CANNES, May 15 (Reuters) - All the elements are in place

for a successful Cannes film market after several subdued

pandemic years, with a record line-up tempting buyers who are

counting on a vibrant international market to eclipse weakness

in the United States.

While the Cannes Film Festival conjures visions of glamorous

celebrities on the red carpet and yacht parties, the main

attraction is the film market, where industry players, big and

small, gather to do business.

That market, which opened on Tuesday and runs until May 22,

is set to welcome a record number of participants, over 15,000

from more than 140 countries.

In addition to films with Oscar potential, such as director

Ali Abbasi's "The Apprentice," about a young Donald Trump, there

is a large number of not-yet-made films up for grabs due to the

Hollywood strikes.

"The line-up is very strong," Kent Sanderson, president of

independent film distributor Bleecker Street, told Reuters.

And it includes more English-language films and established

directors this year, such as Paul Schrader and Francis Ford

Coppola, Sanderson said.

"The list is better and of a higher level than I think I've

ever seen," especially for films yet to be made, that have been

held back due to the strikes in Hollywood, Scott Roxborough,

European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter, told Reuters.

"That, combined with the fact that the independent market in

the United States, the distribution market, is still quite

tough" will put the spotlight on Cannes, he said.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Still, the mood is cautious following the earlier pandemic

years, said Sanderson, whose Bleecker Street acquired the Cate

Blanchett-led Group of Seven comedy "Rumours" showing at Cannes.

A big question is whether the U.S. will match its foreign

counterparts in terms of sales, said Sanderson.

While there has been some recovery in the years since the

COVID-19 outbreak, with Europe doing better than the U.S.,

"nobody really sees a trajectory that would take us back to the

level of ticket sales and the revenue that we saw in 2018,

2019," Roxborough said.

Ticket sales in the United States and Canada peaked at $11.9

billion in 2018. Last year, they came in at $8.9 billion.

Better sales prospects overseas have prompted filmmakers to

turn to the international market before the United States,

Roxborough said.

Just this month, MadRiver Pictures, led by CEO Marc Butan,

closed a deal with key international distributors that sees it

pre-selling rights to those partners, and allows MadRiver to

bankroll and approve films before selling in the U.S., reported

The Hollywood Reporter.

The venture will focus on action, thriller and adventure

features and will aim to produce two to three films a year.

"For a lot of the independent streamers, there's a kind of

insatiable demand for those types of movies because the supply

isn't there," Butan told Reuters. "They're having trouble

filling a release slate with titles that hit a certain level."

SPACE FOR BIG TITLES ONLY

According to Butan, the changes in viewing habits spurred by

streaming companies have been accompanied by higher-end

commercial film studios shifting toward the larger-budget tent

pole movies - films that are nearly guaranteed hits - leaving

the mid-budget space to the independent studios.

And for films outside the mainstream with "great scripts,

great cast, great directors that are made at the right price - I

think there's a real market for those," added Butan.

However, "the stuff between those two zones, when you get

kind of into the $15-40 million space or something like that,

it's really, really hard," Butan said.

Clement Magar, of the China-focused Fortissimo Films, said

he, too, has seen the market for small titles dry up.

Instead, he said, companies go for big theatrical releases

to earn money, or seek deals with larger platforms like Netflix ( NFLX )

- which tends to just buy big, mainstream Chinese titles.

"What I've heard and what I've felt is that there's no more

space for small titles basically to make it," said Magar, whose

company is launching the animated Chinese feature, "The Umbrella

Fairy," at the Cannes' market this year.

"It used to be a small market, now it's zero market for

small titles, and there's only space for big titles."