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First big deal of the festival: 'Brooklyn's Finest' SOLD
Marking one of the earliest acquisitions in recent festival history, the first major deal of Sundance '09 was struck tonight when Senator Distribution bought the North American rights to director Antoine Fuqua's violent police procedural "Brooklyn's Finest."
The deal, for an as-yet undisclosed sum, is a co-venture with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group.
"This is very much about chemistry: the right distributor for the right film," said Senator President Mark Urman. "We saw the film Friday night. It was edgy, daring and definitely not studio fare. But it was polished, has great production values, and it defines the kind of movies our company wants to do."
The movie becomes Senator's second Sundance-related property this year. A Senator-produced adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' book of inter-related short stories "The Informers" will debut here Thursday.
The "Brooklyn's Finest" deal was brokered by chief executive Marco Weber and Urman for Senator and CAA and the William Morris Agency on behalf of the filmmakers.
Although on Friday a source close to the film said that Fuqua was facing some pressure from acquisitions executives to change the downbeat ending of "Brooklyn's Finest" — which stars Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle — to make it more audience friendly, the "Training Day" director insisted he would retain final cut and its finale would remain intact, although other edits and changes including to the movie's score would be made before the movie reached theaters. "Brooklyn's Finest" is tentatively scheduled to bow in November, Urman said.
"It's a dream come true," said Fuqua. "It's a good deal, a lot of money. Senator has committed a lot of money to [prints and advertising]. And I feel totally sure they understand the picture I made."
UPDATE 1/18/09: Senator reportedly paid under $5 million for "Brooklyn's Finest" with a commitment of at least $10 million to market the film. And while Fuqua said on Saturday night that executives at Senator had not pushed him to alter the movie's finale ("They believe in the ending of the picture. I get to finish the picture my way," the director said), a publicist for the film clarified that Fuqua is still open to any reasonable changes to "Brooklyn's Finest" including the ending.
— Chris Lee
Um, who's "Dob Cheadle?"
Posted by: Tuptim | January 17, 2009 at 11:34 PM
who is LIRIS CROSSE a new up and coming star
Posted by: DAVID SHELLMAN | January 18, 2009 at 01:47 PM
cant wait to see Jesse Williams in this movie? what a cast, i can't wait to see it!
Posted by: blonder | January 22, 2009 at 08:22 AM