Final wrap up of Sundance deals
This piece was researched, compiled and written by TFC associate Bryan Glick.
Back in March we looked at the films that were bought out of Sundance and since then the deals have kept coming, including some from major players like Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) and IFC.
Among the companies making fresh acquisitions, Tribeca Films nabbed North American rights to two US Dramatic competition entries, “The Comedy” and “For Ellen”. In fact every film in the US Dramatic Competition now has a US Distributor. SPC secured worldwide rights to “Smashed” for $1,000,000 and Sony Worldwide opened their eyes to US Rights and Canada Ancillary for “The First Time”. Music Box bought “Keep The Lights On” for North America, in what is certainly a change of pace from their typical fare. Meanwhile “Filly Brown” became the fourth film to get bought by Indomina who is making it clear that they are presence in the indie world. They have worldwide rights for the film. The Late Adam Yauch’s Oscilloscope got the North American rights to the opening night film “Hello I Must Be Going” and IFC showed they could acquire the entire festival if they wanted to by adding North American rights for “Save the Date” to their packed slate, and finally Wrekin Hill took a chance on “The End of Love” for which they now hold North American rights.
On the World Dramatic side “Teddy Bear” which won the directing prize became only the second film to get US Distribution from this competition section. While in the World Documentary section “China Heavyweight” was acquired for the US by premiere documentary distributor Zeitgeist.
Oscilloscope embraced their music roots and will do a special release for “Shut Up and Play The Hits” in North America, while IFC Midnight had to snatch up “Grabbers” for North America, leaving “John Dies at the End” as the only Midnight film to not sell this year. In the Next section, IFC got North American rights to yet another film with the audience award winner “Sleepwalk With Me” and Phase 4 got into the game with US and Canadian rights to “That’s What She Said”. This brings the total sale of Next films to five, with another four still looking for a buyer. While that might seem bleak, this is better than its first two years and slowly this section is showing that it can play with the big dogs in the US Dramatic Competition Section.
In the premiere section Strand is in for the long haul with US Rights for “California Solo” and “Red Hook Summer” is being distributed by Spike Lee’s own company in partnership with Variance and Image Entertainment. Only “Price Check” has yet to find a distributor.
In the US Documentary section, Film Arcarde & Lionsgate got a slam dunk with North American rights to “The Other Dream Team”, which reportedly sold for mid six figures Oscilloscope secured US, non-TV rights to “Chasing Ice” and Bravo got in on the action with “The Queen of Versailles”. Finally, “Detropia” just started a kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a DIY release. Meanwhile , the Doc Premiere film “Under African Skies” saw a small theatrical run courtesy of A&E (who will also be premiering it on TV) and was bought by Snag Films for all digital platforms.
FINAL THOUGHTS. This year was yet again dominated by the power of the IFC brand. IFC/IFC Midnight acquired a whopping 8 films and their sister division Sundance Selects got 2! Magnolia/Magnet was a not even close second with 6 films. Oscilloscope, Indomina, and SPC all showed prominence with four films a piece. Other companies acquiring multiple films include Music Box, Zeitgeist, Tribeca Films, The Weinstein Company, Kino Lorber, and Fox Searchlight. A full list of sales is viewable below.
Box office grosses are current as of June 10th.
| Film | Company | Deal Amount | Terrtitories | Sales Company | Box Office/ |
| Release Date | |||||
| 2 Days in New York | Magnolia | N/A | North America | CAA | August 10th |
| 28 Hotel Rooms | Oscilloscope | N/A | US | Preferred Content | |
| 5 Broken Cameras | Kino Lorber | N/A | US | CAT&Docs | $22,787 |
| About Face | HBO Doc | N/A | TV | Pre-Fest | July 30th |
| Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry | Sundance Selects | N/A | North America | Cinetic Media, Victoria Cook | July 27th |
| Arbitrage | Roadside | Over $3,000,000 | North America | WME | |
| Bachelorette | TWC | Over $2,000,000 | North America | CAA | |
| Beasts of the Southern Wild | Fox Searchlight | Almost $1,000,000 | US | WME | June 27th |
| Black Rock | LD | Over $1,000,000 | North America | Submarine | |
| California Solo | Strand | N/A | US | Visit Films | |
| Celeste and Jesse Forever | SPC | Almost $2,000,000 | North And Latin America, Eastern Europe | UTA | August 3rd |
| Chasing Ice | Oscilloscope | N/A | US (Non TV) | Submarine | |
