Lionsgate purchases BURIED at Sundance!

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

My fellow film bloggers (AICN, /film, and First Showing) can sing the praises all they like of Buried, the claustrophobic thriller from Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés that was bought by Lionsgate today after it's midnight premiere at Sundance - but of course it doesn't really change any of the conclusions I made last July. The elephant in the room of Buried's Sundance success is that nobody and I repeat, NOBODY, with the exception of film geeks with a penchant for experimental concepts cares enough to pay money to see Ryan Reynolds stuck in a coffin for 94 minutes. That's the God's honest truth... The praise for Chris Sparling's 2009 blacklisted screenplay, which I've since read, is justified. It is a stunning piece of high-concept thriller writing and I kind of admire it actually for the craftsmanship and smart handling of the premise. I have read the Sundance reviews that have so far made there way online and I have no doubt that it has been deftly directed, with some flare and invention and I have no trouble believing every word that Quint says at AICN but, at the end of the day, Lionsgate will never be able to promote this movie to Joe Popcorn. It just can't be done.

"A complete package. It€™s fresh, it€™s new, there€™s a great lead performance, inventive directing, tight script and some genuine tension that builds and builds until you don€™t think you can take it anymore".