SUNDANCE 2009

News Reported As The Festival Opened

January 16, 2009 - Sundance's annual weekend sprint through some of the indie world's hottest titles began with a bang -- actually, hundreds of them -- on Friday night as Antoine Fuqua's violent cop drama "Brooklyn's Finest" unspooled to a distributor-packed screening.

The world premiere kicks off a 48-hour period in which the most promising acquisition titles screen back-to-back and, frequently, head-to-head, requiring buyers to navigate carefully and make difficult choices.

Despite its dark themes, the stars of "Finest" (which include Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle and Richard Gere) and at least its trappings of a thriller (it's in fact much more of a study in police and human psychology) have made it one of the more commercially viable titles of the fest.

The CAA- and WMA-co-repped film played strongly at its Eccles debut, and as of Saturday morning several distributors had put forth offers, though some also noted that backend deals for some of its stars could make it a pricey pickup.

The buyer interest signaled that the fest would have, if not the feverish climate of two and three years ago, then at least a little more movement than last year, when opening-weekend hopeful "What Just Happened?" and other high-profile titles flopped with distributors.

Drawing the unenviable slot Friday opposite "Finest" was "Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire," a feature directing effort from "Monster's Ball" producer Lee Daniels that centers on a pregnant inner-city teenager. That screening also was strong, though the play is thought to be mainly for a smaller distributor, some of whom hurried over midway through "Finest."

But it's the two weekend days that will see the big screenings back up like traffic on Main Street.

Early on Saturday afternoon, potential sleeper title "Amreeka" plays opposite Anna Wintour exploration "The September Issue," which examines a month in the life of the Vogue editor who inspired "The Devil Wears Prada." (Foreign rights to the pic went to Wild Bunch as the fest got under way.) The dramatic competition title "Amreeka," from Sundance Middle East Screenwriters Lab alum Cherien Dabis, follows the repercussions of the Iraq War on a Palestinian mother and son who take refuge in Illinois.

The afternoon steamrolls on as the star-studded weepy drama "The Greatest" debuts, with a premiere quickly to follow for "Cold Souls," French writer-director Sophie Barthes' deadpan look at a soul-weary actor -- Paul Giamatti playing a version of himself -- who takes advantage of new soul-storage technology,

The evening hours see overlapping debuts of the Michael Cera quasi-doc "Paper Heart," an early favorite among fest organizers, and another youth-oriented title, Ashton Kutcher's raunchy comedy "Spread," about a Los Angeles gigolo, helmed by "Young Adam" director David Mackenzie.
 
Acquisitions-minded execs hoping for a break won't get one even late at night. The Park City at Midnight program starts in earnest at the witching hour with Tommy Wirkola's "Dead Snow," about eight medical students who head to the mountains of Norway for a weekend of fun only to find the area already occupied by Nazi zombies.

And Sunday, of course, brings a host of other candidates, including "I Love You Philip Morris," "The Cove" and "Big Fan."

Sellers have so far kept their pre-fest optimism despite the coolest sales market in several years. Some noted that fears over studios tying specialty division hands over SAG waivers were unfounded; only Fox Searchlight is believed to have even mentioned SAG.

The guild has been quick to clarify that any terms of a guaranteed completion contract in effect during a work stoppage would be superseded by the codified basic agreement currently being renegotiated. SAG then declared that it would no longer supply GCCs.

With specialty divisions' recent reluctance and the state of uncertainty about the indie business, the premieres' general air of celebration was tinged with a feeling of anxiety. "A big sale doesn't have to happen overnight," one seller said. "But it wouldn't hurt."

News Reported As It Ended

January 26, 2009 - In a weakening entertainment economy, movie sales came slowly, but did not halt, at the usually far more exuberant Sundance Film Festival, which ended Sunday in Park City, Utah.

Buyers proved fussy. Sellers were a bit frustrated. And despite some prominent deals — including Sony Pictures Classics’ buying the rights to “An Education,” a British coming-of-age drama set in the ’60s, for a reported $3 million — there was no blockbuster sale to match the $10 million that Focus Features spent last year on a single picture, “Hamlet 2.”

But the action continued even as the 10-day festival closed Sunday, promising that total sales would match or exceed the $15 million or so spent on rights to Sundance movies in 2008.

