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Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, John Travolta get grabbed in Toronto

At least a dozen high-profile pics that came into the Toronto International Film Festival looking for distributors found them.

Hollywood studios and specialty houses traditionally use the Toronto International Film Festival to launch titles into the awards season fray, and this year is no different: Warner's The Equalizer, with Denzel Washington, Fox Searchlight's Wild, with Reese Witherspoon, The Weinstein Company's St. Vincent, with Bill Murray, Sony Pictures Classics' Foxcatcher, with Channing Tatum and Steve Carell – off and running after their Toronto debuts.

But literally dozens of films, independently financed and produced, pull into North America's largest film festival without a distributor, hoping audience buzz and press and industry chatter will help them land a deal. And midway through TIFF 2014, the deal-making has been fairly feverish. Here are a few of the bigger acquisitions:

Big GameSamuel L. Jackson is the President of the United States, crash-landed in the Finnish outback in an Air Force One escape pod, and discovered by a 13-year-old boy, in this wildly received "Midnight Madness' entry. EuropaCorp nabbed U.S. distribution rights.

The CobblerAdam Sandler is the titular shoe mender,  in Oscar-nominated Thomas McCarthy's magical realist comedy, also starring Method Man, Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi. Image Entertainment made the buy.

The Forger – John Travolta, released from prison to spend time with his dying son, gets caught up in a museum heist in this thriller also starring Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Ehle. Saban Films inked the deal.

The Last 5 Years Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan are the couple going through the ups and downs of a relationship in Richard LaGravenese's adaptation of the hit musical. The Weinsteins' RADiUS picked it up.

RideHelen Hunt directs and stars in this mother-and-son road movie/surf movie/self-discovery movie. The Giver's Brenton Thwaites is her kid. Screen Media made the purchase.

Top Five – Written, directed by, and starring Chris Rock, the story of New York comedian-turned-film star and his fateful meet-up with a journalist (Rosario Dawson). Paramount picked it up.,

What We Do In the Shadows— Comedic Kiwi vampire flick, with Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement co-starring and co-directing. Unison Films signed on the dotted line, in blood.

While We're YoungNoah Baumbach's marital comedy, with Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a longtime couple whose world is upended when a younger twosome – Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried -- enter the picture. A24 will release.