Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Presence’ Sells to Neon After World Premiere at Sundance
variety.comBrent Lang Executive Editor “Presence,” a twisty new thriller that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, has sold to Neon.
The movie, which is directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh, puts an inventive spin on the haunted house genre. It unfolds from the perspective of the spectral entity and is primarily interested in dramatizing the issues of the people living in the home, who seem to be grappling with a lot of interpersonal problems. “I wanted to find a different way to tell the story,” Soderbergh told Variety in a recent profile. “Everything is revealed through the glimpses of this family that this presence sees.
And the whole ghost genre element is a Trojan horse to show a group of people in danger of falling apart.” It’s unclear how much Neon paid for “Presence,” but the deal is for worldwide rights.
The market at Sundance has been slower than usual, with deals taking longer to hammer out — that’s a sign of how challenging the box office has become for indie pictures. “A Royal Pain” with Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin sold for $10 million to Searchlight Pictures, while Netflix scooped up the horror film “It’s What’s Inside” for $17 million.
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