Elvis

Source: Warner Bros

Elvis

After it emerged on Monday that Tom Cruise tentpole Top Gun: Maverick is expected to land a slot at the highly anticipated Cannes Film Festival in May, Screen has learned Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis will also play on the Croisette. 

Just as the timing makes sense for Maverick given the film’s May 27 Memorial Day weekend release in North America, so it does for Elvis, which is set to open on June 24. Screen understands there may also be a UK presentation of the film prior to June 24. An in-person Cannes has been scheduled for May 17-28.

Elvis, which appeared on Screen’s festival bait list in January, chronicles the working relationship between Elvis Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Austin Butler and Tom Hanks star. Warner Bros had not replied for comment at time of writing.

Speculation now turns to other Hollywood films that might receive out of competition berths on the Croisette including George Miller’s Three Thousand Years Of Longing, which FilmNation launched as a pre-sales title at AFM 2018 and will open in North America via MGM on an unspecified date. FilmNation had not returned calls at time of writing. At time of writing Screen understands there are no plans for Pixar’s Toy Story spin-off Lightyear to play Cannes. Paramount, which produced Maverick with Skydance, had not returned calls for comment on the long-awaited Top Gun sequel.

'Top Gun: Maverick'

Source: Paramount

‘Top Gun: Maverick’

The festival has a long history of hosting major Hollywood tentpoles out of competition such as Ocean’s Thirteen, Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith, Up, X-Men: The Last Stand, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda.