Finally, a big studio deal has emerged from a Cannes market that severely lacked them this year.
“The Midnight Library,” directed by Garth Davis and starring Florence Pugh, has landed at Paramount Pictures in a major $36M acquisition deal led by David Ellison, beating out rival bidders including Sony Pictures and Focus Features.
Based on Matt Haig’s bestselling 2020 novel, the film is being positioned as a large-scale prestige production with a reported $70M budget, making it one of Europe’s biggest productions in recent years. StudioCanal will retain distribution rights across several European territories.
Adapted by Laura Wade and Nick Payne, the story follows Nora Seed, a woman trapped between life and death who explores alternate versions of her life through a mystical library.
This deal is now the biggest sale from the Cannes market, surpassing “The Brigands Of Rattlecreek,” the Park Chan-wook project acquired by Warner’s Clockwork for $30M.
Quite honestly, I’m surprised a studio has placed this much trust in Davis — who isn’t the type of filmmaker guaranteed to deliver a home run with whatever material he tackles. “Hit or miss” would be an understatement when describing his output.
Davis broke out with his 2016 Oscar-nominated feature “Lion,” then followed it with “Mary Magdalene” and “Foe.” While his subsequent films were less well received, the inclusion of Pugh — and, more significantly, the fact that the book has sold over 15 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 56 languages — likely drove the strong studio interest.
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