Neon and Hulu will team up on distributing Andy Samberg’s “Palm Springs” and have acquired the worldwide rights to the film for $17.5 million and 69 cents. That’s 69 cents more than Fox Searchlight bought “The Birth of a Nation” for in 2016 — the festival’s biggest sale ever.
The comedy stars Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, and Peter Gallagher, and was directed by Max Barbakow. Andy Siara wrote the screenplay.
The film is about a maid of honor, Sarah, who is in Palm Springs for her younger sister’s wedding. There she meets Nyles, the date of another bridesmaid, together they wreak havoc on the wedding and soon find themselves in a surreal state of mind.
“We spent over $85 million of our own money on this movie, WE ARE TAKING A BATH on this deal,” Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Becky Sloviter of Party Over Here said in a statement. “We hope Neon and Hulu are happy but we definitely have a lot of explaining to do to our families.”
Hulu, of course, is home to Samberg vehicles like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “SNL” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.” Neon will release the film theatrically.
Samberg, Becky Sloviter, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Dylan Sellers, and Chris Parker produced. The film made its premiere on Sunday at the festival. Chris Parker of Limelight Productions and his producing partner Dylan Sellers produced and financed the movie.
Monday has been a busy day at the festival — Amazon Studios acquired “Uncle Frank” and “Herself,” while Searchlight is nearing a deal for David Bruckner’s “The Night House.”
Deadline first reported the news of the deal.