The Sundance Film Festival's favorite lesbiancouple -- no, not Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning -- Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right will be coming to a theater near you sooner than you think.
Gay-friendly distributor Focus Features has picked up writer-director Lisa Cholodenko's Kids for distribution in North America, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film stars Bening and Moore as a lesbian couple whose family expands when their daughter (Mia Wasikowska) turns 18 and, with her brother's (Josh Hutcherson) help, opts to reach out and find their mothers' sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo).
Kids screened Monday night and a post-screening bidding war erupted between several distributors, including Hollywood heavyweights the Weinstein Co. (A Single Man, Inglourious Basterds), Summit Entertainment (Twilight, Stewart and Fanning's Joan Jett biopic The Runaways) and Fox Searchlight (Whip It, Crazy Heart), among others.
Focus won the bidding war for an estimated $5 million to distribute the film in North America, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Germany.
With the acquisition, Focus continues its solid track record of adding gay-themed films to its distribution slate. Focus distributed last year's critically acclaimed Harvey Milk biopic Milk, which won lead Sean Penn a best actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the slain gay rights advocate.
more on next page...
\\\
(continued)
Â
Focus also distributed Brokeback Mountain, which earned a best picture Academy Award nomination, as well as Oscar wins for directing (Ang Lee), adapted screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), score (Gustavo Santaolalla) and acting nominations for lead Heath Ledger and supporting noms for Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams.
For the film's out writer-director Cholodenko, Kids' pickup continues her strong history at Sundance, where Laurel Canyon screened in 2003 and her lesbian fave High Art, starring Ally Sheedy, also screened in 1998 and earned the helmer the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, as well as a nomination for the festival's Grand Jury Prize.
Read more of Lesley's Entertainment stories.
Follow SheWired on Twitter.
