The Sundance Film Festival, Hollywood\u2019s annual marathon of all-night bidding and impulse buying, kicks off Jan. 19, but credit cards were being thrown around before agents even bought their boots for the snowy mountains of Park City.
Sony Pictures Classics has already scooped up global rights for the gay love story \u201cCall Me by Your Name\u201d for close to $6 million. A24 took \u201c A Ghost Story ,\u201d a spooky tale that reteams director David Lowery (\u201cAin\u2019t Them Bodies Saints\u201d) with Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. Not to be left out, Netflix continued its recent acquisitions spree with the documentary \u201cCasting JonBenet,\u201d about the 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant who was murdered in 1996.
The trio of deals, while just the tip of the iceberg, suggests a robust market for Sundance, as distributors are eager to seize on strong material early to avoid frenzied bidding wars. Netflix and Amazon Studios, as well as stalwarts like SPC, Fox Searchlight, and Focus Features, are just a few of the hungry bidders bracing themselves to hit the screenings.
There are other contenders, too. Several emerging powerhouses could use this year\u2019s festival as a coming-out-party for their big-screen ambitions, such as Hulu, Apple TV, Vimeo, and Gunpowder, the new digital company from former Viacom executive Van Toffler.
\u201cThe digital platforms are expanding, and we will see a number of new players in the marketplace,\u201d says Rena Ronson, head of UTA Independent Film Group. \u201cFrom a sales and distribution perspective, that\u2019s always healthy.\u201d
Several companies are moving into distributing their own films, among them Annapurna, the producer of \u201c20th Century Women\u201d and \u201cThe Master,\u201d and Neon, the newly-christened company from Alamo Drafthouse\u2019s Tim League and former Radius-TWC chief Tom Quinn. And, finally, unexpected bedfellows could emerge. In this scenario, there could be a union in which a traditional player, like Harvey Weinstein, hitches a wagon to overseas money \u2014 particularly of the Chinese variety. \u201cIt\u2019s the buyers you know and the buyer you don\u2019t know,\u201d one agent notes.
Among the films in contention, there are a number that could become the \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d of Sundance 2017 . \u201c Yellow Birds ,\u201d a war drama with Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan; \u201cBrigsby Bear,\u201d a surrealist comedy with Claire Danes and Mark Hamill; \u201cCity of Ghosts,\u201d a documentary about ISIS; \u201cThe Big Sick,\u201d a romantic comedy with Kumail Nanjiani; and \u201cThe Polka King,\u201d a true-crime comedy with Jack Black, are generating interest from bidders.
\u201cOn paper, it\u2019s a compelling slate of films,\u201d says Paul Davidson, executive vice president of film and TV at The Orchard. \u201cYou\u2019ve got some cast-driven films and narratives that feel big in size and scope.\u201d
This year\u2019s parties and premieres will need to cede the stage to several major interruptions. The inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20 will be followed the next day by a woman\u2019s march led by Chelsea Handler through the streets of Park City. The Oscar nominations are scheduled for Jan. 24.
With all the enthusiastic shoppers, there\u2019s still the unknown factor. Sometimes a rapturous reception in Park City doesn\u2019t translate to tickets sales in the real world \u2014 just ask the studios that ponied up millions for \u201cMe and Earl and the Dying Girl,\u201d \u201cDope,\u201d and \u201cHamlet 2.\u201d
\u201cI always call it the \u2018Happy, Texas\u2019 theory,\u201d says SPC co-founder Tom Bernard, referencing an infamous late-\u201990s bomb. \u201cEvery year there\u2019s some movie that studios spend an insane amount of money for that doesn\u2019t work.\u201d
Last year, Fox Searchlight shattered records, plopping down $17.5 million for Nate Parker\u2019s \u201cThe Birth of a Nation.\u201d However, the movie tanked at the box office after details emerged that Parker had been tried in college of raping a classmate. Although he was acquitted, there was a media firestorm, one that intensified after reports that the alleged victim had committed suicide. But even without the scandal, \u201cThe Birth of a Nation\u201d might have fizzled.
\u201cIt\u2019s always really hard to gauge whether or not an indie film is going to be a huge success,\u201d says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. \u201cFor a drama to work, you have to get great press, great reviews, and great word-of-mouth, and even with all of those things, there\u2019s no guarantee you\u2019ll cross over from the art house to the multiplexes.\u201d
Sundance remains a talent incubator. Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler, Jennifer Lawrence and Ryan Gosling are just a few of the major creative forces who first announced themselves at the festival.
\u201cSundance is all about discoveries,\u201d says John Sloss, a sales agent and the founder of Cinetic Media. \u201cThat\u2019s its very potent and attractive allure.\u201d
As the contours of the indie film business mutate and shift, studios and filmmakers are showing greater willingness to experiment with distribution models. Focus Features is considering doing more day-and-date releases through its Focus World label, and Fox Searchlight may begin to offer some smaller films simultaneously in theaters and on demand, according to sources.
It\u2019s all part of a blurring of the borders between the digital, small-screen, and theatrical worlds. Take Awesomeness Films: The company built up a youth following by creating shareable, clickable content and releasing it on YouTube. Now it has moved into feature films and will be at this year\u2019s Sundance debuting \u201cBefore I Fall,\u201d an adaptation of Lauren Oliver\u2019s best-selling novel.
\u201cContent is content in 2017,\u201d says Awesomeness Films president Matt Kaplan. \u201cWhether you\u2019re making a film for Netflix or doing a TV show that\u2019s going to get watched on a cellphone, it\u2019s all about making quality content and finding the most organic way to distribute it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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