Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning for the survival of the rickety American indie-film industry, says Sundance Film Festival once a year. The latest installment of sleepy Park City, Utah’s annual event comes in the center of a perfect storm. Okay, fine, two perfect storms, but we’re not talking about the blizzards vexing Route 80. We’re talking about a cannibalizing streaming landscape that changed the way indie films operate financially and the sheer fact that smaller projects are struggling to find audiences, making it harder to raise money for self-financed indies, sell them, and make some cash. But it’s not all doom and gloom at the festival, no matter how many sad movies are trying to manipulate you into crying. Hollywood just emerged from two debilitating strikes, and studios might be eager to fill their empty cinema-bound coffers with some content to distribute when the time’s right.
So, what have the studios picked up? Netflix scooped up Skywalkers: A Love Story on January 27. It previously acquired Greg Jardin’s It’s What’s Inside for a smooth $17 million on January 22, the costliest acquisition yet. Offline, Jesse Eisenberg’s Holocaust dramedy, A Real Pain, went to Searchlight for a whopping $10 million on January 21. The film follows two cousins (Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin), who end up confronting their traumatic family history in Poland after the death of their grandmother. Sundance also reaped sales for the first Irish-language feature to play at the festival. Sony Pictures Classics snagged Kneecap for an undisclosed amount on January 19. Go díreach!
After the fest wrapped, Focus Features snatched up Sundance favorite Dìdi (弟弟) directed by Academy Award nominee Sean Wang, while Magnolia Pictures snagged the elderly-buddy comedy Thelma. Below, all the movies sold at Sundance so far, and for how much.
Dìdi (弟弟) (director: Sean Wang)
Distributor: Focus Features
A 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy (Izaac Wang) spends his last summer before high school learning how to flirt, skate, and get along with his mom (Joan Chen) in Sundance’s Audience Award and Special Jury Prize–winning drama, set in the far-flung past of 2008. It’s not director Sean Wang’s only triumph this month — his Disney+ documentary short Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó is nominated for an Academy Award. Shirley Chen and Chang Li Hua also star.
Price: Undisclosed
Thelma (director: Josh Margolin)
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
A 93-year-old grandma (June Squibb) endures a harrowing journey across Los Angeles after she’s conned by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson (Fred Hechinger). With her friend (the late Richard Roundtree) and his motorized scooter in tow, the pair set forth to take back what’s theirs. Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, and Malcolm McDowell round out the cast.
Price: Undisclosed
Presence (director: Steven Soderbergh)
Distributor: Neon
Described by Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri as “the best thing Soderbergh’s done in ages,” Presence is a haunted-house movie seen through the eyes of the ghost. The film stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday, and West Mulholland.
Price: Undisclosed
Ghostlight (directors: Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan)
Distributor: IFC Films
When a construction worker is unintentionally cast in a local production of Romeo and Juliet, the onstage drama begins to recall his own life, forcing his family to address fresh trauma. A real-life family of actors — Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer — star in the film.
Price: Undisclosed
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (directors: Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui)
Distributor: Warner Bros. Discovery
All about Clark Kent himself, the documentary film follows Christopher Reeve on how he found his life’s purpose after he suffered from an equestrian accident that left him paralyzed. The deal hasn’t officially closed, but WB is the clear front-runner, according to Deadline.
Price: $15 Million
My Old Ass (director: Megan Park)
Distributor: Amazon MGM
A high-school senior (Maisy Stella) meets the adult version of herself (Aubrey Plaza) right before she heads off to college. It’s one of the bigger purchases this Sundance season and wrapped up to be the biggest theatrical release purchase, as It’s What’s Inside would head straight to streaming.
Price: Upwards of $15 Million
Skywalkers: A Love Story (director: Jeff Zimbalist)
Distributor: Netflix
The documentary follows Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, a couple from Moscow, who saved their careers and relationship by climbing really tall buildings, specifically the world’s last super skyscraper, to perform an acrobatic stunt.
Price: Undisclosed
It’s What’s Inside (director: Greg Jardin)
Distributor: Netflix
A guy brings a mysterious augmented-reality game to a friend’s pre-wedding night of debauchery. It descends into horror. Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, and Nina Bloomgarden star in Greg Jardin’s directorial debut.
Price: $17 million
A Real Pain (director: Jesse Eisenberg)
Distributor: Searchlight
Following the death of their grandmother, two cousins (played by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) travel to Poland to see where they came from, reigniting old tensions along the way. The pair ultimately join a Holocaust tour, and the highly personal film even features the house that Eisenberg’s own family was taken from in 1939. It also stars Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.
Price: $10 million
Ibelin (director: Benjamin Ree)
Distributor: Netflix
Norwegian gamer Mats Steen is the focus of this documentary from The Painter and the Thief director Benjamin Ree. Per the official logline, Steen’s parents “mourned what they thought had been a lonely and isolated life” after their son died of a rare, degenerative muscular disease at age 25. They later received messages from online friends all around the world who knew Steen for his beloved World of Warcraft avatar, Ibelin Redmoore.
Price: Undisclosed
Kneecap (director: Rich Peppiatt)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Anarchic rap trio Kneecap, an Irish group known for their irreverent, socially conscious lyrics, get a biopic. Director Rich Peppiatt’s debut feature charts the rise of the Belfast trio and how they formed their confrontational sound. The film, starring Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, DJ Próvaí, and Michael Fassbender, is the first Irish-language feature to play at Sundance.
Price: Undisclosed
This is a developing story.