“Everyone is confident that quite a few more films will still sell,” said Richard Klubeck, a partner and independent film specialist with the United Talent Agency, who spoke Friday by telephone.

Mr. Klubeck’s agency took three films to the market that accompanies the annual festival: “The Messenger,” a drama with Woody Harrelson among its stars; “Five Minutes of Heaven,” a drama with Liam Neeson; and “Paper Heart,” a romance with Michael Cera.

None of the three had closed a sale as the festival headed toward its close, Mr. Klubeck said, but negotiations were under way with potential buyers.

“It’s pretty clear that this was a really strong festival in terms of everyone’s ability to find films they loved,” said Mr. Klubeck. But among potential buyers, he added, “caution was in the air.”

The festival’s bigger sales included “Black Dynamite,” an action comedy that quickly sold for about $2 million to a unit of Sony Pictures after a midnight screening on the festival’s first day, and “Adam,” a romance that went to Fox Searchlight soon after.

But some of the festival’s hotter action involved the pursuit of niche films like “Humpday,” a comedy about straight men making a gay pornographic film. That one sold for about $100,000 to Magnolia Pictures, which plans to release the film via video-on-demand before taking it to theaters.

“I imagine this is what Sundance was like 15 years ago,” said Kevin Iwashina, an independent sales and financing consultant who worked with Submarine Entertainment in negotiating the “Humpday” purchase.

Going into the final weekend, Mr. Iwashina said, demand was soft for theatrical rights to any of the many documentaries offered at the festival, though Submarine announced early Sunday the sale of “Art & Copy,” about the advertising business, to Arthouse Films. Those still looking for a theatrical distributor as the festival was winding down included “The Cove,” a kind of environmental thriller about the slaughter of dolphins in a secretive Japanese village, and “Why We Laugh,” a documentary about African-American humor.

Also still on the table were “I Love You Phillip Morris,” a gay-themed loved story with Jim Carrey. “Spread,” which featured Ashton Kutcher as a gigolo, was considered a hot title, but it did not sell until late Friday, for about $3.5 million, to Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Some of the unsold films will eventually find distributors for prices lower than sellers would like. Others will wind up making their debuts on cable television rather than in theaters. Still others may land, as did “Humpday,” on video-on-demand services, which are beginning to transform the independent film market.

One of the most robust video-on-demand distributors, IFC, owned by Rainbow Media and its parent, Comcast, has said it expects eventually to pick up a significant number of movies screened at the overlapping Sundance and Slamdance festivals.

For instance, on Thursday, IFC — which puts movies in a small number of theaters while adding them to its on-demand service — bought rights to “In the Loop,” a British political farce. The company was reported to have spent almost $1 million, though it often pays in the tens of thousands of dollars, rather than the hundreds of thousands, banking on the eagerness of filmmakers to get their work seen.

“I’ve come to realize that my festival run is my theatrical run,” said Joe Swanberg, the director of “Alexander the Last,” a movie that is expected to make its debut in March simultaneously at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Tex., and on IFC’s video-on-demand service.

Mr. Swanberg spoke at Sundance last Monday, during a panel discussion of changing market dynamics in the independent film business.

If Sundance was a lesson in diminished expectations for most, a few found reason to exult. One among them was Marco Weber, chief executive of Senator Entertainment, which will distribute its first films this year.

Shortly before the premiere of “Brooklyn’s Finest,” whose stars included Richard Gere and Don Cheadle and which was directed by Antoine Fuqua, Mr. Weber had expressed hope that the film would not seem sufficiently commercial to interest the buyers from big studio units like Fox Searchlight and Focus Features.

In the end, Senator had the winning bid, in partnership with Sony Pictures’ acquisition group, for an amount that Mr. Weber afterward characterized as being “in the low seven figures.”

“I’m in love with this movie,” Mr. Weber said later, though he said that it needed some editing and a new score.

Others who attended saw the slower pace and the lower bids as unhappy signs of the times.

One of those was Jamie Patricof, whose Hunting Lane Films had no film of its own at Sundance but will be in the market over the next year with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in a drama, “Blue Valentine.”

“Unfortunately, everyone’s worst fear came true — that buyers wouldn’t be buying,” Mr. Patricof said.