Humpday Sold at Sundance
By Brian Miller in Film
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 2:08PM
Lynn Shelton's local indie Humpday has sold to Magnolia Pictures. Defamer.com has a nice account here. And Variety also confirms here, with some notable details. Magnolia owns the Landmark Theatres chain, which runs the Harvard Exit, Seven Gables, and other arthouse cinemas in town. Both are controlled by Internet billionaire Mark Cuban (yes, that guy from Dancing With the Stars and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks). Variety reports:
"Magnolia Pictures has spent mid-six figures for worldwide rights to Lynn Shelton's Humpday, a lo-fi buddy comedy that attracted six offers and a protracted bidding war. An unorthodox release plan will see Magnolia launch the pic on VOD before an August theatrical opening, much like their release of the crime pic Flawless starring Demi Moore."Okay, that means those of us in Seattle are guaranteed to see the film, if only on Video on Demand. If Magnolia is smart, it'll use SIFF to help generate more local (and national) awareness for the film in June. But I'm not sure I'd want to use Flawless, with a total box office take of $1.2 million (and that's with two major stars, including Michael Caine), as a business model. Humpday boasts mumblecore icon Mark Duplass as its sole name. Also, August is, after the month of January, usually considered the worst month to open a film. And you can bet there won't be any Humpday ads on TV.
No word yet on the other two Sundance titles with Seattle ties: local director David Russo's The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, and the Robin Williams-starring World's Greatest Dad.
UPDATE: Variety here gives Dad a pretty good review. So a sale and Seattle release seems likely. Perhaps the opening-night feature at SIFF? It'd be pretty sweet to have Williams ad-libbing on stage.
1 comment(s)
ls says:
We just got back from Sundance and we saw the premiere of Humpday. We loved it. Quirky, well acted adn a story that leads in some interesting places. Also pretty damn funny in spots.
It is not likely to attract a wide audience but I think it will do well here. Go see it if you get the chance.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jan. 21 2009 @ 11:34AM