Amid grim forecast, Sundance acquisitions move forward

As sober financial outlooks continue to soften expectations for the business side of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the events have gone forward at full charge. For critical feedback, keep tuned to our Festivus blog as Paste’s chief film critic Robert Davis continues to provide rolling commentary.

Meanwhile, from our faraway perch, we’ve made note of some of the lucky few movies that stirred enough notice to land distributors. Among those is Humpday (pictured above), a comedy about two straight male friends who decide to make a sex film—with each other. In anticipation of the delicate sell to audiences that lies ahead, the purchaser, Magnolia, will open the movie with video-on-demand services before it debuts in theaters.

The romantic drama Adam, another favorite, was snapped up by Fox Searchlight. That film follows the fledgling relationship between a woman and an autistic man (Rose Byrne and Hugh Dancy). Searchlight had also tried to lock down An Education, a Nick Hornby-scripted coming-of-age story, but rights ultimately went to Sony Pictures Classics.

The Winning Season, a comedy headlined by Sam Rockwell and written and directed by James C. Strouse (he of the unheralded former Sundance properties Grace is Gone and Lonesome Jim) was purchased by Lionsgate.

A number of big movies, including I Love You Phillip Morris (with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as giddy lovers) and The September Issue (featuring notorious Vogue editor Anna Wintour, the unofficial star of at least one major movie in the past), were among the most-discussed films that had yet to find distribution.  

The protracted bidding cycles for other movies will persist through the weekend and will likely continue well after the festival’s awards are handed out on Sunday.

Related links:
Festivus: Sundance 2009: Taking Chance and Reporter
Festivus: Sundance 2009: It Might Get Loud
Festivus: Sundance 2009: Mary & Max

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