| Chasing Ice | National Geographic | N/A | TV | Submarine | |
| China Heavyweight | Zeitgeist | N/A | US | EyeSteelFilms | July 6th |
| Compliance | Magnolia | N/A | North America | Cinetic | June 20th |
| Detropia | DIY | ||||
| Escape Fire | Roadside | N/A | US | CAA | October 5th |
| Ethel | HBO Doc | N/A | TV | Pre-Fest | |
| Excision | Anchor Bay | N/A | North America | Preferred Content | |
| Filly Brown | Indomina | N/A | Worldwide | WME | |
| For a Good Time Call | Focus | $3,000,000 | Worldwide | Cinetic | August 31st |
| For Ellen | Tribeca | N/A | North America | CAA | Sept 5th |
| GOATS | Image | Almsot $1,000,000 | US | WME and Cinetic Media | |
| Grabbers | IFC Midnight | N/A | North & Latin America | Gersh | |
| Hello, I Must Be Going | Oscilloscope | N/A | North America | WME | |
| How To Survive a Plague | Sundance Selects | High Six Figures | North America | Submarine | September 21st |
| Indie Game: The Movie | HBO And Scott Rudin | N/A | TV | Film Sales Company | B.O. Gross not |
| (Remake Rights) | Reported | ||||
| Keep the Lights On | Music Box | N/A | North America | Preferred Content | |
| Lay the Favorite | TWC | Over $2,000,000 | US | CAA | |
| Liberal Arts | IFC | Over $1,000,000 | North America | Gersh | |
| Luv | Indomina/BET | Over $1,000,000 | North America/TV | ICM/Cinetic | |
| Marina Abramovic | HBO Doc | TV | Pre-Fest | July 2nd | |
| Marina Abramovic | Music Box | N/A | US | Submarine | June 13th |
| Me @ The Zoo | HBO Doc | Mid Six Figures | TV | Submarine | June 25th |
| Middle of Nowhere | Participant and AAFFRM | Mid Six Figures | US | Paradigm | |
| Mosquita Y Mari | Wolfe | Low Six Figures | North America | The Film Collaborative | August 3rd |
| Nobody Walks | Magnolia | Mid-high Six Figures | North America | Submarine | |
| Payback | Zeitgeist | N/A | US | N/A | $12,962 |
| Predisposed | IFC | N/A | North America | ICM and UTA | August 17th |
| Putin’s Kiss | Kino Lorber | N/A | North America | N/A | $3,872 |
| Red Hook Summer | DIY/Variance/Image | N/A | North America | N/A | |
| Red Lights | Millennium Entertainment | Under $4,000,000 | US | UTA | July 13th |
| Robot & Frank | Sony & Samuel Goldwyn | Over $2,000,000 | North America and | ICM, CAA | |
| select territories | |||||
| Room 237 | IFC Midnight | N/A | North America | Betsy Rodgers | |
| Safety Not Guaranteed | Film District | Over $1,000,000 | US | ICM | $97,762 |
| Save the Date | IFC | N/A | North America | CAA | |
| Searching for Sugar Man | SPC | Mid Six Figures | North America | Submarine | July 27th |
| Shadow Dancer | ATO | $1,000,000 | North America | CAA | |
| Shut Up and Play the Hits | Oscilloscope | N/A | North America | WME | |
| Simon Killer | IFC Films | N/A | North America | UTA, Caa | |
| Sleepwalk With Me | IFC | N/A | North America | UTA | August 24th |
| Smashed | SPC | $1,000,000 | Worldwide | UTA and CAA | |
| Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap | Indomina | Over $1,000,000 | Worldwide | UTA | |
| Teddy Bear | Film Movement | N/A | North America | Visit Films | August 22nd |
| That’s what she said | Phase 4 | N/A | US and Canada | Submarine | |
| The Comedy | Tribeca | N/A | North America | Submarine | |
| The D Word | HBO Doc | N/A | TV | Pre-Fest | |
| The End Of Love | Wreckin Hill | N/A | North America | Preferred Content | |
| The First Time | Sony Worldwide | N/A | US/Canada Ancillary | N/A | |
| The Imposter | Indomina | N/A | North America | A&E Films | July 13th |
| The Invisble War | Cinedigm and New Video | N/A | North America | The Film Collaborative | June 22nd |
| The Other Dream Team | Film Arcade & Lionsgate | Mid Six Figures | North America | WME | |
| The Pact | IFC Midnight | High Six Figures | North America | Preferred Content | |
| The Queen of Versailles | Bravo | N/A | TV | Submarine | 2013 |
| The Queen of Versailles | Magnolia | Mid Six Figures | North America | Submarine | July 20th |
| The Surrogate | Fox Searchlight | $6,000,000 + | Worldwide | CAA | |
| $4,000,00 P&A | |||||
| The Words | CBS | $2,000,000 | US | CAA | September 7th |
| Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie | Magnet | N/A | World | Pre Fest | $201,406 |
| Under African Skies | A&E Films | N/A | TV/Theatrical | A&E Films | |
| Under African Skies | Snag Films | N/A | Exclusive Digital | A&E Films | |
| V/H/S | Magnolia (magnet) | Over $1,000,000 | North America | WME | |
| West of Memphis | SPC | N/A | Worldwide | Peter Jackson and Ken Kamins | |
| Wish You Were Here | Entertainment One | N/A | North America | LevelK | |
Orly Ravid June 13th, 2012
Posted In: Distribution, Film Festivals, International Sales
Tags: acquisition prices, American independent film, box office statistics, distribution, film distribution, Film Festivals, independent film, Sundance