Big-name films fail to find buyer audience

By Harlan Jacobson, Special for USA TODAY
PARK CITY, Utah — Nothing went as planned this year at Sundance. The buyers sat on their hands till mid-festival. The wallflower films were crowned prom king and queen, and the premiere films with the cool people faced shrugs of indifference.
Star-studded films were left without distribution, including father-son pairing Tom and Colin Hanks in The Great Buck Howard, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt in the crime-scene comedy Sunshine Cleaning, and Paul Giamatti's rocket-pack entrepreneur comedy Pretty Bird.

The only thing that was business as usual: There were a fair number of quality films, but the frenzy for parking spots and dinner slots seemed to consume more attention.

Still, some movies did walk away with deals. In the end, though, that is perhaps not the most important thing, as festival founder Robert Redford says, "Over the years, what happens is the films that come through and get the word of mouth … that's the best PR and marketing there is."

Among films that emerged from Sundance with distribution and which eventually may show up in theaters near you:

•Hamlet 2. Stars British comedian Steve Coogan (24 Hour Party People) playing a Tucson high school drama teacher staging a cracked sequel to "Shakespeare's bummer." Focus Features purchased for distribution for a reported $10 million, near the festival record.

•Up the Yangtze. A Canadian-financed documentary by Chinese director Yung Chang that examines the impact of China's Three Gorges Dam on the place where Yung's grandfather grew up. Zeitgeist Films plans to release it in April.

•Frozen River. By first-time director Courtney Hunt, it tells the story of two women in upstate New York: one white working-class, the other Native American. They sneak illegal immigrants in from Canada who want a piece of the American Dream, which has collapsed for the smugglers. The film will be released by Sony Pictures Classics.

•The Wackness. Writer/director Jonathan Levine's story of a wacked-out, drug-gulping shrink (Ben Kingsley) who trades therapy sessions to a high school drug dealer (Josh Peck) for pot. The odd couple goes out on the town, carousing at night, and by day pushing the kid's weed. It was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.

•Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. Marina Zenovich's documentary about the famous 1977 rape case that led Polanski to flee Hollywood for Paris. HBO purchased domestic distribution.

•The Black List: Volume One. A documentary by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, List features the likes of Chris Rock and Sean "Diddy" Combs talking about the black experience in America. The film was bought by HBO.

•Choke. Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston and Kelly Macdonald star in the adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel about a guy (Rockwell) who fakes choking to scam those who try to save him. The film went to Fox Searchlight.

•Henry Poole Is Here. Stars Luke Wilson as a dying man with a stain on his stucco wall that neighbors think might be Jesus. Poole was purchased by Overture Films.

•Kicking It. Susan Koch's documentary chronicles the lives of seven soccer players at the Homeless World Cup games. It was bought by ESPN.

[JPX sez, Boba Fett is cool]