Sony Classics gets early start on Sundance

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-07 18:23

Cast member Diego Luna arrives for the world premiere of the film 'Milk' at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California October 28, 2008. [Agencies]

LOS ANGELES – The Sundance Film Festival won't begin for eight days, but already it has seen its first prominent acquisitions target enter the negotiation phase.

Sony Pictures Classics is in talks to acquire rights to "Rudo y Cursi," a Spanish-language film starring Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal and directed by Carlos Cuaron, brother of Alfonso.

The film, set for a January 16 debut at the Park City, Utah, event, centers on two soccer-playing brothers who live on a ranch and suddenly find their athletic careers taking off, which fuels their rivalry.

"Rudo" grew out of the "Cha Cha Cha deal," a $100 million, five-picture pact intended to yield one movie each from filmmakers including Carlos Cuaron, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Rodrigo Garcia.

The film reunites Bernal and Luna on the big screen for the first time since the pair's 2002 breakout "Y Tu Mama Tambien," which Carlos Cuaron co-wrote.

If a deal closes before the festival begins on January 15, it would mark an auspicious beginning to a market some expect to be cool.

Sony Classics has been a prolific buyer of festival pictures during the past year, but prebuys generally have been rare for any distributor during recent years.