Of the 90-plus films and episodic series premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2026, only about a dozen arrived at the festival with distribution in hand. Many will be looking for homes, but if this year is anything like last year, it may take some time for those sales to close. We’ll be tracking all of them as they come in.
Section: U.S. Dramatic Distributor: Rich Spirit Director: Ramzi Bashour Date Acquired: March 30 Buzz: This debut feature has been described as an unconventional road movie, a dramedy between a Lebanese mother and her American son who are driving from Indiana to California for the son to live with his estranged father after he was expelled from school. The director Bashour told IndieWire at the festival that he wanted to make a convincing and rewarding road trip first and a movie second, and the film explores family and cultural diaspora through a humorous lens. The film stars Lubna Azabal and “Lurker” star Daniel Zolghadri, as well as a supporting part from Dale Dickey as one of the eccentrics the family meets on their road trip. Rich Spirit picked up North American rights and is planning a theatrical release this year after an April screening at the Museum of the Moving Image festival First Look.
Section: Premieres Distributor: Magnolia Director: John Wilson Date Acquired: March 25 Buzz: Though we might’ve guessed it was ticketed for HBO after the success of “How To with John Wilson,” Magnolia saw some commercial appeal in the film from the New York City documentarian’s feature “The History of Concrete” about the seemingly drabbest of subjects. The distributor is planning a theatrical release of the film later this year.
Our critic called it a “moving and hilarious meditation on death” that mixes together “DMX, Hallmark movies, Kim Kardashian, public diarrhea, a trailblazing Asian American judge, the world’s first 3D-printed Starbucks, and a 3,100-mile footrace that honors a dead Brooklyn cult leader” in order to find a debut feature that’s sturdy and solid, not unlike concrete itself.
Section: Premieres Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Director: David Wain Date Acquired: Feb. 27 Buzz: That’s four now! Sony Pictures Classics is clearly finding some deals a month removed from the festival (Deadline reported that at least seven other bids were on the table for the film), as again picked up global rights to another buzzy, starry title, this time David Wain’s return to the big screen with “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.” Zoey Deutch stars as a bride-to-be who discovers that her fiancé cashed in on a hall pass to sleep with a celebrity, inspiring her to do the same with her hall pass celeb, Jon Hamm playing himself. It’s a reunion between Wain and writer Ken Marino, and also Hamm and John Slattery from “Mad Men.” IndieWire called it one of Wain’s funniest films of his career.
Section: NEXT Distributor: Sumerian Pictures Director: Louis Paxton Date Acquired: Feb. 26 Buzz: Remember when we said a distributor you’ve never heard of would make the biggest splash at Sundance? Though we thought it could be Row K, turns out it’s record-label-turned-film-distributor Sumerian Pictures, which IndieWire has learned has now bought its second award winner after the buzzy “Josephine.” “The Incomer” from director Louis Paxton picked up the NEXT Innovator Award, and the offbeat comedy and fantasy film stars Domhnall Gleeson and Gayle Rankin. Rankin and Grant O’Rourke play two siblings on the Isles of Northern Scotland who hunt birds for survival and protect their home from mythical “incomers,” only to have an awkward council worker (Gleeson) show up, one who hopes to uproot and relocate them on behalf of the government. “The Incomer” and Paxton landed on IndieWire’s critics poll of the best movies out of Sundance, and Sumerian is planning a theatrical release for later this year.
Section: Premieres Distributor: IFC Director: Macon Blair Date Acquired: Feb. 26 Buzz: Macon Blair’s third feature as a director stars Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as two unqualified screw-ups who are hired to bring a rich teen to rehab, only for mayhem to ensue along the way. Blair told IndieWire he and story writer Alex Orr have been trying to make the film as far back as 2017, with Franco attached from the very beginning. The film also stars Mason Thames as the teen, along with Kiernan Shipka, Nicholas Braun, and Peter Dinklage. “The Shitheads” had some solid if mixed reviews, as IndieWire’s called it “uneven” in its blend of films as unalike as “The Last Detail” and “Midnight Run.” IFC is planning to release the film theatrically this summer.
