The two movies with the most buzz coming out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival — “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “Dope” — are about to hit theaters, and they could bring a wake-up call for this year’s so-far sleepy independent film scene.
More intimate, smaller fare can be ideal counter-programming to summer’s superhero romps and mega-sequels like Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World,” which opens Friday. The last two Academy Award Best Picture winners — Fox Searchlight’s “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman” — were summer releases, so it’s a proven launch pad for honors, too.