Record summer gets a cheer from indie money in San Sebastian
Independent film financiers opened their annual meeting in San Sebastian by cheering a record summer for cinemas.
The first day of the Creative Investors' Conference in San Sebastian on Tuesday, 22 September brought celebration of record-breaking summer box office figures, as reported by Variety. The fifth-annual conference, held on 22 and 23 September, is co-organised by CAA Media Finance.
The numbers are large. The 2026 summer season in the United States earned a record $4.76 billion, according to Deadline. The season officially ended on Labor Day, 7 September 2026, and analysts estimate the full-year 2026 total could top $10 billion, according to Reuters. Growth has returned every year.
That record was helped by structure as well as hits. An extra week of ticket sales and higher-priced premium screenings, with bigger screens and better sound, bolstered the domestic season, which covers the United States and Canada, according to CNBC. Films from the Spider-Man and Toy Story series were among the titles driving the resurgence.
Elissa Federoff, head of distribution at Neon, described the summer result as a recovery and a phenomenal result. She pointed to growth every year since the pandemic.
The talk in San Sebastian then turned to smaller films. Adele Romanski, with production company Pastel Pictures, said Cannes has become more of a focus for US English-language independent films. One example was "Club Kid," which premiered at Cannes earlier this year and sparked a bidding war won by A24 for $17 million. Neon arrives with a strong festival run, having won seven consecutive Palme d'Ors at Cannes, including the current holder "Fjord."
New buyers are part of the picture. Rob Williams is president of Sumerian Pictures, which started operations in mid-2025. The company made a high-profile acquisition earlier this year with "Josephine."
The San Sebastian meeting is built for deal-making rather than premieres. Participants in the San Sebastian-CAA Creative Investors Conference take part in the conference programme, dedicated educational workshops, and receive private mentoring and exclusive exchanges, according to Variety. A separate "Unlocking Capital for Investors" lab runs in San Sebastian on 21-23 September. That lab belongs to the Investors Circle programme, organised by the Marche du Film - Festival de Cannes with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA.
For audiences, this means two stories at once. Blockbusters filled multiplexes all summer. In the same week, independent producers and financiers are in side rooms, trying to secure the money that puts the next smaller film on screen.
