Sundance 2011: Morgan Spurlock finds a buyer
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The greatest movie ever sold has sold.
Morgan Spurlock’s documentary about product placement has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The company, which picked up North American rights to the film, plans on releasing it in April.
In ‘The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,’ which premieres Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival, the light-hearted documentarian explores the pervasiveness of brands and sponsorships, with the hook that the movie itself was financed with product placement. ‘Spurlock unmasks the marketing process, bringing audiences directly into the pitch meetings and marketing presentations which inform our everyday entertainment decisions,’ the company noted in a statement.
Spurlock came to fame with ‘Super Size Me,’ an exploration of fast-food culture that premiered at Sundance in 2004 and went on to become a surprise hit. He returned to the festival in 2008 with his geopolitical romp ‘Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?,’ which was a commercial disappointment.
‘Sold’ isn’t his first foray into marketing-culture critiques -- he served as a producer on ‘What Would Jesus Buy?,’ a documentary that explored the commercialization of Christmas.
-- Steven Zeitchik
