Hollywood is heading up the mountain for what’s possibly one of the final Sundance Film Festivals to be held in the posh ski-resort town of Park City. It’s a place that’s hosted its fair share of all-night bidding wars, where films ranging from “Reservoir Dogs” and “Napoleon Dynamite” to “Brooklyn” and “The Big Sick” landed massive deals before going on to box office, and in some cases, Oscar glory. But it’s also been the setting of some frenzied sales that didn’t always pay off, like “Happy, Texas”or “Blinded by the Light.”
Sundance has already announced the festival is considering decamping Utah for Ohio or Colorado in 2027. Even if it does stay in the state, the focus of the festival will shift to Salt Lake City, which is better positioned than Park City to host the crowds that the celebration of movies attracts. So will nostalgia for some final late-night screenings at the Eccles and Egyptian theaters make independent studios and streamers more willing to sign some big checks? Or will the fragile state of the film business, one that’s already lead to a great deal of economizing, mean that buyers will be more money-conscious?
Here are 15 movies that (on paper) seem most likely to to leave Sundance with a splashy sale.
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Tonatiuh, Diego LunaDirector: Bill CondonSales Agent: CAA/WMEWhy Buyers Are Circling: One of the highest-profile premieres at this year’s festival, “Spider Woman” unites a beloved musical director in Condon (“Chicago,” “Dreamgirls”) with Jenny from the Block. Tonatiuh is already getting buzz for his breakout performance as a queer window dresser jailed for having gay sex. To distract from their bleak surroundings, he regales his cellmate with vivid stories about the cinematic exploits of his favorite screen diva. A big deal seems like a no-brainer, not only thanks to its technicolor music numbers (a worthy successor to “Hustlers” for J. Lo), but also because the film could be a serious awards contender for the right buyer.
Sorry, Baby
Cast: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormackDirector: Eva VictorSales Agent: UTAWhy Buyers Are Circling: “Sorry, Baby” unspools nonlinearly over five years, following a college professor as she recovers from being sexually assaulted. Victor pulls off triple duty in her first feature, writing, directing and starring in the ambitious drama. Barry Jenkins, the Oscar-winning “Moonlight” director, adds pedigree as a producer on the film. It also marks a festival comeback for indie favorite Lucas Hedges, who first broke out at Sundance with “Manchester by the Sea.”
Lurker
Cast: Théodore Pellerin, Archie MadekweDirector: Alex RussellSales Agent: WMEWhy Buyers Are Circling: Russell, an executive producer on Netflix’s hit series “Beef,” makes his feature debut in what’s described as a stark portrait of obsession and longing. Pellerin (“Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”) portrays the aspiring photographer Oliver, who hitches his wagon to a charismatic pop sensation (Madekwe, of “Salburn” fame). What starts as intoxication over access and celebrity becomes a deadly game of identity and dreams at any price.
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
Director: Shoshannah SternSales Agent: DogwoofWhy Buyers Are Circling: The Oscar-winner offers a revealing look at her life and career, one that saw her triumph on screen in films like “Children of a Lesser God” and “CODA” despite the industry’s failure to offer her many compelling roles. It’s also a movie that puts Matlin’s deafness front-and-center. “Not Alone Anymore” was directed by Stern, who, like Matlin, is deaf. The film uses captions but rarely interpreters. It seems like the type of inspirational documentary that Sundance audiences usually embrace.
Twinless
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, James Sweeney, Lauren Graham, Aisling Franciosi, Tasha Smith, Chris PerfettiDirector: James SweeneySales Agent: UTAWhy Buyers Are Circling: This comedic drama follows two friends (O’Brien and Sweeney) who meet in a support group for people who lost a twin. To say more about the twists and turns of the cinematic journey would spoil the fun. But Sweeney is likely to leave the festival as a major talent to watch and O’Brien’s double act playing twins should score with critics.
Lili Reinhart, Mark Ruffalo and Cooper Raiff star in “Hal & Harper”
Doug Emmett
Hal & Harper
Cast: Lili Reinhart, Mark Ruffalo, Betty Gilpin, Havana Rose Liu, Addison Timlin, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Cooper RaiffDirector: Cooper RaiffSales Agent: UTAWhy Buyers Are Circling: Festival wunderkind Cooper Raiff returns to Sundance three years after his sophomore feature “Cha Cha Real Smooth” sold to Apple for a whopping $15 million. He’s turning to television for his follow-up, “Harper & Hal,” a surrealist comedic drama about a single dad (Ruffalo) and his comfortably co-dependent children (Reinhart and Raiff, sometimes playing elementary schoolers). If he delivers another undeniable charmer, Raiff could go down the mountain with another eye-popping price tag.
Together
Cast: Dave Franco, Alison BrieDirector: Michael ShanksSales Agent: WMEWhy Buyers Are Circling: Real life spouses Franco and Brie have already stacked a pretty impressive body of work together, last appearing in his directorial genre effort “The Rental.” This time they go full body horror in a tale of two codependent spouses who move to the remote countryside to become even closer. And they do, on a nightmarish physical level, thanks to a supernatural force in their home. Genre always does well at Sundance — and in an age where “The Substance” gets a best picture Oscar nomination, this could go fast.
