Seven Days of Deals

“WOW! We have never seen Robert De Niro quite like this!

Check out the theatrical trailer for Red Lights, which stars the actor as a legendary psychic who reappears after a 30 year absence and attracts the attention of two paranormal hoax investigators, played by Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy (above)!

As you can imagine, things start getting SPOOKY SCARY pretty fast!

Oh, and keep an eye out for Elizabeth Olsen!

Is it just us or is she popping up in EVERYTHING these days? Good for her!”

Read full article | perezhilton

“It is never too early in the year to start talking about next year’s Oscar race or the newest, hottest face on the planet.

We’re smack in the middle of the best-of-2011 awards season, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival kicks off today (and runs till Jan. 29) in Park City, Utah, and there is so much going on both onscreen and off, we felt it necessary to prepare a cheat sheet for the indie-film extravaganza.

Here’s what—and who—will be making noise in the next 10 days:”

“…2. The Guest List: The stirrings of a real-life romance between Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana will be on display in The Words, which also stars the ubiquitous Olivia Wilde. Sean Penn does his best Robert Smith impersonation in This Must Be the Place. After winning big at Cannes with the depressing Melancholia, the Kirsten Dunst gets her funny back at Sundance—along with Isla Fisher and Lizzy Caplan in Bachelorette. Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro bring the chill in Red Lights. Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon play dangerously with others’ money in Arbitrage. Chris Rock costars with director Julie Delpy in 2 Days in New York, the follow-up to Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris. More star power than William H. Macy and Helen Hunt may have been needed, however, to get The Surrogate (about a guy in an iron lung who wants to lose his virginity) off the ground.“

by Natalie Finn

What you see, you can’t believe. What you can’t understand, though, can ultimately be explained. This is the modus operandi for Margaret Matheson (Sigourney Weaver) and assistant Tom Buckley (Cillian Murphy), parapsychologists primarily interested in debunking supernatural phenomena. “When I see hoof prints,” she says, “I think of horses, not unicorns.” They work out of the Scientific Paranormal Research Center, a budget-strained department of an anonymous university, luring in curious students like Sally (Elizabeth Olsen) and Ben (Craig Roberts) while butting heads with the well-supported likes of Dr. Paul Shackleton (Toby Jones).

by William Goss

Read full article | indiewire

The big pick-ups at Sundance 2012

At the bustling Sundance Film Festival, it’s hard to keep up with acquisition news, so we’ve devised this handy guide to remind you which film went where. Some of 2012′s big pick-ups include the Robert De Niro film “Red Lights,” the femme-centric thriller “Black Rock,” Bradley Cooper in “The Words,” Tim & Eric’s discomforting “The Comedy,” the sly sci-fi of “Robot and Frank,” the music doc “Searching For Sugar Man,” the phone sex laffer “For a Good Time Call,” and more.

Read full article | Hitfix

‘Docile approach’ proves good for biz after wild 2011

Everyone has been keeping their cool, meaning the right films have been going to the right distributors for the right price at Sundance. The consensus at this year’s fest is that sanity has prevailed, with buyers taking care not to overspend and sellers waiting to carefully vet all offers before pulling the trigger.

“The cautiousness of distributors is providing for respectable deals to both buyers and sellers,” said Kevin Iwashina, whose Preferred Content sold genre pic “The Pact” on Thursday, has buyers interested in “28 Hotel Rooms” and recently screened “The End of Love” for acquisitions execs.

“From the deals I’ve seen, everyone’s satisfied,” Iwashina said. “When both sides are happy, everybody wins.”

Three of the biggest deals of the fest so far — all of which Variety first reported — included “The Surrogate,” which sold to Fox Searchlight for an estimated $6 million; psychological thriller “Red Lights,” which Millennium Entertainment picked up for $4 million; and Sony Pictures Worldwide and Samuel Goldwyn Films’ $2 million acquisition of “Robot & Frank,” slated for an awards-season release. Also getting deals in the $2 million range were Focus Features’ buy of “For a Good Time Call…” and Lionsgate/ Roadside’s pickup of “Arbitrage.”

Bizzers ascribe the genteel pace of sales to two factors: Too many distributors got burned by overpaying for films during last year’s feeding frenzy; and in turn, no single buyer is creating anxiety by aggressively throwing huge wads of money at movies in the early goings.

Also aiding the cause: A deeper across-the-board understanding of how video-on- demand and digital distribution components of deals contribute to the revenue ultimate.

ICM’s Hal Sadoff, who repped sales for “Frank” and has the commercially skewing “Safety Not Guaranteed,” Jesse Eisenberg-starrer “Predisposed” and rapper Common vehicle “Luv” still in the market, said a sense of calm from both buyers and sellers has made it easier on everyone.

“With more caution in the market this year, distributors have had the opportunity to take the time and find the movies that are right for their model at the right price, he said. “The deals aren’t coming as fast as they did last year, but they are making a lot more sense.

Iwashina added, “Everybody went into the marketplace with at least a perfunctory understanding of where VOD platforms and digital distribution fit into the monetization equation. When buyers and sellers comprehend how revenues are being generated, everyone soon begins to understand the economic limitations and/or upside. It eliminates a lot of guesswork.”

