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September 11, 2006
Baa Baa Big Sale
The new “it” film at TIFF is the New Zealand zombie killer sheep comedy, Black Sheep from director Jonathan King. The film, repped by John Sloss (of fucking course) premiered at Midnight last night and drew no fewer than five studios looking towards a purchase at the Industry/Press screening this afternoon.
The film is a horror comedy, which might makes domestic gross estimates a little dicey for some. Based on the movie, I would say that it has $13 million - $30 million domestic in it. But where it ends up and how it is marketed will tell the story.
The film is your basic good brother/bad brother story. They grow up on a farm, leaving the mercenary one on the farm and the other one leaving with a fear of sheep. When the good one returns to see what his brother has done with the place, he finds the idea of giving up the land to commerce disgusting. But things take a turn for the weird when a scientific sheep enhancement experiment gets lose and turns the sheep, people bitten by sheep (the zombie element), and others (see the end) into angry, vicious sheep.
The joke is particularly profound for New Zealand, but the gag is pretty broad and should play anywhere. People love farm animals. And the movie delivers some big laughs and some good scares and plenty of cartoon style gore, care of some very angry sheep with some very big teeth.
The other reason the movie is sooooo hot is that there isn’t shit all to buy at TIFF this year. Everything that the buyers hoped was commercial – not a big list to start with – has faded quickly. So with 3 or 4 major indie/dependent players with schedules to fill, look for this one to sell quick and sell high. Still, for all the competition, it would almost be shocking if it isn’t released by Fox Atomic next summer. They have the money and they have made a mountain out of their buy at Sundance last January, Little Miss Sunshine.
Posted by poland at September 11, 2006 02:13 PM
Comments
Which brother does David Spade play and which one does Chris Farley play? I'm guessing the Farley brother turns into a zombie....
Posted by: PetalumaFilms ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 11, 2006 02:47 PM
Just curious, any comment on Bobby? More curiousness, where will LWD be shot?
Posted by: T.H.Ung at September 11, 2006 05:30 PM
Dave. Appreciate the TIFF updates.. keep em coming. However as you showed with BEHIND THE MASK, when it comes to horror and the US market, you're a little out of touch. You predicted 30m for BEHIND THE MASK.. I told you it probably won't get a release. SHEEP for all it's greatness will unlikely make it to 1000+ screens. I think it has less appeal than SHAUN and you saw where that ended up domestically after huge word of mouth and internet hype.
Posted by: Jeffrey Boam's Doctor at September 11, 2006 06:16 PM
Black Sheep could be this year's BBM. Baaaa.
Posted by: T.H.Ung at September 11, 2006 06:20 PM
Oh? Another zombie flick from Z-Land?
Posted by: Tofu at September 11, 2006 06:54 PM
I saw Black Sheep and I don't think it would be a big movie in the U.S. It is a real crowd pleaser though, right up the alley of Bad Taste fans...with a more mainstream quality.
Saw Shortbus and it was fantastic. Saw Out of the Blue tonight and it was an extremely intense and gripping true story out of New Zealand as well. Very much worth a look.
Posted by: eoguy at September 11, 2006 08:52 PM
I heard about Black Sheep years ago, why is it only being released now?
But, I would see this movie as a pure $15-$20mil movie in the US. Zombie Sheep just have "OMG that is so fuckin' stupid" written all over it.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at September 12, 2006 12:34 AM
Sheep on a Plane !
Posted by: adorian at September 12, 2006 07:20 AM
I was actually thinking the parallels between this and Snakes are quite numerous when I was writing my above comment.
This has cult written all over it.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at September 12, 2006 08:41 AM
I just saw that someone else on a different site has written it as SHEEP ON A PLAIN, which is great.
Posted by: adorian at September 12, 2006 09:16 AM
I'm desperate to see a Black Sheep/Brokeback Mountain trailer mashup.
Give it a classy name --
Sheepskin Mound de Noir
Posted by: T.H.Ung at September 12, 2006 12:29 PM
Just came back from the Tuesday aft screening of Black Sheep (and Shortbus/Last King of Scotland). Very funny and far grosser than Shaun of the Dead. Not sure if that's a plus or a minus. The deadly foetal sheep was my favourite part--pure silliness. Dave, did you see Penelope? If so, what did you think? That was one bizarre mash-up of a movie. Parts didn't work at all, and then there were Peter Dinklage, Reese, James McAvoy and Christina Ricci who were acting in a much better movie...strange.
Posted by: Kambei at September 12, 2006 04:00 PM
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