Sundance buyers keep wallets closed

They arrived in Park City ready to shop—cautious about last year’s expensive Sundance misfires, but eager to find the best new independent movies, especially with no end in sight for the Writers Guild of America strike.

But three full days after the festival started, the buyers were still looking for something—anything—to pick up. With no movies to negotiate over, several buyers spent Sunday watching NFL playoffs.

Some Sundance festivals start quickly, while others take a while to get going. It’s a rare event indeed for the sun to rise Monday morning with not a single drama having closed a deal for a theatrical release.

There has been some attention focused on several non-fiction films. HBO Documentary Films acquired domestic rights to “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” and a number of buyers, including Paramount Vantage, have been pursuing theatrical rights to “American Teen,” meaning it could be in theaters soon.

But that’s where the party stopped. The refrain “Seen anything good?”—a question asked by distribution executives of almost anybody they ran into—wasn’t just an idle conversation starter. It was almost a desperate plea from the distributors, whose expectations have repeatedly been dashed.

Among the films drawing droves of buyers in the audience but little bidding action immediately afterward: Colin Hanks in “The Great Buck Howard”; Robert De Niro in “What Just Happened?”; the adaptation of Michael Chabon’s “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh”; and Elle Fanning’s “Phoebe in Wonderland.”

The distributors were hopeful that Monday’s slate—anchored by the comedy “Hamlet 2”—would turn the tide. We’ll see.

--John Horn

(PHOTO: Director Nanette Burnstein's "American Teen" was the talk of the Sundance party circuit on Sunday night as competing acquisition execs volleyed prices back and forth with the film's sales representation.)