Lionsgate buys Ryan Reynolds flick Buried at Sundance

Chris Bumbray has been out and about in Sundance checking out all the latest flicks for us and filing his reviews. We’ll have his review of the Ryan Reynolds thriller BURIED soon but it became clear very early on at Sundance that this film would be one of the few that ignites a bidding war. And sure enough it did.

After its Saturday night premiere, Lionsgate, Fox Searchlight and Sony-based Screen Gems were all locked in an intense overnight battle for rights to the film. Once Searchlight pulled out, Lionsgate took it up a notch and was able to beat out Screen Gems for North American rights to the film just shy of $4 million. (While that may seem like a lot, it’s actually down quite a bit from previous Sundance bidding wars. Focus paid $10 million for HAMLET 2, which flopped in theaters.)

If you haven’t heard much about BURIED yet, it stars only Ryan Reynolds as a man buried alive inside a coffin. All he has at his disposal is a lighter and a cell phone and with that he must piece together how this happened and how he can get out. Is the claustrophobic flick an effective thriller or is Lionsgate putting all their hopes on the rising star of soon-to-be Green Lantern Ryan Reynolds? Stay tuned for the JoBlo.com review from Sundance!