The Lonely Island's rom-com Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), both of which disappointed at the box office before going on to attract a larger cult following on the home media market.
For that reason, the trio took their latest low-budget production, Palm Springs, to the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, in the hopes of landing a buyer. Thankfully, the movie got a decidedly warm reception at the event, with Hulu and Neon acquiring the distribution rights shortly after its premiere on Sunday, January 26. Not only that, the film has set a new all-time record for Sundance acquisitions.
Per their press release, Neon and Hulu spent $17.5 million and 69 cents (yes, really) on the rights to Palm Springs, eclipsing the previous sales record Fox Searchlight set when it bought The Birth of a Nation for $17.5 million in 2016. The movie's producers (including, all three of The Lonely Island and Beck Sloviter) released a fittingly tongue in cheek statement about the news, saying "We spent over 85 million dollars of our own money on this movie, WE ARE TAKING A BATH on this deal. We hope NEON and Hulu are happy but we definitely have a lot of explaining to do to our families.”
Written by Andy Siara (Russian Doll, which also revolves around a struggling thirty-something woman who finds herself caught in a time loop of sorts. It's a far more dramatic setup that those for either of The Lonely Island's first two films, both of which were straightforward comedies. That's not a bad thing, either, with the Sundance reviews suggesting Palm Springs is plenty funny, but also the trio's most emotionally mature project so far.
Of course, a big sales deal at Sundance in no way guarantees a movie's commercial success. The Birth of a Nation was an infamous box office disappointment four years ago, though that ittedly had more to do with the scandal around writer, director, and star Nate Parker than anything else. However, Late Night last year, only for it to similarly under-perform in theaters, despite having strong reviews on its side. The Lonely Island already has a rough track record at the box office, so there's definitely a risk Palm Springs will come up shortly financially, even with its good early word of mouth. Then again, third time may yet prove to be the charm for the trio in that regard.
Source: Hulu/Neon
