Dermot Mulroney in "The Rambler"

Credit: Anchor Bay Films

PARK CITY - Sundance is well under way and on opening day, acquisitions had already been announced.

Following it's late-night premiere yesterday, Morgan Neville's back-up singers documentary "Twenty Feet From Stardom" was picked up last night by The Weinstein Company for its video-on-demand shingle, RADiUS. HitFix's Greg Ellwood wrote that the film "accomplishes the rare feat of entertaining as it educates moviegoers that rock and pop music would be radically different without the contributions of these vocalists."

(Speaking of Weinstein, the company is said to be hovering over James Pondsolt's "Smashed" follow-up and obvious break-out hit "The Spectacular Now," as are, surely, countless other buyers. Get ready to see Searchlight, Sony Classics, et al start lining up.)

Meanwhile, Calvin Lee Reeder's "The Rambler," an extension of his short film that played Sundance in 2008, was nabbed by Anchor Bay Films in advance of its January 21 premiere. The film stars Dermot Mulroney. Reeder noted his enthusiasm for the distributor via press release, referencing films like "Repo Man," "Holy Mountain" and "El Topo" as personal favorites from the midnight movie mold.

The festival marches on with more pick-ups sure to come. Keep it here for the latest.

Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

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Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.