Neon has closed what is understood to be a $17m worldwide deal on Together, the body horror starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco that has been the standout commercial prospect of Sundance.
The first deal of the festival means that, for the second year in a row, Kristen Figeroid and the team at Neon International will head to Berlin with a buzzy genre hit from Park City after picking up Lucy Liu ghost story Presence last year.
Figeroid’s team will represent all international rights excluding Australia and New Zealand. Neon has scheduled an August 1 theatrical release in North America.
Michael Shanks made his feature writing and directing debut on Together, the Midnight selection about a couple who relocate to the country where their touch-and-go relationship becomes a case of touch-and-can’t-let-go as they succumb to a terrifying supernatural force.
Tango, Picturestart, and 30WEST, a majority stakeholder in Neon, financed the film.
WME International represents the filmmakers and fielded bids from a number of studios. This was a rare acquisitions target given the lack of deal-making so far at the festival’s penultimate Park City edition. The recent global box office success of Coralie Fargeat’s Oscar-nominated body horror The Substance will also have whetted appetites. Searchlight and Sony are understood to have been in the mix until the deal landed with Neon.
The documentary selection, always a hallmark of pedigree at Sundance, has also impressed and there have been offers on critically lauded picks like Submarine sales titles Andre Is An Idiot and It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, and ongoing interest in The Stringer and Come See Me In The Good Light.
Autlook Filmsales and CAA Media Finance are courting buyers on Coexistence, My Ass!, and Jacinda Ardern profile Prime Minister, respectively.
Among the fiction titles that have captured the attention of buyers are Olivia Colman and John Lithgow in Sophie Hyde’s Premieres selection Jimpa, sold by Protagonist Pictures and CAA Media Finance; and Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall’s feature debut Brides in World Cinema Dramatic Competition sold by Bankside Films.
Benedict Cumberbatch in Premieres entry The Thing With Feathers (UTA Independent Film Group, mk2 Films), Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna in Bill Condon’s The Kiss Of The Spider Woman (WME Independent, CAA Media Finance), and Ira Sach’s two-hander Peter Hujar’s Day with Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall represented by WME Independent and SBS International have also been widely admired.
Eva Victor’s U.S. Dramatic Competition drama Sorry, Baby is much admired and has also been mentioned in conversations. UTA Independent Film Group represents North America and Charades handles international.
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