OPINION Cannes and Blockbusters
Some thoughts on Fast & Furious 9 possibly getting a Cannes screening, and the festival’s relationship with blockbusters.
First of all, apologies to my readers for having been away this long. I was in the process of rethinking the newsletter, as it dawned on me that the current formula wasn’t quite working. As such, the three posts a week will remain, but the Friday slot will now also be part of the rotating roster, with a review published only if I actually feel like it.
Now, back to the topic at hand. I was going to do a Festival Files about Crossing Europe, but that will be the Wednesday subject in light of Variety revealing that the previously touted “planetary blockbuster” to screen at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is going to be Fast & Furious 9 (at the time of writing, Cannes has not confirmed this).
Quite a few people were shocked and/or upset, questioning the logic of a Cannes screening for a film that will have opened in multiple countries by the time the festival happens. Of course, that’s not an issue because the screening will not be part of the Official Selection, but rather a special event on the beach, aimed mainly at tourists and locals (who do not have access to regular Cannes screenings, as those are for press and professionals only), a few days ahead of the film’s theatrical debut in France (July 14, three days before Cannes ends).
Others wondered whether, even with the beach caveat, such a film made sense within a larger Cannes line-up. After all, the festival does have a reputation for being all about celebrating le cinéma, sometimes in a fairly conservative manner: due to French law, which states a film receiving a theatrical release in France can’t be available on any streaming platforms prior to 36 months after its debut in cinemas, Netflix has avoided the gala screenings in the Palais since 2018, when it was decreed that films submitted for the competitive sections must be eligible for a regular release in France.
Funnily enough, 2018 was also the year Solo: A Star Wars Story premiered on the Croisette, prompting one Italian newspaper to wonder why such a prestigious festival had suddenly caved to mainstream trends by allowing a Hollywood blockbuster to screen in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. The overall reaction from those who read the article was: whoever wrote it clearly had no idea what movies have debuted in Cannes over the years.
In fact, Thierry Frémaux, who has served as the festival’s head honcho since 2001, is famous for saying “I prefer a good commercial film over a bad auteur film”, and his tenure has been notable for numerous high-profile Hollywood premieres. His first year opened with Moulin Rouge! and had Shrek in the main competition. He has a very good relationship with both DreamWorks Animation and Pixar, frequently showing films from both studios (Soul was part of the movies that received the Cannes 2020 label last year).
On the live-action front, notable titles to have received Cannes screenings include The Matrix Reloaded, Troy, The Da Vinci Code, X-Men: The Last Stand, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mad Max: Fury Road and The BFG. Heck, Solo wasn’t even the first Star Wars movie to premiere at the festival under Frémaux’s tutelage: that honor belongs to Attack of the Clones (and there was also a Cannes debut for Revenge of the Sith).
And if we go further back, there’s the 1998 edition that famously ended with Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla and prompted the following inaugural remark in Roger Ebert’s review: “Going to see ‘Godzilla’ at the Palais of the Cannes Film Festival is like attending a satanic ritual in St. Peter's Basilica.”
In other words, big, loud and (occasionally) dumb movies are par for the course in most Cannes editions. In fact, none of the major festivals are averse to a more box office-friendly film or two (lest we forget, Fifty Shades of Grey premiered at the Berlinale). Those films are just as deserving of a gala screening as the latest Malick or Céline Sciamma, since festivals are supposed to celebrate all facets of contemporary filmmaking.
The one caveat in the specific case of Fast & Furious 9, provided Cannes confirms theVariety scoop, is that Frémaux shouldn’t have promised a massive blockbuster when it’s not going to be part of the Official Selection. Other than that, nothing should prevent Dominic Toretto and his friends from saying “Yes, we Cannes!”