The 5 Films Likeliest to Ignite a Sundance 2012 Bidding War

“No matter how many gifting suites, D-list “celebrities” and/or head-splitting parties the malevolent forces of modern commerce may stuff into the wintry idyll of Park City over the next week, we’ll always have the movies. And as usual, “we” also means studios and distributors with money to burn and release slates to fill. Let the Sundance bidding wars begin!”

“…Red Lights
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: “Two investigators of paranormal hoaxes, the veteran Dr. Margaret Matheson and her young assistant, Tom Buckley, study the most varied metaphysical phenomena with the aim of proving their fraudulent origins. Simon Silver, a legendary blind psychic, reappears after an enigmatic absence of 30 years to become the greatest international challenge to both orthodox science and professional sceptics. Tom starts to develop an intense obsession with Silver, whose magnetism becomes stronger with each new manifestation of inexplicable events. As Tom gets closer to Silver, tension mounts, and his worldview is threatened to its core.”

UPSIDE: Writer-director Rodrigo Cortés last appeared at Sundance 2010 with the ingenious bidding-war darling Buried. Buzz on Red Lights — including its top-flight cast of Cillian Murphy, Robert De Niro, Elizabeth Olsen and Sigourney Weaver — has Cortés transcending the paranormal genre with something pretty special.
DOWNSIDE: Good as the film may be, a skilled cast doesn’t necessarily mean a selling cast. And last year’s hot Sundance title (and box-office bust) Another Earth will have buyers thinking twice about what they can do with high-concept in 2012.
POTENTIAL BUYERS: Focus Features, Magnolia Pictures, Lionsgate
HOW MUCH? $4 million”

By: S.T. VanAirsdale

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