Sundance 2020: Insiders think filmmakers are vying to work with the distributor even more than before
After Neon’s incredible buying spree at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the distributor founded by Tom Quinn and Tim League has had a successful year with its acquisition titles “Parasite” and “Honeyland” — so much so that several insiders told TheWrap they anticipate that filmmakers heading to the festival this year will want to work with Neon more than ever before.
“Neon has had a great year, and the success of ‘Parasite’ translates to upcoming action on foreign language films. ‘Parasite’ is a Korean-language film, and it made a lot of money at the box office. It’s unbelievable,” one sales agent told TheWrap said of the Best Picture front-runner, which has grossed $28.5 million domestically.
“Neon has had its biggest success since ‘I,Tonya’ with ‘Parasite,” a second sales agent said, referencing the 2017 indie hit that earned Allison Janney an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. “Every time we sit with filmmakers, there is just as much excitement working with A24 and Neon as working with a big studio. They always keep it very authentic.”
Indeed, “Parasite,” Bong Joon-Ho’s provocative film about the class system in South Korea, has had an impressive run since Neon snatched it up at the American Film Market in 2018. Not only did it score the highest per-screen average of 2019 of $125,421 its opening weekend ($376,264 in total), but Bong-Joon Ho’s film has made $136.7 million worldwide since.
After landing six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, the film also got a bump at the box office when Neon expanded the film to 843 locations, grossing another $2.1 million over the four-day holiday weekend. It’s rare for a Korean film to be this accepted in the United States.
Similarly, “Honeyland,” which Neon acquired after Sundance last year, has done gangbusters as well on a smaller scale. The documentary about a Macedonian beekeeper has grossed $726,000 globally and scored one of the best per-theater-averages of the year. “One of the most overlooked successes of last year’s Sundance is probably ‘Honeyland,” Quinn told TheWrap.
Additionally, the film landed Oscar nominations for Documentary Feature and International Film — and a clutch of prizes from Cinema Eye Honors Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
“For a foreign-language documentary, that’s box office reminiscent of the early aughts, a.k.a. the pre-streaming days,” Quinn said. “So for all the excitement and hoopla about how the streamers have changed the business, some things like the value of cinema — in cinemas — still remains very much the same. It’s another great example of how we’ll look in all corners of the festival to find the best cinema the world has to offer.”
Luckily for filmmakers angling to work with the indie film world’s hottest distributor, Neon has a wide-open release slate for 2020. Upcoming releases include the teen drama “Big Time Adolescence” (Jan. 28), another Sundance 2019 acquisition, the horror thriller “The Lodge” (Feb. 7) and the French romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which had an awards-qualifying run last year but will expand wider in mid-February. But the cupboard is bare beyond that.
Last year, Neon left Park City with four acquisitions, including “Little Monsters” in a deal worth mid-seven figures, as well as “Luce,” “The Lodge” and “Monos,” therefore emerging as a significant player in an increasingly volatile indie movie market. The company also picked up “Honeyland” and the Alfre Woodard drama “Clemency” after the festival.
Following the success of “I, Tonya” — which Neon co-acquired with 30West in Toronto in 2017 and drove to $30 million in domestic box office — Neon and investment and advisory company 30West entered into a partnership two years ago that “dramatically changed Neon financially,” Quinn told TheWrap last year.
The exact terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it gave 30West a majority ownership stake in Neon. And Quinn credited the deal for giving Neon the ability to build out its slate. “30West’s investment and support has allowed us to be aggressive at festivals and be one of the top buyers at Toronto — and Sundance as well,” he said.
16 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2020, From Julianne Moore's 'The Glorias' to Michael Keaton's 'Worth' (Photos)
It's another Sundance Film Festival of slopes, snow, stars and sales. That's right, the market at the Sundance Film Festival is gearing up yet again with some buzzy titles among those just premiering at the festival and those in competition. And after last year produced some mega deals for movies like "Late Night," "The Farewell" and "Brittany Runs a Marathon" to name just a few, these are the features and documentaries TheWrap will be keeping an eye on while in Park City.
All Photos Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The 40-Year-Old Version"
No, it's not the Steve Carell movie. Radha Blank wrote, directed and stars in this highly personal film about what it really looks like to be a struggling actress at age 40 when she leaves the world of community theater and records a rap demo track. The film marks Blank's directorial debut and is shot in New York entirely in black and white. "Queen & Slim" scribe Lena Waithe is a producer on the film, and "The 40-Year-Old Version" is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Eric Branco
"Bad Hair"
Justin Simien's follow-up to his thought-provoking conversation piece "Dear White People" is set in LA in 1989 about a group of enterprising women trying to climb the ladder and be the next star of a music video TV show, all while battling in a war of words and dreadlocks. Elle Lorraine, Vanessa Williams, Jay Pharoah, Lena Waithe, Blair Underwood and Laverne Cox all star in this satirical, psychological thriller that's debuting in the midnight section of the festival.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Black Bear"
"Black Bear" stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon in a drama about a couple who welcomes an aspiring filmmaker into their remote lake house, only to be wrapped up in a game of desire, manipulation and jealousy in the filmmaker's pursuit of art. The film is directed and written by Lawrence Michael Levine and will premiere in the NEXT section of the festival.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Rob Leitzell
"Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen"
In "Disclosure," filmmaker Sam Feder sits down with Hollywood's leaders and thinkers in the trans community like Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton and Chaz Bono. The documentary grapples with the history of trans characters in TV and movies, going way back to "Dog Days Afternoon" and "Boys Don't Cry" up through FX's "Pose."
