At Sundance, the market turns bullish
PARK CITY, Utah -- In a spending spree reminiscent of drunken sailors on shore leave, the buyers for independent film have turned the Sundance Film Festival into a free-for-all marketplace.
After virtually no business was transacted in the festival's opening weekend, the floodgates opened Monday and yesterday, with nearly a dozen movies changing hands, almost every one for $3 million and more.
"I've never seen anything like this. It's crazy," said Cassian Elwes, the William Morris agent who brokered deals for "The Signal" (Magnolia Films), "Clubland" (Warner Independent Pictures), "Grace Is Gone" (Weinstein Co.), and "Teeth" (Lionsgate Films and the Weinstein Co.).
The most active buyers include Paramount Vantage and Fox Searchlight, which set a Sundance record last year when it bought "Little Miss Sunshine," which just snagged four Oscar nominations, for $10.5 million. Searchlight has purchased the thriller "Joshua," the bittersweet romantic comedy "Waitress" and, with the Weinstein Co., the tear-jerking immigration story "La Misma Luna."
Paramount Vantage has acquired the coming-of-age comedy "Son of Rambow" and the dance competition drama "How She Move."
Among other recent sales, 
