San Francisco Frontiers - Is risk-averse Hollywood running scared of Cannes critics?

The world's biggest film festival, which kicks off on Tuesday, has long relied on Hollywood to provide a dose of mass-market entertainment alongside the sometimes edgy independent cinema that forms the core of its programme.

Mega-stars such as Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford help draw attention to the same red carpets walked by auteur directors and the casts of obscure art-house productions -- all in the name of supporting the fragile cinema industry.

Although Cannes director Thierry Fremaux made platforming American productions a priority when he took over 25 years ago, he was left having to explain their absence when he unveiled the line-up of films in April.

"Outside of studio filmmaking, independent cinema -- cinema made somewhere other than Los Angeles -- continues to exist," Fremaux said.

There are two independent American films in the main competition: "Paper Tiger" by James Gray, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, as well as "The Man I Love" by Ira Sachs featuring Rami Malek.

But Hollywood big beasts Universal, Disney, Warner, Sony and Paramount, as well as streaming giants Netflix and Amazon, have decided to pass.

It was a similar story at the Berlin film festival in February where director Tricia Tuttle was left with a blockbuster-free schedule.

- 'Nervousness' -

Tuttle blamed low risk-appetite and commercial pressures -- rather than another sign of America's estrangement from Europe under US President Donald Trump.

"There's a nervousness in a very difficult marketplace: nervousness about reviews coming out long before release and about controlling the way films of that scale are launched because there's so much at stake," she told The Hollywood Reporter in January.

She cited the dreadful critical reception for "Joker: Folie a Deux" which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 before bombing at the box office.

"We've seen more reticence since," Tuttle told the publication.

In a more confident, profitable environment, or when Hollywood is churning out films more regularly, a commercial dud might be easily absorbed.

Nowadays, it spells major trouble for budget-conscious executives.

- Tough critics -

J. Sperling Reich, a Los Angeles-based film critic and Cannes veteran, said Hollywood studios make fewer Cannes-compatible films. They prefer to control their launch schedules, rather than having them dictated by a festival.

"They're essentially flying in talent, trying to figure out a publicity narrative... two, three, sometimes four months early (before launch), and then they expose that film to the world's toughest critics," he told AFP.

"If it doesn't fly in Cannes, it's going to be tough to recover from that," he explained.

The most recent blockbusters, Michael Jackson biopic "Michael" and the "The Devil Wears Prada 2", organised their own tightly controlled promotional events, boosted by influencers and social media.

Reich cited Christopher Nolan's upcoming ancient Greek action movie "Odyssey" and Steven Spielberg's science-fiction thriller "Disclosure Day" as possible Cannes films.

"But the reality is those films don't need Cannes," he said.

- Coming together -

Others are sceptical that 2026 signals a permanent rupture between Hollywood and European festivals.

Indeed, if the bad reviews for the "Joker: Folie a Deux" in Venice in 2024 are to blame, then why was the Italian festival so packed with big-budget American films just last September?

Eric Marti, who heads the box office specialist Comscore in France, said studios have always had a transactional approach to Cannes.

"It's a tremendous showcase, as it's one of the most watched events, but they also have a very well-oiled promotional machine. If the Cannes dates and their launches line up, the two come together," he said.

Hollywood was not "totally absent", he added.

The festival has added a "Fast and Furious" special screening in the first days to mark the 25th year of the Universal-owned franchise, with the original stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster flying in.

Hollywood may simply be sitting out Cannes in 2026, only to rev back into action next year.

V.Mitchell--SFF