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Four Good Days"
Glenn Close reunites with her director on "Albert Nobbs," Rodrigo Garcia, for this drama in which Close plays a mother who gets a surprise visit from her estranged, drug addict daughter (Mila Kunis). Close's character is resistant to give her daughter another chance after years of failed rehab and lying, but something about this time feels different.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Igor Jadue Lillo
"The Glorias"
Julianne Moore stars in Julie Taymor's biopic "The Glorias" about the journalist and feminist icon Gloria Steinem. But she's just one of five women playing Steinem at different stages of her journey in Taymor's unconventional approach to adapting Steinem's memoir "Life on the Road." Alicia Vikander, Janelle Monáe, Timothy Hutton, Lulu Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint and Bette Midler all star in the film.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Go-Go's"
This documentary's got the beat as it goes behind the scenes of one of the defining pop punk girl groups of the 1980s, The Go-Gos. The film from director Alison Ellwood reunites founding band members Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin during their early days in the Los Angeles punk rock scene up through their hit-making, MTV success and turn to fame, drugs and alcohol.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Paul Natkin
"Ironbark"
Benedict Cumberbatch stars in this drama set during the Cold War-era and Cuban Missile Crisis about a mild-mannered businessman called upon by the British government to help uncover a Soviet mole. Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan and Angus Wright co-star. This is just the second feature film from Dominic Cooke after his 2017 film "On Chesil Beach."
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Nest"
In what is incredibly only Sean Durkin's second feature film since he won the directing prize from Sundance for "Martha Marcy May Marlene" in 2011, "The Nest" stars Jude Law and Carrie Coon as two ex-pats who leave suburban America for London in the 1980s. The two-handed character drama shows how their relationship slowly simmers and boils over as they try to manage their new, lavish lifestyle in England.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Night House"
Playing in the midnight section of the festival, this horror film from director David Bruckner stars Rebecca Hall as a woman living alone in a lakeside home following the recent death of her husband. The film is an updated take on a traditional ghost story as Hall experiences dreams that drive her to find answers about her husband's past. Sarah Goldberg and Stacy Martin co-star.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Elisha Christian
"On the Record"
The latest documentary from the directors of "The Hunting Ground" and "The Invisible War" is back on the market after Oprah Winfrey removed herself as an executive producer from the project and pulled the film from debuting on Apple TV+. Winfrey specifically felt the need to step aside from the movie because directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering wanted to show the film at Sundance before Winfrey felt it was complete. "On the Record" follows music executive Drew Dixon in the early days of #MeToo as she grapples with the decision to come forward about her her accusations of rape against Def-Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Martyna Starosta
"Save Yourselves!"
"Save Yourselves" is a zany sci-fi comedy about a Brooklyn couple that retreats to a remote cabin in the woods in order to unplug, only to miss the news of an alien invasion that's destroyed much of civilization. The film from directors Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer satirizes millennial culture and modern love. John Reynolds and Sunita Mani star in the comedy that's premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Matt Clegg
"Shirley"
"Shirley" stars Elisabeth Moss as the famous gothic horror author of stories such as "The Lottery" and "The Haunting of Hill House," Shirley Jackson. It's an unconventional biopic about how Jackson discovers the inspiration for her next novel through the eccentric behavior of a young couple she and her husband take into their home. Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman and Odessa Young co-star in the film from "Madeline's Madeline" director Josephine Decker. The film is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Thatcher Keats
"Sylvie's Love"
Romantic, elegant and with a jazzy soundtrack, "Sylvie's Love" is a lush love story set in 1957 New York and spread out over years. Tessa Thompson is said to give a powerful performance in the film from writer and director Eugene Ashe, who melds music into his romance for a rich period piece. "Sylvie's Love" is playing in competition in the U.S. Dramatic section.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Wander Darkly"
Part mystery, part family drama and featuring what's described by Sundance as "demanding tonal shifts," "Wander Darkly" stars Sienna Miller trying to reckon with the future of her relationship with her husband (Diego Luna) and her infant child. At the same time, she's forced to solve the mystery of a recent traumatic accident. Tara Miele directs the film that's playing in competition in the U.S. Dramatic section.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Carolina Costa
"Worth"
"Worth" gives a new perspective of New York post-9/11 by following Michael Keaton as an attorney appointed to lead the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. But Keaton's character has a change of heart when he comes face to face with a community leader played by Stanley Tucci who lost his wife in the World Trade Center. "Worth" is director Sara Colangelo's third film, all of which have premiered at Sundance, including her previous film "The Kindergarten Teacher," which won top directing honors at the festival in 2018.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
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Documentaries like “On the Record,” “Disclosure” and “The Go-Go’s” are also making noise
It's another Sundance Film Festival of slopes, snow, stars and sales. That's right, the market at the Sundance Film Festival is gearing up yet again with some buzzy titles among those just premiering at the festival and those in competition. And after last year produced some mega deals for movies like "Late Night," "The Farewell" and "Brittany Runs a Marathon" to name just a few, these are the features and documentaries TheWrap will be keeping an eye on while in Park City.
All Photos Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Eric Branco
Beatrice Verhoeven
Senior Film Reporter