Of the 90-plus movies and episodic sequence premiering on the Sundance Movie Competition in 2026, solely a couple of dozen are arriving on the pageant with distribution in hand. Many will probably be searching for propertiesbut when this yr is something like final yr, it could take a while for these gross sales to shut. We’ll be monitoring all of them as they arrive in.
“Bedford Park”
Part: U.S. Dramatic Competitors
Distributor: Sony Photos Classics
Administrators: Stephanie Ahn
Date Acquired: Jan. 30
Buzz: In its second acquisition in two days, Sony Photos Classics picked up one other set of worldwide rights to yet one more U.S. Dramatic Competitors title. “Bedford Park” can be the directorial debut of Ahn, and it’s a drama a couple of lady (Moon Choi) struggling between her loyalty to her Korean immigrant household and her personal American identification, as a baby raised in New Jersey. When her mom will get right into a automotive accident, it results in a fateful assembly with Eli (Son Sukku), an ex-wrestler battling his personal fractured previous.
Along with Sukku being the host of IndieWire’s closing Chili Celebration in Park Metropolis, IndieWire’s evaluation praised the movie for being wealthy intimately moderately than sacrificing specificity for a easy love story.
“Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”
Part: U.S. Dramatic Competitors
Distributor: Sony Photos Classics
Administrators: Josef Kubot Wlade
Date Acquired: Jan. 29
Buzz: One of many buzzier competitors titles at Sundance not due to its star energy however due to its playful title and attention-grabbing sentiment, one which earned a standing ovation for director Josef Kubota Wladyka and his mom on whom the movie relies, the actual Ha-Chan. Shot in Japan, Rinko Kikuchi stars in “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” as a girl who leaves the Japanese ballroom dance scene after tragedy strikes, solely to be lured again onto the dance ground after creating an infatuation for a brand new teacher. SPC picked up the worldwide rights to the movie. It additionally stars Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, Yoh Yoshida, and Damián Alcázar.
“The Invite”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Administrators: Olivia Wilde
Date Acquired: Jan. 27
Buzz: This was a real, old style, late evening bidding struggle between a number of patrons that ended up being a 72-hour, marathon competitors. IndieWire hears that Neon, Black Bear, Netflix, Searchlight, and Focus Options — and even Warner Bros. on the eleventh hour — had been all within the combine for what was Olivia Wilde’s third characteristic as a director. We’re additionally listening to that the ultimate bidding acquired into the 8-figure vary. Others could have bid extra, however Wilde was decided to get a theatrical deal. And it’s becoming too, as a result of this was one of many starrier motion pictures on the pageant with Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz all main the ensemble solid. “The Invite” fairly merely is in regards to the ceremonial dinner from hell when a pair whose marriage is on the brink have dinner with one other couple that’s polyamorous, however the crowds that noticed it say there’s much more layers to this one than simply that. Will McCormack and Rashida Jones wrote the screenplay based mostly on a 2019 Spanish movie known as “Sentimental.” UTA Unbiased Movie Group and FilmNation co-repped the sale, and the movie hails from Megan Ellison and Annapurna, who additionally beforehand produced Wilde’s debut movie “Booksmart.”
“Leviticus”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: Neon
Director: Adrian Chiarella
Date Acquired: Jan. 27
Buzz: A queer, coming-of-age horror film? “Leviticus” is about two teenage boys who must battle off a violent entity able to taking the type of the opposite. The movie performs on the real-life horrors of conversion remedy and stars Joe Fowl, Stacy Clausen, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Zahra Newman, and Mia Wasikowska. The movie’s distinctive style premise from author/director Adrian Chiarella, his characteristic debut, was adequate for Neon to leap on worldwide rights in a seven-figure deal, in addition to the primary sale of the pageant, an in any other case gradual affair up to now, although one which has sparked an early bidding struggle for at the very least one different title. “Leviticus” will probably be launched later this yr and is definitely Neon’s second deal for a horror film out of the pageant, because the distributor additionally over the weekend joined the following movie from “It Ends” director Alex Ullom.
Movies Arriving at Sundance with Distribution
“The AI Doc: Or How I Turned an Apocaloptimist”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Focus Options
Administrators: Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell
Buzz: The “Navalny” director groups up with producer Daniel Kwan (“All the pieces All over the place All At As soon as”) on a movie that goes deep into the perils and promise of synthetic intelligence, all via the lens of Roher debating whether or not this can be a good second to convey a baby into the world.
“The Brittany Griner Story”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Director: Alexandria Stapleton
Buzz: The director of “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” sits down with Brittany Griner, the basketball star who was famously detained and have become the topic of a media and political frenzy as she hoped to safe her freedom.
“Give Me the Ball!”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: ESPN
Administrators: Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff
Buzz: Greater than a sports activities doc, this portrait of Billie Jean King seems on the tennis icon’s compulsion to cover her sexual orientation and consuming problems.
“Within the Blink of an Eye”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Searchlight Photos
Director: Andrew Stanton
Buzz: Although he’s directed loads on TV, Pixar vet Andrew Stanton is returning to a live-action characteristic for the primary time since “John Carter” dropped method again in 2012. “Within the Blink of an Eye” is a triptych set in historical instances, modern-day, and within the distant future, exploring how these three eras are linked by hope and the circle of life.
“The Second”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: A24
Director: Aidan Zamiri
Buzz: Considered one of three movies starring Charli XCX on the pageant, the “brat” pop star performs a model of herself in an exaggerated mockumentary that feedback on the concept of contemporary superstar.
“One in a Million”
Part: World Documentary
Distributor: PBS/Frontline
Administrators: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes
Buzz: This documentary was filmed over 10 years and follows a Syrian refugee lady who travels to Germany after which again to Syria together with her household.
“Queen of Chess”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Rory Kennedy
Buzz: Maybe a documentary for “The Queen’s Gambit” followers, this movie follows a woman from Hungary who’s a chess prodigy attempting to interrupt right into a male-dominated competitors circuit.
“Saccharine”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: Shudder
Director: Natalie Erika James
Buzz: Shudder picked up this physique horror movie from the “Relic” director simply earlier than the pageant. It stars Midori Francis as a girl who takes half in a weird weight reduction craze that entails consuming human ashes, solely to change into possessed by demonic forces within the course of.
“TheyDream”
Part: NEXT
Distributor: Latino Public Broadcasting and ITVS
Director: William D. Caballero
Buzz: This animated movie that mixes quite a lot of kinds, together with 2D, 3D, and live-action, is a deeply private autobiographical documentary from combined media filmmaker Caballero, who seems again on his profession and examines grief via the lens of his Puerto Rican household in North Carolina. Theatrical rights are nonetheless obtainable.
“Time and Water”
Part: Premieres
Distributor: Nat Geo
Director: Sara Dosa
Buzz: Like her Sundance breakout “Fireplace of Love” earlier than it, “Time and Water” is a extra elevated nature documentary and follows an Icelandic author eulogizing each a glacier and his grandparents.
“Undertone”
Part: Midnight
Distributor: A24
Director: Ian Tuason
Buzz: A micro-budget horror film within the vein of “Paranormal Exercise” that first performed at Fantasia Festthe precise producers of “Paranormal Exercise” helped give the movie a brand new lower and are hoping for an additional horror hit.