Apple Confirms ‘Flora And Son’, Streamer’s Biggest Sundance Deal Since ‘CODA’
24.01.2023 - 22:15 / deadline.com
Apple has confirmed Deadline’s scoop on winning an all-night bidding battle for the John Carney-directed Flora and Son, as Apple’s Heads of Worldwide Video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht and their head of features Matt Dentler burned the midnight oil to make the label’s biggest Sundance Film Festival deal since they acquired CODA in 2021. That film went on to establish Apple as the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar, with the film also winning Best Adapted Screenplay for director Sian Heder and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur.
The three-year old Apple film label paid $25 million for CODA, and Flora and Son came in underneath that but it is certainly a pricey purchase — near the $20 million Netflix paid Monday for another festival favorite, Fair Play. That is more than the $15 million Apple paid at last Sundance for the Grand Jury Prize winner Cha Cha Real Smooth.
The outcome of the Flora and Son auction was anybody’s guess until early this morning, as Apple and Amazon battled for the title.
Many buyers and sellers have returned from Park City, but there are plenty of other well-liked films at the festival that are in play and will result in deals sooner or later, making for a good showing in the first in-person Sundance in several years.
While the label still needs to find a vehicle for Timothée Chalamet, Apple Original Films had a pretty good morning. It landed a surprise Best Supporting Actor nomination for Brian Tyree Henry for the gritty two-hander Causeway opposite Jennifer Lawrence, and a nom for Best Animated Short for The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse. This despite the Oscar hopes of the superb Antoine Fuqua-directed and Will Smith-starring Emancipation didn’t materialize, with