Section: Premieres Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Director: Noah Segan Date Acquired: Feb. 24 Buzz: Sony Pictures Classics had an appetite. In what is the distributor’s third buy out of Sundance, the distributor landed the global rights to “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” starring John Turturro and is planning a theatrical release for the film this fall. The film was hailed as a true love letter to New York City, one that follows an aging pickpocket who is struggling to still get by when everyone has stopped carrying cash and gone digital and what happens when he steals a USB drive and faces the wrath of a crime family. The film also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Victoria Moroles, and Steve Buscemi, and Segan is reuniting with T-Street producer Rian Johnson after originally starring in Johnson’s debut feature “Brick.”
Section: Premieres Distributor: Black Bear Director: Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer Date Acquired: Feb. 17 Buzz: Some Sundance movies don’t work beyond their kooky, twee premise, and some do and are destined to break out. “Wicker” was the latter, as IndieWire said the performances from Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård, a husband whom Colman’s character manages to craft out of Wicker, were “irresistibly weird and wonderful.” This is a notable, competitive win for Black Bear, which did not finance “Wicker” but instead comes from Tango and Topic Studios, the latter of which has had a string of recent Sundance favorites like “A Real Pain.” The distributor is planning a North American release of the film for this year and is also handling international sales. Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki, Marli Siu, and Nabhaan Rizwan also star in the film.
Section: U.S. Dramatic Distributor: Sumerian Pictures Director: Beth de Araújo Date Acquired: Feb. 14 Buzz: Widely acclaimed and easily the most celebrated movie out of Sundance 2026, director Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine” was bound to find a home sooner or later, but it’s a surprise that it ended up with Sumerian Pictures, a relative newcomer to the space that has been widely known as a record label but is now getting into film. They made a splash by still scooping it up in a 7-figure deal and a competitive situation. It will get a theatrical release and an awards campaign. Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, and Phillip Ettinger star in the drama alongside breakout young actress Mason Lily Reeves, who plays an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a sexual assault in Golden Gate Park and has to grapple with what she saw, with her parents struggling to help her cope. After winning the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Prize out of Sundance, “Josephine” is again competing in competition at Berlin.
Section: Shorts Distributor: Netflix Director: Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry Date Acquired: Feb. 12 Buzz: Though it missed out on “The Invite,” Netflix is not coming out of Sundance empty handed. The streamer’s first purchase was surprisingly a documentary short, one that figures to be an awards player down the road. It acquired “The Baddest Speechwriter of All,” which along with Ben Proudfoot is the directorial debut of NBA great Stephen Curry. The 29-minute short film won the Grand Jury Prize for short films out of the festival. The film follows Dr. Clarence B. Jones, now 93, who was a lawyer and speechwriter — the baddest of them all — for Martin Luther King Jr. The film reflects on the personal cost and surprising truths of making history, offering an intimate insider’s view of the Civil Rights Movement. But it also stood out thanks to more than 3,000 entirely hand-painted watercolor animation sequences from artist Daniel Bruson. Elizabeth Goodstein and Gigi Pritzker produced for Madison Wells, as did Peter Rotter and Jane Solomon.
Section: World Dramatic Distributor: Kino Lorber Director: Rafael Manuel Date Acquired: Feb. 12 Buzz: As if Michael Haneke directed “The White Lotus,” “Filipiñana” was a dazzling critical darling out of Sundance, with the New Yorker calling it a “masterwork” and Vulture noting how “the angle of a golf club can evoke suspense” or “a piece of fruit on the ground can feel like a tragedy.” Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber said in a statement too that the film is a “cinematic miracle” and he “can’t find enough adjectives to praise it.”
We were tracking the film early, having
Source: indiewire.com