[Update 2:40 p.m.: Fox Searchlight has confirmed the deal and announced it will release “I Origins” in 2014. “Mike Cahill’s impressive second feature makes you question our very place in the universe by merging the scientific and emotional worlds in a deeply affecting way,” said Fox Searchlight presidents Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula. “The film boasts a superb cast led by Michael Pitt, and it is great to be reunited with Mike and Brit.” “I am so excited to once again be home at Fox Searchlight, a place that I believe embraces creative passion and the future of cinematic storytelling,” said Cahill. “‘I Origins’ is a very special film for us at Verisimilitude. We know that Fox Searchlight is the perfect home for Mike’s innovative and utterly original work,” added producers Hunter Gray and Alex Orlovsky.]
EARLIER:
Fox Searchlight is in final negotiations to acquire worldwide rights to Mike Cahill’s sci-fi movie “I Origins,” which is considered an early frontrunner for the Alfred P. Sloan prize, TheWrap has learned.
Like most domestic deals at Sundance so far, the “I Origins” deal is shaping up to be in the vicinity of $3 million, according to individuals familiar with the negotiations.
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Fox Searchlight was expected to acquire “I Origins” even before the film premiered at the Eccles on Saturday, Jan. 18, as the distributor has previously released Cahill’s sci-fi movie “Another Earth,” which grossed only $1.7 million worldwide.
The film, which tackles reincarnation, stars Michael Pitt as a PhD student who falls in love with a mysterious model played by Astrid Berges-Frisbey. Brit Marling co-stars as Pitt’s assistant.
Cahill produced with Verisimilitude’s Hunter Gray and Alex Orlovsky, who also have “Jamie Marks Is Dead” at the festival.
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“I Origins” is one of two movies eligible to compete for the esteemed Sloan prize along with Jake Paltrow’s “Young Ones.”
WME Global negotiated the deal and had no comment.