Films at Sundance trying to score distribution deals

Hanks was at Sundance's Salt Lake City Gala Friday to promote "The Great Buck Howard," a film his Playtone company helped produce. Coincidentally, it's also one film trying to score a distribution deal at the festival.

"This is a project that some of us have put more than five years' worth of work into. We're proud of it and obviously we're hoping someone will buy it," he said.

Yet when Hanks left town over the weekend, "Buck Howard" was still a free agent. And the deals for both "Kicking It" and "Wanted and Desired" were limited.

ESPN's purchase of "Kicking It" covers only the television and Internet broadcasting rights, not its theatrical distribution.

Harvey Weinstein, whose company acquired the Polanski documentary, is typically one of the biggest wheeler-dealers at Sundance. But the Weinstein Company already acquired a pair of films before the 2008 festival even began, "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" and the Morgan Spurlock documentary "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?"

Weinstein also struck his own, independent deal with the WGA earlier this month.

"Hamlet 2" producer Eric Eisner said he and his fellow producers "are extremely excited to work with (Focus), and we look forward to a bright future for the movie after what was an exceptional response at Sundance."

Still, more distribution deals are expected in the days to come. Especially for films with big stars. That includes "Sunshine Cleaning," a dark comedy about sisters (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt) who start a crime-scene cleanup business. It comes from the producers of "Little Miss Sunshine" and is a similar crowd-pleaser.

Amy Redford's drama "The Guitar" also has good word of mouth. But she said that "if you leave the festival without getting a distribution deal, it can be devastating."

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If you go . . .

What: Sundance Film Festival '08
Where: Various venues in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and the Sundance resort (Provo Canyon)
When: Through Jan. 27

How much: $15 ($10 wait-list tickets)
Phone: 435-776-7878
Web: www.sundance.org/festival

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com