Sanity prevails at busy Sundance 2012

'The Surrogate'Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Radnor in "Liberal Arts" Everyone has been keeping their cool, meaning the right films have been going to the right distributors for the right price at Sundance. The consensus at this year's fest is that sanity has prevailed, with buyers taking care not to overspend and sellers waiting to carefully vet all offers before pulling the trigger. "The cautiousness of distributors is providing for respectable deals to both buyers and sellers," said Kevin Iwashina, whose Preferred Content sold genre pic "The Pact" on Thursday, has buyers interested in "28 Hotel Rooms" and recently screened "The End of Love" for acquisitions execs. "From the deals I've seen, everyone's satisfied," Iwashina said. "When both sides are happy, everybody wins." Three of the biggest deals of the fest so far -- all of which Variety first reported -- included "The Surrogate," which sold to Fox Searchlight for an estimated $6 million; psychological thriller "Red Lights," which Millennium Entertainment picked up for $4 million; and Sony Pictures Worldwide and Samuel Goldwyn Films' $2 million acquisition of "Robot & Frank," slated for an awards-season release. Also getting deals in the $2 million range were Focus Features' buy of "For a Good Time Call..." and Lionsgate/Roadside's pickup of "Arbitrage." Bizzers ascribe the genteel pace of sales to two factors: Too many distributors got burned by overpaying for films during last year's feeding frenzy; and in turn, no single buyer is creating anxiety by aggressively throwing huge wads of money at movies in the early goings. Also aiding the cause: A deeper across-the-board understanding of how video-on-demand and digital distribution components of deals contribute to the revenue ultimate. ICM's Hal Sadoff, who repped sales for "Frank" and has the commercially skewing "Safety Not Guaranteed," Jesse Eisenberg-starrer "Predisposed" and rapper Common vehicle "Luv" still in the market, said a sense of calm from both buyers and sellers has made it easier on everyone. "With more caution in the market this year, distributors have had the opportunity to take the time and find the movies that are right for their model at the right price, he said. "The deals aren't coming as fast as they did last year, but they are making a lot more sense. Iwashina added, "Everybody went into the marketplace with at least a perfunctory understanding of where VOD platforms and digital distribution fit into the monetization equation. When buyers and sellers comprehend how revenues are being generated, everyone soon begins to understand the economic limitations and/or upside. It eliminates a lot of guesswork." "I didn't believe in VOD at first, but it worked so well on 'House of the Devil' that I couldn't argue with it," said "V/H/S" co-director Ti West during a post-screening QandA. Having said that, West would prefer genre fans to see his movies theatrically. "We spend a lot of time meticulously crafting a movie to be seen in the theater, so I always prefer you to see it in the theater because that's what we do." West's co-director Joe Swanberg said he also sees an advantage to VOD, but hoped that "V/H/S" got a theatrical release, which it did on Wedneday night via Magnolia Pictures. "Usually I don't care, but after seeing this movie here in the theater, this would be the first time I'd feel sad if it went straight to VOD." The lack of a consensus top film has also tempered the once-frenzied atmosphere. With a plethora of well received, quality movies, buyers can feel at ease that their preferred targets are no more or less desirable than the competition's, and second-choice may be every bit as good as their first. It all translates into a Sundance sales season that will extend well beyond the official close on Saturday. "It was a different year in terms of sales," said David Ginsburg, whose Cohen Media hasn't made an acquisition, but is content to bide its time for now. "I think you'll see activity in the weeks to come, but much less the week-of than last year." The programming efforts of Sundance director John Cooper and programming Trevor Groth have been universally praised for maximizing films' exposure to buyers, making it easier for the most number of acquisitions execs to see as many films as possible. "The films have played incredibly well; the audience reaction has been as great as it's ever been," Groth said. But not all's been sunny at Sundance 2012. "There've been strange occurrences outside the festival that have put an imprint on what people will remember -- the tragedy of Bingham Ray passing in particular," Groth said. "When people look back at the 2012 fest, that's what a lot of people will remember. What's been great about the response to that is that Bingham, being who he was, and his passion about film, allowed people to still keep celebrating the films that were here. It's been a very emotional year because of that." Ray died Wednesday at age 57 after suffering a stroke days before in Park City. A memorial that started just a few hours after the news broke began as a few dozen people, nearly all with tears in their eyes, and quickly grew into more than 200 prominent indie figures who raised a glass at the High West Distillery on Main to their departed friend, mentor and colleague. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Reese Witherspoon Will Answer Your Questions For 'MTV First'

