It’s the best part of Super Bowl Sunday…
22.01.2023 - 02:35 / deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance acquisitions market is poised to get going with a big sale. The Dish hears that the Chloe Domont-directed Fair Play right now has as many as seven bidders making offers. Traditionally when that happens, the result is an 8-figure deal. That’s where this one seems headed, though it might take until tomorrow to close
Sources that bidders in the mix include Netflix, Searchlight, Neon and several others.
The film stars Rian Johnson, Eddie Marsan, Alden Ehrenreich, Phoebe Dynevor, Rich Sommer. A thriving New York couple Emily (Dynevor) and Luke (Ehrenreich) can’t get enough of each other. When a coveted promotion at a cutthroat financial firm arises, supportive exchanges between the lovers begin to sour into something more sinister. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, Luke and Emily must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition.
The pic marks the feature helming debut of Domont, whose dive into the destructive gender dynamics that pit partners against each other will send her home a hot helmer, no matter when and where this one closes. The film comes out of the deal that T-Street’s Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman made with MRC to hatch vehicles with emerging talent, and Fair Play is the first film to come out of that. Johnson and Bergman made Knives Out with MRC in a single pic deal, and then they made a $450 million Netflix deal for two sequels. The first of those, The Glass Onion, has been a crowd-pleasing triumph that is squarely in the mix in the major Oscar categories.
Because of the ongoing relationship with Netflix, Sundance rumors put that streamer in pole position. While Netflix usually gets festival titles it covets, sources said that is
It’s the best part of Super Bowl Sunday…
EXCLUSIVE: Renowned documentarian Lisa Cortés has entered into a first-look development agreement with the Museum of the City of New York, the goal being to hone documentary IP based on the museum’s exhibitions.
EXCLUSIVE: Days after a feverish auction wrapped up for Weapons, the town is still talking about the wake left in its path. The Dish hears that the deal for the Zach Cregger-directed horror film is remarkable in that this is only Cregger’s second film — after the highly profitable debut Barbarian — and it sold to New Line for an overall sum around $38 million, including the budget and Cregger getting $5 million to direct, and $10 million total when that sum is added to his fees for scripting and producing alongside Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon, and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules.
From “Rocky” to “Ali,” to “The Champ,” “Creed,” and more, boxing has a storied history in cinema. Everyone loves an underdog tale, and boxing narratives always manage to expertly tell these tales of overcoming the odds and achieving greatness with many of the personal costs involved.
EXCLUSIVE: ColorCreative, the management and production company founded by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis, has signed first-generation Liberian-Nigerian filmmaker Tari Wariebi for representation.
Barbarian producer BoulderLight Pictures has secured a multi-year first-look feature agreement with New Line Cinema, Deadline has confirmed.
The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City after a two-year virtual hiatus and that means the in-person awards ceremony returned as well. Well, sorta.
Three. Frustrating. Years. That’s how much time has passed since the Sundance Film Festival last held an in-person edition in Park City, Utah. (Put it this way: The opening night selection was the Taylor Swift documentary, Miss Americana, which chronicled the making of her 2018 album of Reputation. So, like, ancient history.) Blame the pandemic, of course. Because of safety fears, attendees couldn’t be in the room for the premiere of the eventual Oscar Best Picture winner, Coda, or cheer along for Questlove and the first screening of his own future Oscar pic, Summer of Soul. No sightings of a random Real Housewives star on the bustling Main Street. No napping during 8:30 AM screenings. No huffing and puffing walking in the snow in the frigid weather at high altitudes. No nothing.
Amazon Studios is getting into business with Critical Role, the company behind Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina animated series, with a multiyear exclusive overall television and first-look film deal.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYEverything Everywhere All At Once, Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert; A24The Fabelmans, Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner; Universal PicturesThe Menu, Written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy; Searchlight PicturesNope, Written by Jordan Peele; Universal PicturesTár, Written by Todd Field; Focus FeaturesADAPTED SCREENPLAYBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever, Screenplay by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole, Story by Ryan Coogler, Based on the Marvel Comics; Walt Disney Studios Motion PicturesGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Written by Rian Johnson; NetflixShe Said, Screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Based on the New York Times Investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett and the Book She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey; Universal PicturesTop Gun: Maverick, Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, Based on Characters Created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.; Paramount PicturesWomen Talking, Screenplay by Sarah Polley, Based upon the Book by Miriam Toews; Orion Pictures/MGMDOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY2nd Chance, Written by Ramin Bahrani; Showtime Documentary FilmsDownfall: The Case Against Boeing, Written by Mark Bailey & Keven McAlester; NetflixLast Flight Home, Written by Ondi Timoner; MTV Documentary FilmsMoonage Daydream, Written by Brett Morgen; Neon¡Viva Maestro!, Written by Theodore Braun; Greenwich Entertainment
UPDATED WITH MORE DETAILS
“Fair Play” is led by “Solo” star Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor as Luke and Emily, co-workers at a financial firm who are deeply in love and about to be engaged. But their relationship falls apart when Emily gets a promotion at their firm, leading to a change in power dynamics that poisons their personal lives and eventually leads to violence.
Written and directed by Chloe Domont, Fair Play follows a couple’s descent into the depths of hell all over a job promotion. The film stars Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich and Eddie Marsan.
EXCLUSIVE: Nielsen, the audience measurement, data and analytics organization unveiled today the findings of their case studies on Native content at a panel discussion in the Indigenous House at Sundance Film Festival, presented by , the Native woman-led social justice organization dedicated to building visibility and representation for Native peoples.
On second thought, we may have let our collective nostalgia for erotic thrillers get a tad out of hand. Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play” seems, at least at the level of its inception, to be a thought exercise: what would it look like to make something like “Disclosure,” but from the perspective, and with sympathy towards, the Demi Moore character? That Barry Levinson adaptation of a Michael Crichton thriller has aged like a bottle of milk on a radiator, a baffling stew of corporate intrigue, shitty special effects, and spectacularly terrible sexual politics.
On second thought, we may have let our collective nostalgia for erotic thrillers get a tad out of hand. Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play” seems, at least at the level of its inception, to be a thought exercise: what would it look like to make something like “Disclosure,” but from the perspective, and with sympathy towards, the Demi Moore character? That Barry Levinson adaptation of a Michael Crichton thriller has aged like a bottle of milk on a radiator, a baffling stew of corporate intrigue, shitty special effects, and spectacularly terrible sexual politics.
As sellers and buyers roll into the chilly climes of Park City and Sundance starting tonight, a batch of promising films await. Along with hopes of all nighter auctions and the opportunity to find the next CODA. . After a number of conversations with vets on both sides, the simple truth is, we won’t know if there’s a towering deal ahead, until some of the top titles his the screen over the next week.