Is the Sun Setting on Sundance?

There seems to be an early exodus of buyers from the Sundance Film Festival, Andrea Chalupa reports from Park City, Utah.

Bob Berney of Picturehouse is already on his way back to New York, empty-handed. And Randy Manis, the head of acquisitions for ThinkFilm is also leaving early.

This can all be attributed to the slate of strong documentaries that moved audiences but not buyers. There's disappointment in this year's line-up; it wasn't as strong a showing as many distributors had hoped.

"There's always all this anticipation and it's real, [but] I think people are being careful with spending their money if you look at how films did last year," says a spokesperson for Picturehouse.

"When you look at the marketplace, where you have 13, 14 films a day, on a Friday come out, that's a lot of competition. You really have to find things that very much separate themselves and you're extremely passionate about."

Picturehouse didn't find that, but deals can always be made after the festival. Weinstein Co. bought the Vince Vaughn documentary Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights —Hollywood to the Heartland Tour at the 2006 Toronto festival and then brokered a deal to hand it off to Picturehouse for distribution. Wild West will be in theaters on February 8.

"Things happen and things change, the key is to remain opportunistic and open to deals," says the Picturehouse spokesperson.

There's been a strong showing for docs so far. Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired was the first and one of the few films this year, to spark a bidding war. The Weinstein Co. picked up international rights, paying six figures on Friday night; HBO beat out Magnolia on Saturday night for North American rights.

Made In America could be next. Co-producer Gus Roxburgh said buyers have shown interest in the film, a first-person look at gang violence by writer/director Stacy Peralta. A pioneering professional skateboarder and surfer, Peralta directed the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys in 2001.

Even though there's a strong line-up of docs at this year's Sundance, overall, there's not enough on the menu to make sellers stick around.