Films at Sundance trying to score distribution deals

PARK CITY — The Sundance Film Festival hosted the premieres of the movies "The Blair Witch Project," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Little Miss Sunshine" — in 1999, 2004 and 2006, respectively. All three movies were picked up for theatrical distribution during the festival and became big hits.

Hoping to duplicate their successes, studios have come to Sundance in recent years, as they try to choose the film that will become the next "Blair Witch" or "Napoleon Dynamite."

And for a variety of reasons, Sundance '08 was expected to become a so-called "buyer's market," with dozens of films snatched up for record amounts of money.

However, at the midway point, only a handful of festival films have been snatched up, including the documentaries "Kicking It" and "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."

Of course, the deals did include three wallet-busters. Overture Films bought the dark comedy "Henry Poole Is Here" for $3.5 million, which was the first major deal of the festival.

Fox Searchlight didn't disclose the exact terms, but trade reports say the independent studio spent "several million dollars" for "Choke," Clark Gregg's adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel.

And Focus Features purchased the comedy "Hamlet 2" for $10 million, just shy of the Sundance record $10.5 million paid for "Little Miss Sunshine" in 2006.

Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel suggests that the studios may be taking a wait-and-see approach. "Despite all the early talk, the studios are being very cautious. Some might say they're being overly cautious," he said.

One thing that was supposed to fuel a film-buying frenzy is the Writers Guild of America strike, which has shut down a considerable number of TV and movie productions.

"The thought was that all these studio heads were going to empty their checkbooks because they're desperate for product," Handel said. "But it has only been a couple of months."

He added that there's a belief that there will be an eventual — perhaps quick — resolution to the strike. "There have been some really positive steps taken recently."

Handel is considered an expert on the strike because he is a former counsel for the WGA. He spoke to a packed house this week at the Queer Lounge, an event independent from the Sundance festival that spotlights gay, lesbian and transgendered film works.

His optimism regarding the strike was echoed by Tom Hanks. "Any time there's a work stoppage, it's bad for the industry," the actor-turned-movie-producer said.

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.