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Of the 90-plus movies and episodic sequence premiering on the Sundance Movie Pageant in 2026, solely a few dozen are arriving on the competition with distribution in hand. Many will likely be on the lookout for properties, but when this 12 months is something like final 12 months, it might take a while for these gross sales to shut. We’ll be monitoring all of them as they arrive in.
“The Invite”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Administrators: Olivia Wilde
Date Acquired: Jan. 27
Buzz: This was a real, old style, late evening bidding conflict between a number of consumers that ended up being a 72-hour, marathon competitors. IndieWire hears that Neon, Black Bear, Netflix, Searchlight, and Focus Options — and even Warner Bros. on the eleventh hour — have been all within the combine for what was Olivia Wilde’s third function as a director. We’re additionally listening to that the ultimate bidding received into the 8-figure vary. Others might have bid extra, however Wilde was decided to get a theatrical deal. And it’s becoming too, as a result of this was one of many starrier films on the competition with Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz all main the ensemble forged. “The Invite” fairly merely is in regards to the feast from hell when a pair whose marriage is on the brink have dinner with one other couple that’s polyamorous, however the crowds that noticed it say there’s much more layers to this one than simply that. Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the screenplay based mostly on a 2019 Spanish movie referred to as “Sentimental.” UTA Unbiased Movie Group and FilmNation co-repped the sale, and the movie hails from Megan Ellison and Annapurna, who additionally beforehand produced Wilde’s debut movie “Booksmart.”
“Leviticus”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: Neon
Director: Adrian Chiarella
Date Acquired: Jan. 27
Buzz: A queer, coming-of-age horror film? “Leviticus” is about two teenage boys who must combat off a violent entity able to taking the type of the opposite. The movie performs on the real-life horrors of conversion remedy and stars Joe Fowl, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Zahra Newman, and Mia Wasikowska. The movie’s distinctive style premise from author/director Adrian Chiarella, his function debut, was ok for Neon to leap on worldwide rights in a seven-figure deal, in addition to the primary sale of the competition, an in any other case sluggish affair so far, although one which has sparked an early bidding conflict for at the very least one different title. “Leviticus” will likely be launched later this 12 months and is definitely Neon’s second deal for a horror film out of the competition, because the distributor additionally over the weekend joined the following movie from “It Ends” director Alex Ullom.
Movies Arriving at Sundance with Distribution
“The AI Doc: Or How I Turned an Apocaloptimist”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Focus Options
Administrators: Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell
Buzz: The “Navalny” director groups up with producer Daniel Kwan (“All the pieces In every single place All At As soon as”) on a movie that goes deep into the perils and promise of synthetic intelligence, all via the lens of Roher debating whether or not this can be a good second to deliver a toddler into the world.
“The Brittany Griner Story”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Director: Alexandria Stapleton
Buzz: The director of “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” sits down with Brittany Griner, the basketball star who was famously detained and have become the topic of a media and political frenzy as she hoped to safe her freedom.
“Give Me the Ball!”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Administrators: Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff
Buzz: Greater than a sports activities doc, this portrait of Billie Jean King appears to be like on the tennis icon’s compulsion to cover her sexual orientation and consuming issues.
“Within the Blink of an Eye”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Searchlight Footage
Director: Andrew Stanton
Buzz: Although he’s directed loads on TV, Pixar vet Andrew Stanton is returning to a live-action function for the primary time since “John Carter” dropped method again in 2012. “Within the Blink of an Eye” is a triptych set in historical instances, modern-day, and within the distant future, exploring how these three eras are linked by hope and the circle of life.
“The Second”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Director: Aidan Zamiri
Buzz: One in every of three movies starring Charli XCX on the competition, the “brat” pop star performs a model of herself in an exaggerated mockumentary that feedback on the thought of contemporary movie star.
“One in a Million”
Part: World Documentary
Distributor: PBS/Frontline
Administrators: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes
Buzz: This documentary was filmed over 10 years and follows a Syrian refugee lady who travels to Germany after which again to Syria along with her household.
“Queen of Chess”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Rory Kennedy
Buzz: Maybe a documentary for “The Queen’s Gambit” followers, this movie follows a lady from Hungary who’s a chess prodigy attempting to interrupt right into a male-dominated competitors circuit.
“Saccharine”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: Shudder
Director: Natalie Erika James
Buzz: Shudder picked up this physique horror movie from the “Relic” director simply earlier than the competition. It stars Midori Francis as a girl who takes half in a weird weight reduction craze that includes consuming human ashes, solely to change into possessed by demonic forces within the course of.
“Time and Water”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Nat Geo
Director: Sara Dosa
Buzz: Like her Sundance breakout “Hearth of Love” earlier than it, “Time and Water” is a extra elevated nature documentary and follows an Icelandic author eulogizing each a glacier and his grandparents.
“Undertone”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: A24
Director: Ian Tuason
Buzz: A micro-budget horror film within the vein of “Paranormal Exercise” that first performed at Fantasia Fest, the precise producers of “Paranormal Exercise” helped give the movie a brand new lower and are hoping for an additional horror hit.
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