The phrase “The King is Dead; long live the King” was first declared back in 1422, when Charles VII rose to the French throne, but in today’s far more contemporary times, those words could easily apply to the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where, to everyone’s surprise, Amazon Studios flexed its muscles with the highest number of acquisitions—and, in most cases, at near-record prices.
Just a few years ago, more traditional film distributors like Fox Searchlight Pictures dominated the acquisition scene, with expensive buys like “Patti Cake$” for $10.5 million and the record-setting “The Birth of a Nation” for $17.5 million, only to see both films flop at the box office. But rather than serve as a cautionary tale, it turned into a changing of the guard, and Amazon Studios—a relative newcomer to the game that follows its theatrical distribution platform with streaming accessibility to Amazon Prime members in a matter of weeks—stepped in to seize the opportunity in Park City, Utah.
And if the reaction by both the audience and the jury are any indication, Amazon stands to see its risky bets pay off. One film that could go the distance is “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” featuring a star-making performance by Jillian Bell. Less than a week after a standing ovation at its premiere and a pick-up by Amazon for $14 million, the U.S. Dramatic Competition entry was given the Audience Award by the Sundance Jury.
Other notable acquisitions include “Late Night,” a razor-sharp comedy written by Mindy Kaling and starring Emma Thompson as an out-of-touch talk show host. Amazon paid $13 million for what was undoubtedly the most mainstream title at the festival and could feature prominently during next year’s film awards season, considering Thompson’s revelatory performance and Kaling’s timely screenplay.
On a more serious side, Amazon also paid $14 million for “The Report,” a well-reviewed political thriller starring current “BlacKkKlansman” Oscar nominee Adam Driver as a Senate staffer investigating the CIA’s torture program initiated in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Amazon also put $5 million on the table for “Honey Boy,” a raw and gripping coming-of-age drama starring Shia LaBeouf and inspired by the actor’s own difficult relationship with his father, which was also honored by the Jury with a Special Vision Award for Vision and Craft.
READ: Sundance Film Festival Unveils 2019 Lineup of Features
But while Amazon was the busiest buyer of the festival, the record acquisition went to New Line, which paid $15 million for worldwide rights to the heartwarming coming-of-age comedy “Blinded by the Light,” starring Viveik Kalra as British-Pakistani teenager whose life is changed by the music of Bruce Springsteen. Set in 1987, directed by Gurinder Chadha (2002’s “Bend it Like Beckham”), and featuring a soundtrack of 17 songs by the Boss himself, the infectiously entertaining crowd-pleaser played through the roof during its world premiere at Eccles.
Also acquired was “The Tomorrow Man,” a unique love story starring Blythe Danner and John Lithgow, which was picked up by Bleecker Street for roughly $8 million before Sundance even started, and “The Farewell,” a critically-adored family dramedy starring “Crazy Rich Asians” star Awkwafina, the worldwide rights to which indie distributor A24 nabbed for roughly $6 million.
The 2019 Sundance Film Festival wound down with the jury bestowing its U.S. Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize to “Clemency,” a gripping drama written and directed by African-American filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu and starring Alfre Woodard as a prison ward who develops a relationship with one of her death row inmates. The Jury Prize for the U.S. Documentary Competition went to “One Child Nation,” an intimate exploration of China’s controversial population control policy, co-directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang.
For a full list of festival winners and more, visit www.sundance.org.
Check out Backstage’s film audition listings!