A Guide to 2022’s Sundance Acquisitions

Sundance is now at a close and a fair amount of movies have been picked up by major distributors to reach wider audiences. Here are some of the notable acquisitions announced. It is worth noting that some movies entered Sundance with distribution deals in place, those are still going to be listed here anyway because it is still important information about when/where it will be available to watch.

National Geographic: While National Geographic may be a subsidiary of Disney, they do still make their own acquisitions in terms of documentaries. It is unknown if these will go directly to Disney+, or get a theatrical run since Free Solo won Best Documentary Feature for National Geographic after its limited theatrical run. This year they acquired Fire of Love, the story of volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft who died at a volcanic eruption in 1991 in Japan. They also acquired The Territory which tells the story of the Uru-eu-wau-wau people who fight against illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Shudder: Shudder is owned by AMC (the network, not the theater) and is a streaming service that focuses solely on horror movies. They acquired one movie this year entirely on their own (they split the rights on two other movies, more on that below). This movie is Speak No Evil about two families who meet on two separate vacations which may be the result of something more nefarious.

Searchlight: Searchlight is a subsidiary of 20th Century Pictures which is now owned by Disney. They acquired two movies at Sundance this year. The first is Fresh which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan. It is a dating horror story about a woman who attempts to navigate her new boyfriend’s “unusual appetites.” The second is called Good Luck to You, Leo Grande which stars Emma Thompson who hires a young sex worker. Both of these movies will be headed to Hulu.

Juno Films: Juno Films is a boutique film distributor that previously released such hits as Radium Girls about the women who took down American Radium. This year they acquired Calendar Girls, a documentary about a dance team from Florida composed entirely of women over 60.

Kino Lorber: This distributor focuses mostly on arthouse movies and acquired the Afrofuturist musical Neptune Frost. They will distribute the movie in theaters before doing a home media release and moving it to its own VOD platform.

Roadside Attractions: Home of films ranging in quality from Manchester by the Sea to Hard Luck Love Song, Roadside Attractions acquired the distribution rights to Alice about an enslaved person who escapes captivity and discovers it is the 1970s. This will be released in theaters on March 18th, no word yet on streaming. They also acquired Call Jane which stars Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Banks about the Jane Collective, an organization that helped women access abortions before the decision in Roe v. Wade. It is slated for a theatrical release later this year.

Showtime: Premium movie channel and streaming app Showtime acquired two documentaries that appeared at Sundance. We Need to Talk About Cosby is available now and is a documentary about separating art from the artist when the artist does heinous things. 2nd Chance is going to be theatrically released and is the documentary about the creator of the modern bulletproof vest.

Amazon Studios: Future rulers of the universe Amazon acquired a documentary and two drama films out of Sundance. The documentary is Amy Poehler’s Lucy and Desi about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, following Amazon’s obsession with the topic in recent history (that’s not an exaggeration, besides Being the Ricardos Amazon owns streaming rights to at least two other documentaries on the topic). They also acquired Emergency, a drama/dark comedy about a group of Black college students who aim to be the first Black college students to complete the school’s frat party tour, and Master which follows a first year student and a professor who navigate manifestations of the school’s haunted past. Amazon does tend to do limited theatrical releases before moving the movies to Amazon Prime, however no dates have been given as of yet.

Super LTD: The home of such films as Quo Vadis, Aida?, which was nominated for Best International Feature last year, Super LTD acquired Three Minutes – A Lengthening which is described as ruminations on a home video shot of the Jewish residents of a town in Poland one year before it was invaded by Nazi Germany. It is slated for theatrical release this year.

IFC Films and FilmNation (Joint): IFC Films and FilmNation are working together to bring the French film Happening to the United States. Happening previously won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival (also won by movies such as Nomadland, Roma, and somehow Joker) and tells the story of a French university student in the 1960s who faces the social and legal obstructions to get an abortion. It will be released in theaters this year.

Netflix: Streaming pioneer Netflix is walking away with three documentaries. Downfall: The Case Against Boeing talks about the corporate culture that led to multiple plane crashes of their MAX 737 line. It will be released on February 18th of this year. They entered the festival with jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy which is a trilogy about the life of Kanye West. It is not a puff piece, Kanye himself was not involved in the documentary, and Kanye was not happy about the fact that Netflix did not let him make edits to the documentary, so that is shaping up to be an interesting look. The first of three parts debuts on February 16th. Their final acquisition is Descendant about a community in Mobile, Alabama that tracks its ancestry to an illegal slave ship that arrived in 1860, 40 years after importing slaves was banned and made a capital offense. It does not have a release date, but it will be released later this year.

Bleecker Street: Bleeker Street has released a number of smaller films over the recent history such as The Art of Self-Defense and Teen Spirit (seriously, Teen Spirit is fantastic and should be checked out if one has not seen it yet), so it is no surprise that they walked away with two distribution deals. Summering is a coming-of-age story about four friends who uncover a mystery just before they start middle school and 892 is about a veteran who robs a bank out of financial desperation. Both are planning a theatrical release later this year.

