Park City, Utah — By the dawn of the second full day of screenings at North America’s preeminent showcase for independent cinema Saturday, the buying and selling of movies in this picturesque ski hamlet was already in full swing.
On the heels of a heated bidding session, the day began with the news that Relativity has snapped up distribution rights for the raunch-comedy The Bronze for a reported $3 million. The movie stars The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch as a hard-swearing, allergy meds-snorting former gymnast who becomes a reluctant mentor to a 16-year-old up-and-comer training for the Olympics.
On Friday, A24 Films acquired the release rights for director James Ponsoldt’s third Sundance offering, The End of the Tour, for an undisclosed amount. The talky drama stars Jason Segel as acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg as Rolling Stone scribe David Lipsky, who’s sent to interview the writer over five days at the peak of Wallace’s fame after writing the 1996 literary blockbuster Infinite Jest. A24 also put out Ponsoldt’s last film, The Spectacular Now, in 2013.
And Tribeca Films picked up distribution for the documentary Misery Loves Comedy just hours before its Friday premiere. The directorial debut of comedian Kevin Pollak takes an in-depth look at the mechanics of making audiences laugh, featuring candid interviews with top-tier funny people including Whoopi Goldberg, Larry David, Judd Apatow, Janine Garofolo and Jimmy Fallon.
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