TLK

Sundance: A24 Acquires ‘Obvious Child’

Anne Hathaway's Song One will premiere today. It is a romantic drama so it shouldn't have any problems finding buyers.

http://www.tracking-board.com/sundance-deal-report-01-20-14/ DEALS AND SALES The Cesar Chavez documentary CESAR’S LAST FAST has been picked up by Pivot and Univision. The film, directed by Lorena Parlee and Richard Ray Perez centers on the 36 days that Chavez fasted in protest of the pesticides used on farmers in 1988. Lynn Shelton’s LAGGIES has been picked up by A24 for domestic rights. The film centers on a woman who postpones responding to her boyfriend’s marriage proposal and instead goes to hang out with high school friends. Chloe Moretz, Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell star in the film. Shelton is repped by UTA. James Franco’s KINK, which premiered at last year’s Sundance festival, has finally found distribution through MPI Pictures, who have picked up North American rights. The documentary center on the sexually-themed website kink.com. The project was directed by Christina Voros. WISH I WAS HERE, Zach Braff’s latest film, has been picked up by Focus Features. Braff stars as a struggling actor and father trying to find purpose in his life. He also wrote and directed the project and is repped by CAA. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jared Geller have inked a first-look deal with Participant Media and Pivot. The deal comes on the heels of Gordon-Levitt’s company HitRECord premiering the first episodes of their show HITRECORD ON TV. Gordon-Levitt is repped by WME. THE NIGHT COMES FOR US, directed by Timo Tjahjanto, has been bought for North American rights by RADiUS-TWC. The film centers on a mobster who returns to his local crime family in Jakarta only to find himself trapped in a word of betrayal and chaos. Action maestro Gareth Evans is producing and directing the action sequences. Tjahjanto is repped by WME. Fox Searchlight has picked up worldwide rights to I ORIGINS. Mike Cahill wrote and directed the project which centers on two molecular biologists who discover evidence that could alter society completely. Cahill is repped by WME. FEAR CLINIC haas sold to Anchor Bay for all rights. Robert Hall directed the film and co-wrote with Aaron Drane. The film follows five patients whose lives have been destroyed by their incurable phobias, and come to the Clinic willing to do whatever it takes to cure their worst fears and get a new lease on life… albeit for a price. Hall is repped by UTA. Lionsgate will be acquiring North American distribution for COOTIES. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion directed the film, which centers on a mysterious virus that turns adolescents into mindless killers. ATTACHMENTS Bruce Willis will produce and narrate THE PEOPLE DEMAND. The documentary film centers on protestors around the world fighting for their rights. Most prominently, the film will chronicle the political and social unrest in Cairo, Egypt. After last starring in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “RED 2″, Willis will next appear in “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.” He is repped by CAA. http://www.tracking-board.com/sundance-deal-report-01-20-14/

Two more big acquisitions. Zach Braff's movie was picked up by Focus Features and Laggies will be distributed by A24. I am a bit surprised that Fox Searchlight and LGF didn't pick up Laggies but A24 is a good distributor. Dear White People is getting good reviews today so is Ira Sachs' "Love Is Strange" but I dunno how commercial either of these movies are.

There haven't been any major sales or bidding wars at Sundance this year. I think Zach Braff's movie and Laggies look the most mainstream of the ones that have screened so far so they should be the next big one. Of all the movies left to be screened I am most curious about Linklater's Boyhood not that I am expecting it to be a financial success.

The odds of getting nominated are minimal if you are not backed by a major studio, an independent branch of a major studio or a powerhouse distributor like TWC so Adele didn't have much of a chance. The Past failed to take off in the US so Bejo didn't get in and Academy hasn't ever given a fuck about Linklater's movies (outside of his scripts) so Delpy was DOA.

Sony Picture Classics acquired Whiplash's domestic rights. They also had its Worldwide rights so this wasn't really surprising. I also read that Laggies has a couple of big distributors (Fox Searchlight and Lionsgate) interested.

It is an action movie and the market place is pretty much devoid of old school action so it has a chance.

That's actually not terrible for Jack Ryan. A lot will depend on how it performs overseas.