FROM MTV MOVIES: Reese Witherspoon, the star of the upcoming action-comedy "This Means War," could answer your question on MTV. All you have to do is ask it. It will all happen Tuesday, January 31st on MTV and MTV.com. MTV News' Josh Horowitz will sit down with the Academy Award-winning actress for an interview and premiere a never-before-seen clip from "This Means War" starting at 7:56 pm EST on MTV. Immediately afterward, the interview continues for 30 minutes over on MTV.com. Maybe you want to know what it's like to have Chris Pine and Tom Hardy fighting over her in "This Means War." Or perhaps you have a nagging Robert Pattinson question you've been pondering since "Water For Elephants." Whatever your burning question may be, Witherspoon could answer it. All you have to do is sent a text or video question via MTV.com or Twitter, using @MTVNews with the hashtag #MTVFirst. So start asking now, and tune in next week to see if you get the answer you've been looking for.

Swinton, Bell in talks for 'Snow Piercer'

SwintonBellTilda Swinton and Jamie Bell are in talks to join Chris Evans in the indie drama "Snow Piercer."Bong Joon-ho is helming from a script he penned with Park Chan-wook producing.Set in a world covered in snow and ice, the story follows a train full of travelers who struggle to co-exist.Park is producing through Moho Films. Production is expected to start in March, though no distributor is yet in place.The pic marks Bong's domestic directorial debut and similar to Park, who also just wrapped production on his first U.S. film, the Korean helmer is drawing notable thesps because of his track record overseas.Bell was most recently seen in "The Adventures of Tintin" and can be seen next in Summit's "Man on a Ledge." Swinton can be seen next in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom." On Tuesday, she snagged a BAFTA nom for her work in "We Need to Talk About Kevin." Bell is repped by WME and Vanessa Pereira at Artists Independent Management. Swinton is repped by WME and London agent Christian Hodell. Contact Justin Kroll at justin.kroll@variety.com

Chris Davis dies at 65

Published: Mon., Jan. 9, 2012, 10:57am PTBy VARIETY STAFF Former worldwide telemarketer Chris Davis died Jan. 4 following a lengthy illness. He was 65. The British-born Davis began within the movie business 4 decades ago as the organization accountant for Avco Embassy Pictures, the U.K. subsidiary from the American production and worldwide distribution company. There he grew to become familiar with issues related to physical theatrical distribution and was deeply active in the U.K. discharge of Oscar champion "A little Class" in addition to "Soldier Blue" and John Carpenter's "The Fog." Within the mid-1980s he became a member of the business's worldwide division, where he was active in the distribution of films including "Avoid NY" and "The Howling." 3 years later he became a member of Lorimar Intl., focusing on the sales and distribution of movies including "Victory," starring Sylvester Stallone, and Mike Fuller's "The Large Red-colored One." Then he required employment as mind of worldwide distribution for Trans World Entertainment, where he was active in the marketing and purchasers of some 30 films. In 1988 he became a member of the recently created Imperial Entertainment, possessed collectively by Scanbox Denmark, then labored briefly for Franchise Pictures as leader of worldwide distribution before coming back to Imperial. When Scanbox Intl. was shuttered by new proprietors in 2002, Davis was hired by production and development company Filmengine, where he was mind of distribution. Later, being an independent, he would be a consultant to producers including American Cinema Group and Filmwerks. Davis is made it by his wife, Maryl a boy and 2 kids from the previous marriage. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

