The Cannes Film Festival, typically a glittering convergence of art and commerce, is noticeably quieter this year as major Hollywood studios have given the French Riviera a miss. With the film industry in flux, powerhouses like Disney, Universal, Amazon MGM, Sony, and the newly betrothed Paramount-Warner Bros have all stayed away. Netflix, the streaming titan, remains effectively barred from the festival due to its resistance to theatrical releases.
Cannes has long balanced highbrow competition — often featuring European and independent American films vying for the Palme d'Or — with the star-studded allure of studio blockbusters. That symbiotic relationship has soured. Last year, Tom Cruise and Angela Bassett lit up the red carpet for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, but this year, the parade of A-listers has thinned.
Instead, influencers in formalwear now dominate the sidewalks leading to the famous stairs, filling the void left by traditional celebrities. The bay hosts fewer oligarch megayachts, parties are scaled back, and paparazzi seem more desperate. The absence of Hollywood has not only dimmed the festival's glamour but also underscored the deepening divide between the streaming-centric U.S. industry and the theatrical traditions that Cannes holds dear.