Sundance 2012: IFC Midnight buys ‘The Pact’
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IFC Midnight on Thursday acquired the North American distribution rights to ‘The Pact,’ a horror film written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy that premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival.
IFC Midnight paid in the high six figures for the rights, according to a source familiar with the negotiations who added that the company plans both a video-on-demand release and a theatrical run in several cities.
The deal marks a milestone for McCarthy, who was featured in a Times story last week. After years of struggling in Hollywood, he is offering up ‘The Pact’ as his first feature film. “My whole life I have wanted to make movies that people will see and now that is going to happen,” McCarthy said shortly after the deal was completed. “Now I know it is going to be seen by thousands and thousands of people after this festival. It’s a great vote of confidence.”
Based on a short McCarthy film that played at Sundance in 2011, ‘The Pact’ stars Caity Lotz and Casper Van Dien. It focuses on a woman struggling to deal with the tangled aftermath of her mother’s death while discovering terrifying truths about her family’s past and the house she grew up in.
The film’s distribution rights to the Japanese, British and Australian markets have also been sold at this week’s festival, according to Ross Dinerstein, who produced ‘The Pact. ‘
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-- Kurt Streeter