Neon: Neon does a fantastic job bringing international films to the United States and they entered Sundance with the domestic rights to Norwegian movie The Worst Person in the World. It is a romantic comedy about a woman who is concerned about commitment after her partner expresses interest in having children. It is slated for a theatrical release this week however (as of writing this) there are no screenings in the area.

Focus Feature: Distributor of the current frontrunner to win Best Picture Belfast as well as The Northman and Promising Young Woman, Focus Featured acquired You Won’t Be Alone and Brian and Charles. You Won’t Be Alone is about a young girl in 19th century Macedonia who turns into a witch that hops between multiple bodies over the years. Brian and Charles is about an inventor who strives to turn his washing machine into a robot with artificial intelligence. Both are slated for theatrical release.

HBO: Warner Brothers really committed to spending a ton of money at Sundance this year and acquired three features. They acquired a pair of documentaries: The Janes about the above-mentioned Jane Collective (see Call Jane at Roadside Attractions) and The Princess, a documentary about Princess Diana. They also acquired the movie Am I Ok?, which is the directorial debut of Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne about two best friends who have to navigate major life changes. The Janes and Am I Ok? are both going to HBO and HBOMax while The Princess will go to theaters first to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.

A24: A24 has received a reputation of late as the most mainstream of arthouse production and distribution companies. With such titles as Eighth Grade, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Moonlight, Ex Machina, The Lighthouse, and Tusk already in their catalog, they entered Sundance with two new movies: When You Finish Saving the World and After Yang. When You Finish Saving the World is Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut about a mother and son who slowly start growing apart as they find different interests and After Yang is about a family who tries to save the life of their robot Yang. A24 tends to release theatrically, however no distribution information has been given yet.

IFC Midnight: IFC is a subsidiary of AMC that focuses on distributing foreign and independent films. The label “Midnight” refers to “genre films” which basically means science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other movies like that. IFC Midnight has acquired Hatching a movie about a Finnish girl who finds an egg in the forest to the chagrin of her mother who is obsessed with showing the image of a perfect family. There are other movies (see below) that IFC Midnight and IFC Films have acquired in a joint venture with Shudder so the current distribution plan is unknown.

Apple TV+: The home of movies like The Tragedy of Macbeth and CODA, Apple TV+ has acquired Cha Cha Real Smooth about a college graduate without focus in her life who wanders Bar Mitzvahs in New Jersey. While it did not hit the record that CODA did at $25 million, Cha Cha Real Smooth did walk away with an impressive $15 million to distribute on Apple’s streaming platform.

Sony Pictures Classics: The home of Julia, Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, and Parallel Mothers, Sony Pictures Classics acquired Living. Based on Kurosawa’s Ikiru, the film is about a bureaucrat who finds new joy in his life in the face of terminal illness. The movie will likely get a theatrical release later this year.

RLJE Films: Yet another subsidiary of AMC, RLJE is the home to such films as Galveston, The Owners, and somehow Heathers (yes, that one). They acquired Dual, a satirical version of Swan Song in which a woman is diagnosed a terminal illness and clones herself to replace her in death. The problem is she has a miraculous recovery and ends up needing to fight her clone to the death. It is slated for a theatrical release, probably because the movie has some substantial star power behind it (Karen Gillan of Guardians of the Galaxy and Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad).

Shudder and IFC (Joint): IFC is joining forces with Shudder to release Watcher and Resurrection on the horror streamer. Resurrection is about a woman whose life is upended when a man from her past resurfaces and makes trouble. It is slated for a theatrical release before going to Shudder exclusively. Watcher is going directly to streaming at an undetermined date and is about a woman who is stalked after moving into a new apartment building.

MUBI: MUBI is another arthouse streaming distributor, focusing on hand selected little-known movies. They acquired Free Chol Soo Lee for theatrical release before streaming. It is a documentary about the 1973 wrongful conviction of Chol Soo Lee for murder and the efforts to exonerate him in the almost 50 years after.

Stage 6 and Bleecker Street (Joint): Stage 6 is a subsidiary of Sony that deals in smaller releases like The Broken Hearts Gallery and The Front Runner. They acquired A Love Song in a joint venture with Bleecker Street. It follows two childhood friends who reunite to cope with the hardships of their lives.

Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment (Joint): Vertical Entertainment tends to release lower budget genre films, notably working with Stephen and Robbie Amell on Code 8. They are teaming up with Roadside Attractions to distribute Emily the Criminal which stars Aubrey Plaza as a college student who pulls credit card scams and falls into the criminal underworld. It will receive a theatrical release and be distributed by Redbox after the theatrical window.

Utopia: Utopia distributes “the next wave of filmmakers” and, to that end, has acquired Lena Dunham’s second feature Sharp Stick for theatrical release later this year.

Focus Features, Peacock, and Monkeypaw Productions (Joint): Finally, Jordan Peele’s production company is teaming with Peacock to distribute Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul., a mockumentary following the efforts of a Southern Baptist preacher and his wife to resurrect the parish following a major scandal. Since Peacock is involved in the distribution, it will probably be streaming there at some point in the future.