3 Sundance Flicks That Are Already Generating Oscar Buzz

Sundance is well underway, and buzzy entries are getting snatched up left and right. Hollywood pays big bucks for little movies because, it turns out, it’s a pretty great shortcut to prestige, come awards season. So, let’s break down the purchases that we’re betting will make waves down the road.

The belle of the ball is standing-ovation generator The Birth of a Nation. Fox Searchlight picked up Nate Parker’s passion project, a true story of a slave rebellion, for $17.5 million, making it the biggest Sundance sale of all time. The movie’s title is a reference to the famous D.W. Griffith silent movie that revolutionized cinema — while also inspiring a violent Ku Klux Klan revival. So this film is sort of meta-movie justice in a way. It’s hard to see how it won’t end up in the awards race next year.

No. 2 on our list is Manchester by the Sea. Amazon paid $10 million for this Northeastern drama. Matt Damon said it was one of the best roles he’d ever seen, but he had a previous commitment so it went to Casey Affleck instead. He’s been called “inspiring” and “agonizing.” Ring! Ring! Hear that sound? It’s the Academy calling. Next!

A24’s stylish logo’s been attached to recent arthouse hits Room, Ex Machina, Obvious Child, Under the Skin, The Spectacular Now — you get the picture. Basically, A24 is what Miramax was in the early ’90s, the era of hits like Pulp Fiction and Clerks. So fest-watchers were looking out for A24’s first Sundance purchase. It turned out to be Morris From America, a coming-of-age tale about an American kid living (and loving) in Germany.

Inevitably, this all brings us to Swiss Army Man. Where do we start? Imagine a movie where someone rides Harry Potter’s farting corpse across the ocean like a Jet Ski and uses his, uh, member as a compass. No, we’re not speaking in metaphors. This is an actual movie Daniel Radcliffe agreed to do. It’s not like he needed the money, so he was definitely doing it for the prestige. Somehow, nobody’s snatched this one up yet. Has anyone told MTV Films about it?

And if you want more Oscars news and controversy, check out these snubs from this year’s awards show.

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