Alia Shawkat stars in “Atropia”
Atropia
Cast: Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Jane LevyDirector: Hailey GatesSales Agent: UTAWhy Buyers Are Circling: Gates, a self described “bit actor,” is making her feature debut with “Atropia,” which boasts a promising cast (and some surprise cameos) and fascinating setting — a remote military camp that’s staged to resemble a war-torn country in order to help troops to prepare for life abroad. Shawkat is a standout as an aspiring actress, enlisted to help at the role-playing facility, who falls in love with a soldier cast as an insurgent. Their real-life romance threatens to derail the performance.
Prime Minister
Director: Michelle Walshe, Lindsay UtzSales Agent: CAAWhy Buyers Are Circling: It’s a compelling look at the life of former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who reluctantly took on what she’s called “the worst job in politics” as the leader of the country’s opposition movement. During her five tumultuous years in power, she implemented sweeping gun law reforms following a tragic mass shooting and guided the nation through the pandemic by relying on science. In other words, it’s a refreshing change of pace from America’s gridlocked partisan politics. Washington, take note.
Last Days
Cast: Sky Yang, Radhika Apte, Naveen Andrews, Ken Leung, Toby Wallace, Ciaro BravoDirector: Justin LinSales Agent: CAAWhy Buyers Are Circling: Lin, best known for overseeing vehicular destruction in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, changes gears and returns to his indie roots with this true story of a missionary who tries to make contact with an isolated tribe living on an island in the Indian Ocean. Things do not go well. Lin, who got his start with the Sundance crime drama “Better Luck Tomorrow,” has a chance to prove that he’s as good at emotional pyrotechnics as he is at car-based mayhem.
Himesh Patel and Sarah Goldberg lead the ensemble of “Bubble & Squeak”
Bubble & Squeak
Cast: Himesh Patel, Sarah Goldberg, Steven Yeun, Dave Franco, Matt BerryDirector: Evan TwohySales Agent: WME/CAAWhy Buyers Are Circling: In this quirky comedy, Patel and “Barry” breakout Goldberg play newlyweds who are accused of smuggling cabbages in a nation where the leafy vegetable is banned. Yeun, Franco and Berry, a favorite from “What We Do in the Shadows,” round out the ensemble. Should “Bubble & Squeak” deliver on the promise of that wacky premise, the funny film is sure to get buyers talking… and maybe even pulling out their wallets.
Peter Hujar’s Day
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Rebecca HallDirector: Ira SachsSales Agent: WMEWhy Buyers Are Circling: It’s an unlikely idea for a movie. Photographer Peter Hujar recounts a single day of his life to writer Linda Rosenkrantz as part of an oral history project she’s developing. But Sachs, who has shown himself to be one of cinema’s great miniaturists with low-key dramas like “Little Men” and “Love is Strange,” makes their conversation compelling and unforgettable. It’s a story of art and capitalism, as well as the urban spaces where those two things so often collide, that could be an arthouse hit.
Nicole Beharie and André Holland star in “Love, Brooklyn”
Love, Brooklyn
Cast: André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr., Cassandra Freeman, Cadence ReeseDirector: Rachael Abigail HolderSales Agent: CAA Why Buyers Are Circling: Holland has become a Sundance regular, starring in 2021’s “Passing” and 2024’s “Exhibiting Forgiveness.” In “Love, Brooklyn,” he plays a bachelor who toggles between two women — a straight-shooting single mother (Wise) and his ex (Beharie). Billed as a “later-in-life coming-of-age story,” the movie navigates their intertwined relationships as the city they love transforms around them. “Love, Brooklyn” also has a key endorsement from Steven Soderbergh, who put his own money into the film after it struggled to get financing.
Rebuilding
Cast: Josh O’Connor, Meghann Fahy, Lily LaTorreDirector: Max Walker-SilvermanSales Agent: CAAWhy Buyers Are Circling: O’Connor is riding high after “The Crown” and “Challengers,” with some odds makers even speculating he could soon slip into James Bond’s perfectly tailored suit. “Rebuilding” serves as a reminder of O’Connor’s great talent, with the English actor playing a cowboy named Dusty, who has to relocate to a FEMA camp after his ranch is destroyed in a fire. That makes “Rebuilding” all too timely, premiering in the wake of devastating wildfires that have upended life in Hollywood.
Jimpa
Cast: Olivia Colman, John Lithgow, Aud Mason-Hyde, Daniel HenshallDirector: Sophie HydeSales Agent: CAA/Protagonist PicturesWhy Buyers Are Circling: A top-shelf cast that includes acting legends like Colman and Lithgow should have indie studios and streamers eager to see if they can deliver the fireworks. Plus, the story of a woman and her nonbinary teenager visiting their gay grandfather arrives at a time when LGBTQ+ issues, particularly those that relate to gender definition, have become politically charged.
The Perfect Neighbor
Director: Geeta GandbhirSales Agent: Cinetic MediaWhy Buyers Are Circling: Told largely from police-operated body cams, “The Perfect Neighbor” examines how a minor dispute between neighbors in a Florida community takes a tragic turn. The documentary, which also looks at stand-your-ground-laws, is a hot-button one, that seems destined to spark heated debate.
