“People still need content, production has been stop-start, so everyone is going to be looking for finished products,” one sales agent tells TheWrap
The film industry, like many other industries all over the world, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, yet buyers and sellers are heading into this week’s mostly virtual Sundance Film Festival optimistic about a “robust” and healthy market for indie films.
The need for content has never been higher due to families being stuck at home with nowhere to go, and the pandemic has forced production stoppages that have upended studios’ plans. These factors are making agents and distributors optimistic about a strong sales market at the festival, which begins Thursday and runs through Feb. 3.
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“We’re very cautiously optimistic. As we have seen during the pandemic, particularly with Cannes and Toronto, there is still a strong demand in the marketplace,” Nick Ogiony, an agent at CAA Media Finance, told TheWrap. “Even with the challenges with theatrical, content is still being consumed more than ever. We are confident.”
Also Read: Julie Dash, Cynthia Erivo Among 2021 Sundance Jury Members
“Passing” (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
ICM’s Oliver Wheeler said he anticipates this year’s festival will see the same number of big deals from the usual buyers as we’ve seen in recent years.
Some of the biggest and buzziest titles this year include “Eight for Silver,” starring Boyd Holbrook as a hunter and land baron who unleashes a curse after slaughtering a Roma clan; Zoe Lister-Jones’ “How It Ends,” about a woman seeking connection on the last day on Earth; Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut “Passing” and the documentary “Summer of Soul…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised.”
“People still need content, production has been stop-start, so everyone is going to be looking for finished products,” he told TheWrap. “In terms of the market as a whole, it’s going to be a continuation of a trend over the last few years: Big deals at the top of the market, with Amazon, Netflix, and the other usual suspects being aggressive.”
The market will be “robust” for a number of reasons, Cinetic Media’s John Sloss told TheWrap. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, so I think the all-rights buyers, they may come back in,” he said, referring to companies like Amazon and Netflix, who acquire worldwide rights for both theatrical and streaming.
However, he believes WarnerMedia and Apple could also pull out the checkbooks too: “There hasn’t been a lot of production, so there’s a real need for content among all the platforms, and Sundance is a place at the beginning of the year that buyers come to expecting to buy. So I’m pretty optimistic.”
Also Read: Sundance Festival Cancels LA-Area Movie Screenings Due to COVID-19 Spike
“Palm Springs” broke Sundance’s sales record last year (Neon/Hulu)
But will we see eight-figure deals happening this year? Andy Samberg’s “Palm Springs” sold to Hulu for a record-breaking $17.5 million last year, and Searchlight bought Rebecca Hall’s “The Night House” for around $12 million. The documentary “Boys State” went to Apple and A24 for $12 million.
“I don’t know if we’ll see a record-breaking sale, but I’m sure we’ll see numbers that are up there in the eight figures,” Wheeler said.
Insiders are looking to a particularly competitive field of documentaries, where Sundance has previously emerged as a major market. (Witness that nine-figure sale for “Boys State” last year.)
“I don’t know if there are scripted films of that commercial value that are going to be on offer this year at Sundance, but I can tell you from our own experience, there are documentaries that are very commercial that are going to be on offer,” Sloss said, referencing “Summer of Soul” in particular. “And the documentary market remains buoyant.”
We’ve already seen some major documentary film sales, including “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” selling to Juno Films, and Magnolia acquiring “A Glitch in the Matrix” ahead of the festival.
“Eight for Silver” (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
However, insiders foresee a shift to finding creative ways to get content seen, with theater closures expected to continue until at least this summer. While the pandemic left major studios scrambling to reschedule entire film slates, a handful of indie distributors found playtime on drive-in screens normally reserved for blockbuster films.
Smaller distributors, such as IFC Films, Saban Films and RLJE Entertainment have thrived during the pandemic. IFC monetized the release of “The Rental” by offering drive-in screenings, as well as video on demand (VOD), which resulted in $420,871 in box office over its opening weekend, while also becoming the top-rented film on Apple TV and iTunes. It became the second film to ever top VOD charts and the box office in the same weekend, joining Universal’s mega-budget animated sequel “Trolls World Tour.”
