Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all North American, German, UK, Scandinavian, Eastern European and Russian rights to the dysfunctional family drama “Infinitely Polar Bear,” the company said Saturday.
The film stars Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana and premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival to strong critical notices. TheWrap reported Friday that Sony Pictures Classics was close to a deal for the picture which finds Ruffalo as a bipolar father who is left to care for his two young daughters, played by Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Aufderheide.
Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York wrote: “Precocious kids, a dad out of his depth, the overtly funky fabrics of late-’70s furniture and clothing: These are often the stuff of indie nightmares. Yet Maya Forbes’s autobiographical directing debut, containing all of the above, largely avoids these pitfalls, arriving at a comic tale that, as with kindred films ‘Slums of Beverly Hills’ and ‘The Squid and the Whale,’ is movingly heartfelt and fresh.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TheWrap reported earlier this week that the sales price was believed to be north of $3 million.
The film marks writer Maya Forbes directorial debut.
“I am thrilled!” Forbes said in a statement. “Sony Pictures Classics consistently releases the movies I want to see.”
The deal was negotiated with ICM Partners and Chris Tricarico of Tricarico Chavez LLP on behalf of the filmmakers.
