Why Hollywood tentpoles are giving Cannes a pass this year

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Considering its reputation as a showcase for auteurs, you may be surprised to learn that Hollywood has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival since its inception.When the event was initially planned in 1939, the RKO Radio Pictures release “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was set as the opening night gala.

World War II saw that inaugural edition scrapped, but when the festival finally unfurled in 1946, studio films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” and George Cukor’s “Gaslight” were part of the program.In the decades since, studios have come and gone, but the allure of debuting on la Croisette has endured.

Whether it’s a movie vying for the famed Palme d’Or, looking for international media attention by screening out of competition, or staging a PR event on the beach, generations of filmmakers, studio executives and marketing specialists have helped make Cannes into the spectacle that it is today.“I don’t want to sound corny, but this is a festival that I watched with my mother on TV as a child, and it is the biggest stage for cinema,” says Joey Monteiro, president of worldwide marketing for Neon.“There’s just a buzz that happens in the town and there is no red carpet like it in the world.

The fact that the red carpet is all photographers and no interviews?”That unique platform has made Cannes a global launchpad for studio releases for decades.This century alone, blockbuster titles such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Elvis” and “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” have either had their world or international premieres at Cannes.

“Shrek,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood” even debuted in competition.Admittedly, Hollywood’s infatuation with the festival has ebbed and flowed over the years, but 2026 seems like a rar...