![]() We're offering a 2-week trial of WrapPRO for $1. If you’ve been wanting to check out our full coverage, now’s the time. Greetings!The independent film market has been on shaky ground for a while. Best illustrating that upheaval is the Sundance Film Festival, which is undergoing it own disruption with its last event in Park City, Utah, before pulling stakes and moving to its new home in Boulder, Colo., in 2027. It's been several years since Sundance has produced a breakout hit, and as Adam Chitwood and Umberto Gonzalez notes, the festival that birthed the careers of Ryan Coogler, Damien Chazelle, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh hasn't had a similar success story emerge for while. The highest-grossing film from last year’s Sundance was the Alison Brie/Dave Franco body horror movie “Together,” which Neon released to a box office total of $34.5 million worldwide. But after a historically slow market, only two out of 10 U.S. competition titles grossed more than $1 million: Eva Victor’s critically acclaimed “Sorry, Baby,” released by A24 to the tune of $3.3 million, and the Dylan O’Brien-fronted “Twinless,” which grossed $1.1 million worldwide after its release through Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions and Sony Pictures International. Not exactly anything to write home about. In putting together their preview for Sundance, Chitwood and Gonzalez talked to a host of buyers, sellers and filmmakers to get a temperature check on the festival and the broader state of indie films. What they got was a mixed bag, with some eternally hopeful for that next surprise hit, but many resigned to the fact that the artsy programming has led to fewer commercial hits at a time when the box office has been dominated by large franchise films. "One thing’s for certain: Gone are the days when the festival had all-night bidding wars and several big pickups that turned big box office. After a number of slow Sundances in a row and even more industry consolidation, pickings are slimmer than before," they wrote. Be sure to stick with TheWrap through the weekend for all of our Sundance coverage. Roger Cheng
Even if business will be slower at Sundance, there are some who will be embracing the fact that this will be the last film festival held in Park City, which has been its home for the last 45 years...
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