Cannes luxury lacked in 2026 with cut price parties and fewer stars — but there were still some wild moments

It was down-and-out in Cannes for Hollywood this year, with rival flaks bunking together, films screening in tiny apartments, and studio teams staying home.

Cannes 2026 wrapped on Saturday night, closing out the lowest-wattage incarnation of the uberglam festival in five years. In 2021, most of Tinseltown stayed Stateside as the Delta variant of COVID raged. This year, economic concerns reigned. The Euro jumped 6% over the dollar in the past 12 months, putting any Côte d’Azur trek on hold this year for all of the major studios except Universal, which brought a small contingent for a 25-year anniversary screening of “The Fast and the Furious.”

Adding to the low-key feel, some five-star hotels were even offering steep discounts at the eleventh hour, the Vanity Fair party was a meh dinner, and Scarlett Johansson not only skipped the premiere of her indie movie “Paper Tiger,” she didn’t even answer the FaceTime call when director James Gray dialed her during the standing ovation. (We’re told Johansson was filming Universal’s “The Exorcist” reboot in New York, and has a very intense schedule.)

The French fest’s lineup was a reversal from recent years when big studio films like “Elvis” (Warner Bros.), “Top Gun 2” (Paramount), and “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” (Sony) made splashy debuts. Even the indie film companies and specialty labels brought smaller teams this year.

One executive who booked a room at the Majestic hotel at the last minute told Page Six Hollywood that he paid just north of $800 a night during the prime first weekend. A standard room during that window typically fetches up to $3,000.

In another sign of cash-strapped times, publicists from rival agencies were bunking together in Airbnbs to save money. And one buyer says he had to trek to a one-room apartment near the Cannes bus station to screen a film that was for sale. The three filmmakers who were staying in the apartment vacated the bedroom so that the buyer could watch it in the room.

“Nothing is like the past. Everything has changed,” mused the buyer.

Most of the traditional beach parties that followed the indie film premieres were heavy on well liquor and light on food. At the Lucia Beach afterparty for the fest’s breakout film, “Club Kid,” attendees tracked unsubstantiated rumors of a single tray of burgers making the rounds like a Bigfoot sighting.

By contrast, the money this year was spent at beach bashes attracting influencers. The best rosé flowed, and delicacies abounded at a Bodvár-hosted event on the same day at Copa Beach, featuring appearances by Victoria’s Secret model Sara Sampaio (8.2 million Instagram followers) and Chinese influencer and actress Miao Zhang, who boasts 3.7 million followers on Weibo. (French wine has become a growing obsession in China.)

The Vanity Fair party, once the hottest ticket of the fest, was a dinner that featured an anemic guest list this year. Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, Odessa A’zion, Peter Jackson, and Nicky Hilton made the trek to a relaunched version of a Cannes classic resto, Tétou, that has been backed by private equity.

But one VIP related that there was no line to get into the event, which was held a good 20 minutes away from the Palais near the port.

Sources further told Page Six Hollywood that “Club Kid” director Jordan Firstman, this year’s toast of the town after his film, “Club Kid,” was bought by A24 in a bidding war, struggled to find an Uber to take him to the out-of-the-way fete. “The party felt like it was over before it even started,” sighed one veteran Cannes attendee.

Some in the film community even skipped the VF affair after the magazine’s new global editorial director, Mark Guiducci, attended zero Cannes premieres — which counts in the eyes of the industry. (Guiducci came from Vogue and has more fashion than film ties.) His predecessor, Radhika Jones, attended the “Elvis” premiere at the 75th Cannes in 2022, among other film happenings in recent years. Guiducci’s absence at the film events at Cannes earned him the nickname “The Invisible Editor” among the cinephile set. But he did attend an event co-hosted by VF and Ron Howard‘s Imagine Documentaries on a yacht to celebrate the director’s new doc on iconic photographer Richard Avedon.

Some execs from Meta — an official sponsor of the fest with its Meta House on the Croisette, as well as the sponsor of the Vanity Fair soiree and The Hollywood Reporter Studio— were seen exiting the VF bash to hit an afterparty for the film “Paper Tiger,” starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller.

One bright spot on the party scene was former VF editor Graydon Carter’s Hotel du Cap bash. Sharon Stone, in town filming Season 4 of “The White Lotus,” was seen in an Oscars-worthy ballgown being greeted by George and Amal Clooney. Guests partied well past 1 a.m.

Then again with all the belt-tightening, the Riviera fest still apparently had its share of pants dropping. Hang Lu, a producer based in Paris and Beijing, posted on X: “A young couple is having sex right now on the floor of back row in Salle Bunuel during Short film competition screening.” — Tatiana Siegel