September
10
Toronto Watch: Che Goes to IFC
In a surprise last-minute turn of events, Wild Bunch's Vincent Maraval stopped negotiating a North American rights deal for Che with 2929 Entertainment's Magnolia Pictures, which had been in the works for weeks, and turned to IFC Films instead.
"It made more sense to go with IFC," said one source close to the negotiations. "They were more enthusiastic about the movie." Magnolia and Wild Bunch broke off deal negotiations on friendly terms, sources said. The up-front minimum guarantee was not the issue; they fell apart over how to release the four-hour movie in different formats and a commitment to a full-on Oscar campaign.
IFC had acquired Cannes Palme d'Or winner Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days and Toronto entry A Christmas Tale from Wild Bunch.
IFC will open the full four-hour movie with an intermission for one-week Oscar-qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles before opening Che Part One (The Argentine) in 15 to 25 key markets in January; Part Two (The Guerilla) will follow the Oscar nominations announcement. The two movies will be made available on video-on-demand concurrent with their wider theatrical runs.
Rainbow Media CEO president Josh Sapan joined the negotiations at Wild Bunch's offices at the Sutton Place Hotel, which concluded in the wee hours, and helped to sell Wild Bunch on IFC's ability to turn the launch of Che into an event. Rainbow owns Radio City Music Hall, The Zeigfeld Theatre and IFC Centre. Blockbuster will also be a valuable partner on pushing Che, said IFC president Jonathan Sehring.
A full awards season push is planned for Benicio del Toro, who won the best actor prize at the Cannes Film festival, and for director Steven Soderbergh, who had served on the IFC Network and IFC Centre advisory boards and directed Gray's Anatomy for IFC.
Selling a film to IFC usually means a minimal advance and modest marketing spends at best, Sehring admitted. But "as an organization we are invested in this film working and we know that it will work."
IFC has also acquired Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments at Toronto, which is expected to be Sweden's Oscar submission. "The film community is segregated now," added Sehring, who screened seven films at the Toronto Fest, including Flame and Citron, Hunger and The Good, The Bad, and the Weird. "Either it's a studio movie going through the studio machine or it's not. If a movie is not an obvious studio release, there has to be an alternative. We're more nimble, quick, and aggressive when we know there's both short-term and long-term value. No studio wanted to be in a risk position with Che."
Wild Bunch sold U.S. rights to another high-profile film at the fest, Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, to Fox Searchlight, for just under $4 million.
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