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Company Pays Seven Figures for VR Film That Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival

Accepted submission by takyon at 2018-01-27 11:55:50
Techonomics

A VR Movie Set in Space Just Landed a 7-Figure Deal at Sundance. Yes, You Read That Right [wired.com]

Every year the biggest news out of the Sundance Film Festival is always the hefty sums handed over to independent filmmakers for their passion projects. From Fox Searchlight dropping $1 million for future Oscar nominee Beasts of the Southern Wild in 2012 to Amazon Studios' massive $12 million buy of The Big Sick at last year's fest, everyone in Park City is hustling to make a deal. But that hustle has always been reserved for traditional films, not the virtual reality ones. Until now.

In an unprecedented move, VR financing and distribution venture CityLights announced today that it is acquiring Spheres—a three-part series that lets viewers explore the depths of space in VR—in a massive seven-figure deal. Neither side is revealing the exact figure, but for a medium that's never sold at Sundance, it's still a very big deal, and one that demonstrates VR filmmaking has the clout and buzz of its traditional film predecessors. It might even show that 360-degree immersive films will one day be as big a part of festivals as movies themselves.

"This is a historic moment for the VR industry; it signifies that a viable storytelling medium has emerged," says Jess Engel, who produced Spheres along with Arnaud Colinart, and Dylan Golden. "Deals like this establish VR as its own marketplace for independent creators, producers, and investors."

The Sundance Film Festival [wikipedia.org] is held in January in Park City, Utah.

Also at Variety [variety.com], LA Times [latimes.com], and Engadget [engadget.com].


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