With the Sundance Film Festival heading into its last stretch, buyers are beginning to get deals made before Park City once again becomes a quaint little village in Utah, and a number of contracts have been signed over the past twenty-four hours….
First up is the Beat Generation origin film — “Beat Generation: First Class” aka “Kill Your Darlings” — which has been acquired by Sony Picture Classics. The true-life thriller was one of the films we tipped to start a bidding war and with the distribution company negotiating for multiple territories, first time filmmaker John Krokidas must be feeling real good. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston and others, our own reviewer found the film “fairly interesting and relatively compelling, but far from an enlightening or deep story into the hearts and minds of these artists who would define a generation.” No release date yet.
The Weinstein Company and their offshoot label Radius have ponied up about $3 million for the porn star saga "Lovelace." From "Howl" directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman, the film chronicles the story of "Deep Throat" actress Linda Lovelace and her controversial journey through porn. The film premiered late last night, so the first reviews will start rolling in today, but you can probably expected a limited theatrical/VOD bow for this one.
Next up is the coming-of-age Amblin-inspired “Toy’s House” which will now hit theaters in the U.S. courtesy of CBS Films. Directed by “Funny Or Die” veteran Jordan Vogt-Roberts in his feature length directorial debut with a Black List-approved script by Chris Galletta, the film premiered to positive reviews this past weekend including our own, which called the coming-of-age tale “beautiful and dark and also funny.” Though the film is led by unknown actors, the rest of the cast is rounded out by people like Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Megan Mullally and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
Meanwhile, earning less considerable buzz is the Naomi Watts and Robin Wright starring "Two Mothers." Directed by Anne Fontaine ("Coco Before Chanel") the drama about two women who fall for each other's sons has been snapped up by the relatively new Exclusive Releasing, who are prepping for a summer release.
Finally, eOne has snared midnight movie "We Are What We Are" beating several other bidders including Magnolia, Lionsgate and Drafthouse. The genre flick about a family of cannibals apparently played to some good word, has potential to be a crossover hit, but now word yet when it will roll out.
