With a great Sundance behind us (full wrap-up here), there are still a few titles waiting on acquisition. Three of those got deals today; the biggest being Leslye Headland‘s Bachelorette. Deadline reports that The Weinstein Company picked up the dark comedy for around $2 million dollars with plans for simultaneous VOD and theatrical roll-out. They even went ahead and formed a new company for these similar deals in the future, titled Radius. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, Adam Scott and Kyle Bornheimer, one can read our positive review here and interview with the director here.
Next up is two films that I saw at the festival, but didn’t get a chance to write about until now. Deadline also reports that Christopher Neil‘s dramedy GOATS was picked up by Image Entertainment. I was mixed on the film starring David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Ty Burrell and Graham Phillips. The coming-of-age story just glides by at a reasonable pace, perfect for a Sunday afternoon viewing. I was never deeply affected by anything happening, but thanks to a diverting, fully-bearded Duchovny and a solid lead performance from newcomer Phillips, it wasn’t a bad time.
Last on the distribution news docket is the Midnight film Excision, which I was mostly negative on. Directed by Richard Bates Jr., this is another coming-of-age story, but in a very different vein. The film, starring AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart and John Waters, was picked up by Anchor Bay Films. Mixing surrealistic dream sequences full of lots (and lots) of blood with a story of an awkward teenager dealing with losing her virginity and her ill sister, I wasn’t a fan of the vibrant cinematography. It was shot more like a commercial and also found it difficult to connect with some of the humor. But if you are enticed by a movie where a recently aborted fetus exploding in an oven is one of the lesser disturbing scenes, then this is up your alley.
Which Sundance title are you most looking forward to?