The latest Sundance title snatched up is Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s “Wicker,” starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård. Black Bear has inked a deal to acquire the rights to the film.
Also starring Elizabeth Debicki, Peter Dinklage, and Marli Siu—not to mention Oscar-winning cinematographer Lol Crawley (The Brutalist) serving as DP—the film garnered positive reviews at Sundance and currently holds a 70 on Metacritic, and 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Based on Ursula Wills’ short story The Wicker Husband, Colman plays a lonely fisherwoman in a feudal‑like fantasy world who commissions a straw husband from a local basketmaker (Dinklage). Through magic and a Weta Workshop–crafted costume, her wish brings to life a dashing woven companion (Skarsgård), whose devotion sparks both romance and jealousy, threatening the village’s fragile social order.
No word yet on how much Black Bear paid to acquire “Wicker,” but it likely wasn’t a huge sum. So far, the biggest deals from this past January’s Sundance Film Festival have been “The Invite” (A24, $12 M) and “Josephine” (Sumerian Pictures, $6–7 M).