'Relatively Speaking' to seal

'Relatively Speaking'"Relatively Speaking," the trio of Broadway one-operates by large-title scribes Woodsy Allen, Ethan Coen and Elaine May, will near the coast the conclusion in the month.Show becomes the second to reduce bait inside the wake in the holiday B.O. boom (and while watching early-winter chill), carrying out a recent announcement that fighting tuner "Lysistrata Manley" will close Sunday."Relatively Speaking" initially attracted in healthy sales for just about any play, which don't frequently log the razzle-dazzle levels of crowdpleasing tuners. Show's debut week assigned $700,000, as well as the next several seshes weekly tallies hovered between $650,000 and $750,000 per frame.Getting a cast including Steve Guttenberg, Julie Kavner, Mark Linn-Baker and Marlo Thomas, the show did not have single toplining star, nevertheless the authors were apparently high-profile enough to be the draw. Since late November, however, box office has declined.The other day, throughout our prime-traffic frame between Christmas and New Year's, the play attracted within $450,000. Up to now the expansion makes $8.7 million since it began previews Sept. 20.Julian Schlossberg and Letty Aronson produce "Relatively Speaking" with co-producers Edward Walson, Leroy Schecter, Tom Sherak, Daveed D. Frazier and Roy Furman. Show wooden wooden shutters Jan. 29 within the Brooks Atkinson Theater. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

Grey's Anatomy Preview: "You Haven't Told Her?"

Kim Raver Little has happened at Seattle Grace since Grey's Anatomy's fall finale last month. That apparently includes Teddy (Kim Raver) still being in the dark that her husband, Henry, (Scott Foley) died on the operating table despite the best efforts of Teddy's protégée Cristina (Sandra Oh).Say it with us: Seriously? Check out photos from Grey's AnatomyIn a new promo for the show's midseason premiere, Owen (Kevin McKidd), the Chief (James Pickens Jr.) and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) brainstorm on how to break the news to Teddy.Meanwhile, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Alex (Justin Chambers) are still aiding the victims in the car that collided with their ambulance.Check out the preview. Grey's returns Thursday, Jan. 5 at 9/8c on ABC.

Santa useful to niche pix

Trendy auds ongoing striking cinemas in pressure inside the extended weekend, searching at Christmas opener "Very Noisy and very Close" and supporting holdovers "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy" and "The Artist."Warner Bros.' "Very Noisy" acquired a great opening-day per-screen average of $11,753 from six locations. (The studio is calculating the film will collect around $136,000 by 50 percent days.)"Mess Tailor," from Focus Features, released a effective four-day per-screenaverage of roughly $22,000, getting a weekend take of $1.2 million at 55 theaters. Pic's domestic cume showed up at $2.3 million through Monday.According to Focus, "Mess" is constantly play strongly at holdover houses for instance L.A.'s Landmark, where the film lost only to "The Woman While using Dragon Tattoo," beating new records "War Equine" and "Very Noisy." FilmDistrict's Jennifer Aniston directorial debut, "Inside the Land of Blood stream and Honey," did less in four days, calculating $9,276 from three engagements with an thought weekend total of $27,827.In 72 hrs, Chinese Oscar entry "The Flowers of War" released a great debut per-screen average of $13,982 from three playdates, with one each in NY, L.A. and San Francisco Bay Area. Pic totalled almost $42,000.The Weinstein Co., meanwhile, extended a couple of days ago its holdover pair, "The Artist" and "My Week with Marilyn," while using latter pic playing at 602 locations, yielding an thought three-day gross just north of $888,000. But "The Artist," which carried out at much less engagements (167), really did better, tallying through Monday an thought $1.4 million. "Marilyn" has cumed $7.3 million "The Artist," $2.9 million.David Glasser, chief operating officer at Weinstein, credited that for the studio's patient rollout way of "The Artist.""People continue to be locating the film," Glasser mentioned. "Now, what there has been inside the exits is always that people are now being launched from this saying, 'That wasn't a few things i expected.'" Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com