These kind of innovative distribution models will prove crucial in making Sundance deals this year as well, the insiders said, especially for companies like Searchlight, Focus and Sony Classics that have traditionally relied more on a traditional theatrical release strategy.
“It’s a moment where the market is going to be primarily focused on what will we do while theaters are closed until probably Q2,” one agent selling at Sundance this year said. “For anyone who is in the streaming market, this is obviously a great time, but there is a desire for theatrical from buyers — they are thinking, ‘We didn’t make anything last year, we are going to have holes in our slate.’ I think people are bullish.”
Wheeler agreed: “The question is how do the more theatrically focused distributors adapt and adjust. I think we will continue to see some more creativity and flexibility in their release patterns and potentially more partnerships with the streamers.”
Of course, there are already synergies in place. In December, Disney-owned Hulu announced it will be the home of films from corporate sibling Searchlight, while A24 lined up a streaming deal with Apple. And last year, Neon partnered up with Hulu (on the record-breaking “Palm Springs” deal, for example).
With theaters still mostly closed nationwide, all eyes are on the streamers — who both have more need for content and the cash to spend for it. In addition, there are more players in the space since last year — from HBO Max to Peacock to the soon-to-launch Paramount+.
Brian Welk contributed to this report.
14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)
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Sundance Film Festival / Getty ImagesThis year's Sundance is shorter, virtual, national instead of local and has a new director for the first time in years. But what has not changed is that Sundance remains one of the best marketplaces for independent films. This year's lineup even has some hopeful Oscar contenders such as Robin Wright's "Land" and "Judas and the Black Messiah" from Warner Bros., and we've already seen a few titles such as "Together Together," "The World to Come" and "The Most Beautiful Boy in the World" find homes. But while there may be fewer films overall and without the in-person wheeling and dealing, the market figures to be just as robust with some exciting movies up for sale (all titles are presented alphabetically).
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute"Captains of Zaatari"
A potential crowd-pleaser out of the World Documentary Competition, "Captains of Zaatari" was a late addition to the Sundance lineup, and the film follows two best friends living in a refugee camp in Jordan who have dreams of becoming pro soccer players. Despite their circumstances, they're given the chance of a lifetime when a sports academy comes to visit. Ali El Arabi, who has produced docs for Nat Geo, is making his feature directorial debut on the film.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Coda"
Sian Heder in her follow-up to "Tallulah" directs this heartwarming drama about a teen girl (Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing person in her deaf family and is stuck keeping their family fishing business afloat. But when she's drawn to her school's choir club, she's encouraged by her teacher (Eugenio Derbez) to pursue a career in music. The film is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Cusp"
Parker Hill and Isabel Bethencourt direct this documentary following three girls in a small Texas town and how they grapple with discussions of sexual violence, consent and their own rebellious instincts. "Cusp" is shot in a cinema verite style and tracks the teens over a year in their lives. The film is also playing in competition in the U.S. Documentary section.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Eight For Silver"
Sundance has a rich history of indie horror movies that go on to big box office performances, and this year's big contender is "Eight for Silver," a period werewolf movie starring Boyd Holbrook as a hunter and land baron who unleashes a curse after slaughtering a Roma clan. Sean Ellis, an Oscar nominee for his short film "Cashback," wrote and directed the film.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"How It Ends"
Directors Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones return to Sundance for this offbeat apocalyptic comedy about a woman (Lister-Jones) who is trying to make it to a massive party on the night before an asteroid is scheduled to obliterate the Earth. Lister-Jones also stars alongside "The Craft: Legacy" star Cailee Spaeny as a younger version of herself, as well as a supporting cast that includes Olivia Wilde, Fred Armisen, Helen Hunt, Lamorne Morris and Nick Kroll. "How It Ends" is a premiere playing out of competition at the festival.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"John and the Hole"
"John and the Hole" is a twisted, psychological thriller about a 13-year-old boy who discovers an underground bunker and then drugs his parents and sister to keep them there captive while he does what he always wanted. Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle play the parents to the troubled teen played by Charlie Shotwell, and the film is the first from Spanish visual artist Pascual Sisto.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"On the Count of Three"
