First Major Acquisitions Deal Announced

The first major acquisitions deal was announced at the Festival yesterday, with Fox Searchlight Films, the independent film division of Hollywood major Twentieth Century Fox, acquiring worldwide rights to LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, which had its world premiere on Friday night.

The first major acquisitions deal was announced at the Festival yesterday, with Fox Searchlight Films, the independent film division of Hollywood major Twentieth Century Fox, acquiring worldwide rights to LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, which had its world premiere on Friday night.

The deal has Sundancers buzzing since it appears to be one of the largest in Sundance history. Fox Searchlight has reportedly paid more than $10 Million for the film. Last year, Paramount Classics paid a reported $9 million for the hip-hop film HUSTLE AND FLOW. That film grossly underperformed at the box office, a factor that many believe led to the eventual dismissal of Paramount Classics' two co-Presidents a few months ago.

lITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is a quirky comedy of manners about a dysfunctional family who travel from Albequerque, New Mexico to California to enroll their daughter in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The film stars Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Toni Collette.

Clearly a factor in the high price is the presence of Steve Carrell, whose comedy career has turned red hot with his Golden globe award this past week for his lead role as an obnoxious boss in the NBC series THE OFFICE, and the box-office busting performance of his sleeper hit this summer, THE FORTY YEAR OLD VIRGIN.

This is the directorial debut of husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who hae had successful career as music video directors for such artists as The Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction and Macy Gray.

The deal was negotiated by uber-lawyer John Sloss of Cinetic Media, who is repping more than a dozen projects here at the Festival, and Fox Searchlight's Peter Rice, Joseph De Marco and Tony Safford.

While the big money of the deal has created great expectation at the Festival for filmmakers and their agents, Festival veterans were quick to recall the high price tags in paid in years past for eventual theatrical duds CARE OF THE SPITFIRE GRILL and HAPPY, TEXAS. Paying top dollar in the height of Festival frenzy is not always the best idea. However, the deal, happening less than 24 hours after the film's initial screening, has ratcheted up the excitement and anticipation of still more announcements on the horizon.
Sandy Mandelberger