Glen Basner Says FilmNation Will Ramp Up Slate in 2027, Is Ready to ‘Raise His Fist’ for ‘I Play Rocky’ and Celebrate ‘Thoughtful’ and ‘Entertaining’ ‘Bunker’ — SkimNews
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- Glen Basner received the Game Changer Award at the Zurich Summit in an hour-long on-stage conversation hosted by "Conclave" director Edward Berger.
- FilmNation is expanding its 2027 output with four films already in pre-production and hopes for three more, up from four films and one television series in 2026.
- Basner said he woke up on January 1, 2026 feeling that the business was finally understandable, a sentiment he hadn't experienced since 2019 before COVID disrupted the market.
- "Bunker", Florian Zeller's drama starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, was 75% pre-sold internationally using a traditional old-school model; Basner pushed back on the idea that audiences over 40 have abandoned cinemas, citing "Nuremberg" as proof older viewers still show up for the right film.
- "I Play Rocky", directed by Peter Farrelly, explores the making of the 1976 original, and Basner said audiences will walk out "feeling inspired to bet on themselves," prompting him to joke he'll "raise my fist" for the film's release.
- Basner recounted that working with Berger on "Conclave" taught him to translate a filmmaker's vision rather than reading a script literally, recalling Berger citing "The Parallax View" as a reference point that turned a "people-talking-in-rooms drama" into a political thriller.
Why it matters: FilmNation is a major indie financier, and a jump from four 2026 films to a possible seven in 2027 represents real capital re-deployment into a market Basner says finally feels legible again after years of disruption. For older-skewing titles like "Bunker," Basner is explicitly betting against the industry consensus that mature audiences have permanently left theaters — a thesis with direct revenue implications if the pre-sales (75% international on "Bunker") convert to theatrical results.
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