A year after Netflix paid $20 million at Sundance for workplace relationship drama Fair Play, only to watch the prestige title come and go on its platform in October without much of an audience or awards buzz, the streaming service has boldly pulled out its wallet once again at the film festival.
On Monday in Park City, Utah, Netflix paid $17 million for filmmaker Greg Jardin's high-concept horror-comedy It's What's Inside, a movie about a bunch of college friends getting together for a wedding pre-party ... that, of course, has an unintended outcome.
The film will reportedly receive a theatrical release from Netflix. The Penske showbiz trades reviewed the film here.
It's the biggest transaction so far at the annual Sundance Film Festival, which runs through Sunday.
Sundance has been a popular shopping destination for prestige indie titles for decades, but streaming companies have dominated the big transactions there in recent years. This includes Apple's $25 million acquisition of CODA in 2021. That film went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture.
As for filmmaker Chloe Domont's Fair Play, it debuted on Netflix back in early October to just 24.2 million hours of streaming and 12.6 million views. The film has generated little in the way of awards-season buzz for Netflix this cycle.
