Bold Beautiful Journey has a shot at fall festivals if the team moves quickly through post.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s anticipated Leonardo DiCaprio crime-thriller for Warner Bros is currently dated for August 8. There is a question mark over festival plans but there has been chatter in the market that it could push a little later and enter Venice contention. Mona Fastvold and partner Brady Corbet have developed a strong connection with Venice so latest Ann Lee could well be a contender.
There should be a healthy contingent of Netflix movies at Venice (after the streamer had a down year on the Lido in 2024). Among those that seem likely are Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly and Edward Berger’s The Ballad Of A Small Player, though perplexingly, Venice and Berger/Focus couldn’t agree on a Lido slot for BAFTA winner Conclave. Guillermo Del Toro could potentially return with Frankenstein, which has a November release date.
Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere should be a prized asset for fall festivals if it goes that route. Among anticipated projects that have moved out of 2025 entirely in recent months are Warner Bros Untitled Alejandro G. Iñárritu film with Tom Cruise, while A24’s Timothee Chalamet starrer Marty Supreme has a December 25 date, which makes Cannes and Venice unlikely.
The Cannes Film Festival lineup is officially revealed in mid-April. The festival has already set Juliette Binoche as Competition jury president.
Melanie Goodfellow and Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this report.
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