Sundance describes "On the Count of Three" from director Jerrod Carmichael as an "unusual existential bromance" and dark comedy. After Carmichael's impressive career as an actor, comic, a writer on his own show and a producer on "Ramy," he is now making his feature directorial debut on the film and also stars in it alongside Christopher Abbott. They play two best friends with two guns who agree to take each other's lives at the end of the day. "On the Count of Three" also co-stars J.B. Smoove, Tiffany Haddish and Henry Winkler.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Passing"
Actress Rebecca Hall is making her directorial debut on "Passing," a psychological thriller set in 1920s New York and starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. The film finds two Black women who have been able to "pass" as white due to their lighter colored skin, but their comfortable lives are now brought into question. "Passing" is based on a 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, is shot in a silky black and white and is playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Prisoners of the Ghostland"
Nicolas Cage teams with Japanese auteur Sion Sono for this spoof film that mashes up Westerns, samurai films, action movies and post-apocalyptic thrillers. Cage stars as a bank robber who is strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct in five days and is tasked with rescuing a missing person played by Sofia Boutella. The hyper violent and bloody "Prisoners of the Ghostland" is playing out of competition at the festival.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"R#J"
It's Shakespeare for the Tik Tok era. "R#J" is a telling of the classic "Romeo and Juliet" play but set in the modern day of smart phones and social media. In fact, much like the film "Searching," the love story is told entirely through social media feeds and screens. The film, which is playing in the NEXT section, is directed by Carey Williams and is produced by Timur Bekmambetov.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Rebel Hearts"
"Rebel Hearts" follows a group of nuns in Los Angeles who over the course of 50 years have fought the patriarchy of the Catholic Church and become unexpected activists and trailblazers in the community. Pedro Kos, who worked as a writer on "The Great Hack," directs the documentary playing in competition that combines archival footage, animation and modern day images of the nuns protesting during the Women's March in LA.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"The Sparks Brothers"
"Baby Driver" director Edgar Wright pivoted to a documentary for the first time to tell the story of the two brothers who form the band Sparks, a highly influential yet overlooked synth dance pop band from 1970s Los Angeles. The tongue-in-cheek documentary was three years in the making for Wright, and the director describes the film as "a musical odyssey through five weird & wonderful decades" about "your favorite band's favorite band."
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Summer of Soul...Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised"
Originally titled "Black Woodstock," The Roots bandleader Questlove borrowed a line from Gil Scott Heron for the full title to his debut documentary "Summer of Soul," which documents the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that drew over 300,000 attendees and yet received very little media attention compared to Woodstock. Questlove combs through 40 hours of footage of never-before-seen performances from Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, the 5th Dimension, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson and Gladys Knight and the Pips. "Summer of Soul" is playing in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
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Courtesy of Sundance Institute
"Wild Indian"
Hyped for its lead performance from Michael Greyeyes, its visual style and as a potential touchstone for Native American cinema, "Wild Indian" is a survival drama about a man who now has to face his past sins after murdering a man when he was just a boy. The film is written, directed, produced and edited by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr and is playing in the dramatic competition field.
Other acquisition titles, such as “Wild Indian,” “Coda” and “The Sparks Brothers,” play virtual fest running Jan. 28-Feb. 3
This year's Sundance is shorter, virtual, national instead of local and has a new director for the first time in years. But what has not changed is that Sundance remains one of the best marketplaces for independent films. This year's lineup even has some hopeful Oscar contenders such as Robin Wright's "Land" and "Judas and the Black Messiah" from Warner Bros., and we've already seen a few titles such as "Together Together," "The World to Come" and "The Most Beautiful Boy in the World" find homes. But while there may be fewer films overall and without the in-person wheeling and dealing, the market figures to be just as robust with some exciting movies up for sale (all titles are presented alphabetically).
Beatrice Verhoeven
Film Editor