All the Sundance 2015 Acquisitions As They Come In

Now that the 2015 Sundance Film Festival is well underway, expect more and more acquisition news as distributors bid on the rights to all of the festival’s hottest properties. Since sales can break at an unpredictable pace, Indiewire is aggregating all of the Sundance acquisitions so that festival goers and fans can stay up to the date with the latest deals in Park City. Check out all of the current deals per distributor below, and stick with Indiewire throughout the duration of the festival to stay updated on every new acquisition. 

A24
“The End of the Tour” – The latest from director James Ponsoldt tells the true story of acclaimed author David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) and his five-day interview with Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) following the 1996 success of “Infinite Jest.” 

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“The Witch” – A24 has secured North American rights to this breakout horror period piece about a colonial family that leaves plantation life and attempts to reap their harvest on a fledgling farm at the edge of an imposing ancient New England forest.

“Slow West” – The Michael Fassbender western was snatched up way back in December, before the films Sundance premiere.

“Mississippi Grind” – Like the previous acquisitions, A24 and DIRECTV teamed up for this buy. The character study starring Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn as two gamblers.

Alchemy 
“Strangerland” – New to the remote Australian desert town of Nathgari, two parents (Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes) are thrown into crisis when their two children mysteriously disappear just before a massive dust storm hits. 

“Zipper” – Alchemy has acquired all North American distribution rights to Mora Stephens’ political thriller “Zipper,” starring Patrick Wilson as a hotshot federal prosecutor whose one-time experience with an escort turns into a growing addiction that threatens to destroy his life, family and career.

Breaking Glass Pictures
“Uncertain Terms” – The drama follows a 30-year-old man who escapes his troubled life in Brooklyn by moving to his aunt’s countryside home for pregnant teenagers. Breaking Glass will handle North American distribution and will release the film in theaters and on digital platforms this spring.

Bleeker Street
“I’ll See You in My Dreams” – Blythe Danner stars as a widow whose life suddently gets shaken up — in a good way — by a series of events. Martin Starr, Sam Elliott, Malin Akerman, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, and Mary Kay Place co-star.

Broad Green Pictures
“A Walk in the Woods” – Robert Redford and Nick Nolte co-star as two friends who embark on a 2,100 mile hike through Appalachia.

Focus World
“Cop Car” – Focus World, the alternative distribution initiative owned and operated by Focus Features, has acquired US and UK rights to “Cop Car,” directed by Jon Watts and staring Kevin Bacon, James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford, Shea Whigham and Camryn Manheim.

Fox Searchlight
“Mistress America” – Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig follow up “Frances Ha” with a screwball comedy about a lonely college freshman and the madcap relationship she forms with her adventurous stepsister. 

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” –  An awkward, self-deprecating high school student and his movie-loving best friend befriend a classmate who’s been diagnosed with leukemia, changing their well-fortified worlds forever. 

“Brooklyn” – The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters. The film is directed by John Crowley and written by Nick Hornby, based on Colm Toibin’s acclaimed novel.

IFC Films
“The D Train” – IFC spent $3 million for U.S. rights to this comedy starring Jack Black as an overly enthusiastic head of a high school reunion committee who vows to convince a famous former classmate (James Marsden) to attend the event. 

IFC Midnight
“Reversal” – “Reversal” is about a young woman, Eve (Tina Ivlev), who fights back and manages to escape a malicious abductor. However, after discovering she may not be the only victim, Eve unravels a darker truth and decides to turn the tables on her captor.

“The Hallow” – IFC Midnight has acquired U.S. rights to Corin Hardy’s “The Hallow,” starring Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton and Michael Smiley. The film made its world premiere in the “Park City at Midnight” section.

Lionsgate
“Don Verdean” – Biblical archaeologist Don Verdean is hired by a local church pastor to find faith-promoting relics in the Holy Land, but after a fruitless expedition he’s forced to get creative in this comedy of faith and fraud. 

“Knock Knock” – According to The Wrap, the studio closed a $2.5 million deal on Eli Roth’s home invasion drama, which stars Keanu Reeves, Lorenzo Izza and Ana de Armas.

Magnolia Pictures
“The Wolfpack” – Crystal Moselle’s directorial debut centers on six teen brothers whose father forced them to spend their entire childhood locked away from the outside world in a cramped apartment on New York’s Lower East Side. 

“Results” – A recent divorcee (Kevin Corrigan) befriends a self-styled guru (Guy Pearce) and an acerbic trainer (Cobie Smulders) during a trip to the gym. Soon, their three lives are inextricably knotted, both personally and professionally.

“Tangerine” – Magnolia took worldwide rights to Sean Baker’s film (produced by the Duplass brothers) which stars transgender actresses Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki
Rodriguez, making their big-screen debuts as two working girls in search of a
wayward pimp on a fateful Christmas Eve in Hollywood.

“Best of Enemies” – According to Deadline, Magnolia partnered with Participant for this acquisition. The film is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr. 

Netflix
“Hot Girls Wanted” – The non-fiction feature from Ronna Gradus and Jill Bauer (“Sexy Baby”) explores the world of professional amateur porn and the steady stream of 18+ young girls who cycle through it. 

Open Road
“Dope” – Malcolm is a geek, carefully surviving life in The Bottoms, while juggling his senior year of college applications, interviews and the SAT in this coming of age comedy-drama for the post hip-hop generation. Open Road will handle U.S. distribution, with Sony handling international rights.

The Orchard
“The Overnight” – The company has acquired North American distribution rights to the drama starring Taylor Schilling and Adam Scott as a Los Angeles couple who spend an increasingly bizarre evening with the parents of their son’s new friend. The Duplass Brothers produced the film. 

“Digging for Fire” – The film wass co-written by Jake Johnson and Swanberg and it stars Johnson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick and Mike Birbiglia. It follows the discovery of a bone and a gun which sends a husband and wife – each full of doubts about their future and anxiety about the present – on separate adventures over the course of a weekend.

Relativity
“The Bronze” – A washed up former Olympian (Melissa Raunch) is forced to reassess her life when a promising young gymnast threatens her local celebrity status. Will she mentor the adoring protege, take her down or both? Relativity acquired the film for $3 million.

Samuel Goldwyn Films
“Fresh Dressed” – Samuel Goldwyn Films and StyleHaul have jointly acquired “Fresh Dressed,” Sacha Jenkins’ documentary about the history of hip-hop and urban fashion.

Screen Media Gems
“Ten Thousand Saints” – Set in the East Village during the 1980s, “Ten Thousand Saints” tells the story of a young man named Jude (played by Asa Butterfield) who is sent to live with his father, played by Ethan Hawke, who is a pot dealer.