Whiplash was the opening night movie and it is getting good reviews. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sundance-miles-tellers-whiplash-sold-to-sony-in-first-major-deal-1201061922/ Sundance: Miles Teller’s ‘Whiplash’ Sold to Sony in First Major Deal Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has acquired rights to most key international territories to “Whiplash,” the opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival. The deal, which did not include U.S. rights, covers the U.K., Scandinavia, Benelux, Eastern Europe (ex CIS), Greece, South Africa, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Latin America. Sierra/Affinity, which announced the deal after the screening, handled the sale on behalf of Bold Films.WME is handling domestic sales. Directed and written by Damien Chazelle,” Whiplash” stars Miles Teller as a first-year college student as he begins his quest to become the core drummer of a top jazz orchestra. J.K. Simmons portrays his abusive instructor.

Waltz is more over-rated at the moment than Jonah Hill.

JLaw is going to face a lot of backlash. It is inevitable. This time last year she was the most under-rated actress in Hollywood. If she wins again this year the general consensus will be that she is the most over-rated now.

JLaw is actually better than Lupita and other ladies in the category so she should win this year.

I think New York Times' A O Scott also got attacked after Samuel L Jackson didn't like his review.

She got attacked for another review last year. Was it TDKR ?

Tarantino can now easily get $100 million budgets so it is shame that he is not being more adventurous. Westerns have a creative ceiling and the genre has been completely exhausted. DU added nothing to the genre and I don't think this will fare much better creatively.

Here is the full 2014 lineup. http://filmguide.sundance.org/event/films/ Richard Linklater's Boyhood was announced as the last title to be added to the lineup.

I was reading this thread and tried to like this post only to realize that I had liked it one month ago. Anyway, I agree with most of these predictions except that Leo and Bale have a really good shot at Best Comedy Actor and McQueen is probably a little bit ahead of Cuaron.

Shia may be a douche but at least he has an interesting personality. He needs to make more movies.

Apparently, Universal greenlit this movie only because they wanted Peter Berg to make Battleship. There is an article on Forbes about this. http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/01/10/how-lone-survivor-became-peter-bergs-hope-floats/ In all likelihood, Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor should top the box office this weekend with a strong over/under $30 million wide-release debut (it earned $1.5m on Thursday). If such events occur, it will be something of a “comeback” for director Peter Berg after the $210m Battleship grossed just $303m worldwide in 2012. Since Lone Survivor is a much cheaper film ($48m) and is getting much better reviews, this would be an unqualified win for all involved, including star Mark Wahlberg. The irony of course is that Peter Berg only agreed to make Battleship to get Universal to distribute Lone Survivor. . . In terms of cost-to-gross ratios, Lone Survivor will almost certainly be more successful than Battleship just as Hope Floats was more successful for Fox than Speed 2. And, my critical issues with the film aside, Lone Survivor is precisely the kind of film that studios should be all-too-willing to produce; mid-budget, R-rated, star-driven genre entries for adults that don’t have to set records to make money.That Universal was seemingly unwilling to fund the picture says something displeasing about the industry as a whole. That Universal was convinced to distribute it only after the director helmed their $200m+ board game adaptation says something else altogether. Either way, congratulations to Peter Berg for pulling “a Hope Floats” and restoring his critical and box office luster.

Woah. Pamela McClintock ‏@PamelaDayM 26m 'Lone Survivor' earns a coveted A+ CinemaScore. First hit of 2014?

Her is not a movie that is going to make a lot of money from overseas markets either. It may do well on home media or not but that P&A budget is a killer. There is a reason why the distribution model is the way it is.

Her is flopping. A movie opening in 1800 theaters is backed by at least $20 million in P&A on top of its production budget. $6 million opening means it is DOA and will not recover its total budget. That's a flop. There is a reason why esoteric movies don't play in lot of theaters and run TV ads - they can't afford to given the economics of indie film making and distribution.

Man Of Steel. Iron Man 3 was relatively well-liked by the critics and is easily the biggest movie of the year Worldwide. MOS just didn't measure up either commercially or critically.

It is between 12YAS and Hustle at this point. This may change next week with Oscar nominations but based on GG and BAFTA these two are the clear leaders.