The Sundance Market Was Slower This Year, but Not Actually Unhealthy
Agents have been telling us for years now that the pace of the market at Sundance isn’t what it used to be. Maybe it’s time we started taking them seriously. Just as industry people arrived home from Park City last week, everyone checked the proverbial scoreboard and realized not one world premiere feature had been acquired from Sundance. Where are the sales?!?
The next day, Midnight movie “Together” sold in a $17 million worldwide deal to Neon, a number that matches the high mark of last year’s sale of “It’s What’s Inside” to Netflix and puts it in the upper echelon of all-time Sundance deals. It was a true bidding war, with Searchlight Pictures and A24 also in the mix.
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Later that day, a journalist at an event asked Netflix’s Bela Bajaria why Sundance was so “dull” and if this was a sign Netflix is changing course on indie movies.
“The team was all there, so [there was] extensive watching [of] everything, so thoughtful, so many conversations, such a commitment to being really thoughtful about acquiring movies. So no, there’s none of that,” she said, adding that “when there’s something great, we’re going to buy it” and that conversations were continuing.
Cut to the next morning, and Netflix closed a deal to acquire Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams,” also in the range of “Together.” At least one more found a home in the ensuing days, Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby” to A24 in what was another very aggressive bidding war, according to multiple sources.
Ever since COVID, Sundance deals have been happening later and later in the week, once many stakeholders have had the chance to actually see something. It’s no longer just a handful of decision-makers huddling in the Eccles lobby and engaging in the same late night bidding wars, much as that aggressive dealmaking was a sign of health in the market and excitement about the movies.
“People realize that staying up all night at Sundance is stupid, especially when it’s not going to decrease what the movie sells for,” one buyer told IndieWire, giving the example that he doesn’t believe “Together” was hurt because it didn’t sell overnight after its premiere.
The agents we spoke with agreed, saying that though streamers have not been as active as they could have been, talks are still being had, more could close in a matter of days, and 2025 was mostly on par with the last two years of in-person festivities.
Not unlike last year, the most commercial, starriest titles still fetched big deals, while others will take longer. For instance, last year’s sale of “Thelma” to Magnolia did not close during the festival, but required Magnolia to lock in a partner before a deal could close. It worked out, too: the film is the top box office earner from the 2024 crop.
The same could be happening here for certain titles, so panic isn’t setting in just yet. “The pace never delineates success,” one agent said. “If we go into March and none of these sell, maybe we’ll have a different conversation.”
The exception may be “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” the Jennifer Lopez-starring musical from Bill Condon. Some had pegged the film’s budget at an enormous $50 million, but IndieWire understands the film is not as expensive as has been rumored. The Artists Equity-backed film was an unusual one to premiere in Park City, and word is any deal for it will take some time to close.
There were other asterisks too. For one, the Los Angeles fires put a slight damper on the energy. Fewer Sundance venues meant movies were premiering into Monday and up until Tuesday, even after trade press had gone home. “Train Dreams,” “Together,” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” all some of the biggest titles, premiered on Sunday, while the early part of the festival was reserved for first-time filmmakers.
The agents also argued more indie films are being packaged and pre-sold to distributors outside of the festival, with Sundance chasing more true discoveries and a slate that leans very indie. To that end, the buyer said his company is unlikely at this point to buy something from the festival, citing an already full slate until the end of 2025, including one they acquired before it was set for the Sundance lineup.
“That’s our approach, and it’s already going to be our approach next year,” the buyer said.
For those others that do have holes, smaller distributors like Magnolia and Vertical still struggle to monetize these films without a clear pay one output deal for streaming, a challenge that has been ongoing for years if you can’t play in the same sandbox as Neon, A24, or Bleecker Street. It’s why well-reviewed darlings like “Ricky,” “Plainclothes,” “East of Wall,” or “Oh, Hi” may be waiting until they find the right spot to succeed.
“The old days are a long time ago,” a second agent said. “You tell everyone it’s not going to happen that way, and they still get anxious. It’s not that people don’t want to buy films, but they’re being more deliberate with them.”
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