“I didn’t believe in VOD at first, but it worked so well on ‘House of the Devil’ that I couldn’t argue with it,” said “V/H/S” co-director Ti West during a post-screening QandA. Having said that, West would prefer genre fans to see his movies theatrically. “We spend a lot of time meticulously crafting a movie to be seen in the theater, so I always prefer you to see it in the theater because that’s what we do.”

West’s co-director Joe Swanberg said he also sees an advantage to VOD, but hoped that “V/H/S” got a theatrical release, which it did on Wedneday night via Magnolia Pictures. “Usually I don’t care, but after seeing this movie here in the theater, this would be the first time I’d feel sad if it went straight to VOD.”

The lack of a consensus top film has also tempered the once-frenzied atmosphere. With a plethora of well received, quality movies, buyers can feel at ease that their preferred targets are no more or less desirable than the competition’s, and second-choice may be every bit as good as their first.

It all translates into a Sundance sales season that will extend well beyond the official close on Saturday.

“It was a different year in terms of sales,” said David Ginsburg, whose Cohen Media hasn’t made an acquisition, but is content to bide its time for now. “I think you’ll see activity in the weeks to come, but much less the week-of than last year.”

The programming efforts of Sundance director John Cooper and programming Trevor Groth have been universally praised for maximizing films’ exposure to buyers, making it easier for the most number of acquisitions execs to see as many films as possible.

“The films have played incredibly well; the audience reaction has been as great as it’s ever been,” Groth said.

But not all’s been sunny at Sundance 2012.

“There’ve been strange occurrences outside the festival that have put an imprint on what people will remember — the tragedy of Bingham Ray passing in particular,” Groth said.”When people look back at the 2012 fest, that’s what a lot of people will remember. What’s been great about the response to that is that Bingham, being who he was, and his passion about film, allowed people to still keep celebrating the films that were here. It’s been a very emotional year because of that.”

Ray died Wednesday at age 57 after suffering a stroke days before in Park City. A memorial that started just a few hours after the news broke began as a few dozen people, nearly all with tears in their eyes, and quickly grew into more than 200 prominent indie figures who raised a glass at the High West Distillery on Main to their departed friend, mentor and colleague.

By Josh L. Dickey, Jeff Sneider

Read full article | Variety

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Bill Lee’s shingle will distrib the De Niro starre

PARK CITY, Utah — Millennium Entertainment has “Red Lights” in its sights, as CEO Bill Lee’s distribution company has closed a deal to acquire U.S. rights to Rodrigo Cortes’ paranormal thriller.

The twisting psychological thriller from the director of “Buried” premiered Friday night at the jam-packed Eccles Theatre here at Sundance.

Cortes produced with Adrian Guerra, while Cindy Cowan exec produced through her Cindy Cowan Entertainment banner.

UTA handled the sale on behalf of the filmmakers.

Pic stars Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver and last year’s Sundance It-girl Elizabeth Olsen in the story of a university-backed team of paranormal skeptics who set out to debunk a world-famous telekinetic (De Niro).

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

“We are thrilled with ‘Red Lights’ and excited to distribute the film,” said Lee. “This definitely has theatrical potential and we plan to give it a standard theatrical platform release, with ancillaries coming 90-100 days later. We came to Sundance with the intention of buying ‘Red Lights’ if it was good, and we thought Rodrigo did a fabulous job with the film. UTA was teriffic to deal with, and we’re both thrilled and proud to distribute the film.”

Millennium Entertainment adds “Red Lights” to a slate that includes recent acquisition “A Little Bit of Heaven,” starring Kate Hudson. Formed in 2010, company is bolstered by a seasoned staff that includes marketing and distribution veterans Brooke Ford and Andy Gruenberg.

Past releases include David Schwimmer’s “Trust,” the Chris Evans-starrer “Puncture” and Joel Schumacher’s “Trespass,” starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman. Company’s next release is Oren Moverman’s cop drama “Rampart” on February 10. Woody Harrelson stars alongside “Red Lights” thesp Sigourney Weaver and Ben Foster. Later this year, Millennium Entertainment will distribute Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s thriller “Intruders,” Richard Linklater’s dark comedy “Bernie,” and Elgin James’ “Little Birds,” which played Sundance last year.

By: JEFF SNEIDER, JOSH L. DICKEY

Read full article | Variety

Before the premiere of “Red Lights,” a movie about paranormal activity, we asked the cast to tell us their thoughts about the metaphysical world.

Did your thoughts on paranormal activity change after working on this film?

Actor Cillian Murphy: “I guess I had more of an insight, definitely. I read a lot of material on it and talked to people and that was fascinating to find out about it.”

If you were a real life psychologist, are there any metaphysical experts you would subscribe to?
Sigourney Weaver: I don’t think I’m enough of an expert to say because I actually find the world pretty miraculous without all of it. I kind of agreed with my character about that. On the other hand, there are certainly things that happen that you can’t explain.

What are your thoughts on paranormal activity and the whole metaphysical universe in general?

Cindy Cowan, Executive Producer, “I’m kind of one of the weird ones that really believes in it. Or I want to believe in it. I’m skeptical but I’m a believer.”

—Autumn Thatcher

Read full article | Salt Lake Tribune