Hamlet 2, Polanski doc net distribution deals at Sundance

Canadian doc Up the Yangtze among early buys

Last Updated: Thursday, January 24, 2008 | 4:46 PM ET

CBC News

After a largely quiet opening weekend, several high-profile distribution deals were struck this week at the Sundance Film Festival, led by the reported $10 million US deal for the bawdy comedy Hamlet 2.

Focus Features, which put films such as Brokeback Mountain, Atonement and Shaun of the Dead into theatres, scored the worldwide rights to Hamlet 2 on Tuesday after a night of reportedly intense negotiations that followed the film's premiere in Park City, Utah.

Several major distribution deals emerged this week from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
(Amy Sancetta/Associated Press)

Hamlet 2 stars British actor Steve Coogan as a melodramatic drama teacher trying to jump-start his high school's theatre department by staging a sequel to Shakespeare's play.

The $10 million US deal puts the film in the same company as past Sundance hits such as Little Miss Sunshine and Hustle and Flow.

Canadian among first out of the gate

Acclaimed Canadian documentary Up the Yangtze, by Montreal filmmaker Yung Chang, was one of the first films out of the gate in the race for distribution last week when it was picked up ahead of its Sundance premiere on Friday.

Independent, New York-based distributor Zeitgeist Films is planning an April theatrical release for the film, which is already set to open in Canadian theatres in February.

The film offers a look into the effects of China's massive Three Gorges Dam. It paints an "upstairs, downstairs" portrait by contrasting the comfortable existence of oblivious western passengers on a Yangtze River cruise with the difficult lives of the young Chinese crew — some hailing from families displaced by the flooding of the dam.

The film was named best Canadian documentary at the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival.

Last year, Zeitgeist released Canadian documentary maker Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes.

Further U.S. deals

Fox Searchlight paid an estimated $5 million US for the rights to the black comedy Choke this week. Adapted from the 2001 novel by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, the film features Sam Rockwell as a huckster who feigns choking at restaurants to scam money from his unsuspecting rescuers.

Henry Poole is Here sold for an estimated $3.5 million-$4 million US to Overture Films. The comedy-drama stars Luke Wilson as a man told he has six months to live, but whose final days are disrupted when an apparent miracle emerges in his home.

The talked-about documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which examines the director's 1977 statutory rape case and the forces that pushed him to exile in France, was picked up for domestic distribution by HBO Documentary Films, with the Weinstein Co. nabbing international rights.

Paramount Vantage has picked up for $1 million US the cinéma vérité documentary American Teen, which follows the stories of several high school seniors from the U.S. Midwest and was well-received by the Sundance audience last weekend.

Early on in the festival, some industry watchers expected to see a frenzy to buy films sparked by worry over the ongoing U.S. screenwriters strike.

However, distributors appeared to be more cautious about their purchasing instead.

"There did seem to be more caution this year, I guess, as opposed to prior years," Overture Films CEO Chris McGurk said on Wednesday.
 
"There were some instances of buys that were made last year that with 20/20 hindsight, that amount of money shouldn't be paid."

The Sundance Film Festival ends Sunday.