The two streaming giants, Netflix and Amazon, were both busy for a second straight year at the Sundance Film Festival ending this weekend, and both took some of the most talked-about titles at the fest.
Following its $10 million buy of current Oscar best picture nominee Manchester by the Sea last year, Amazon has returned sporting an even bigger wallet. The company bought the comedy The Big Sick for $12 million. But Netflix has also been a big spender. Along with taking some of the most coveted documentaries at the fest, like Chasing Coral and Icarus, on the last day of the festival it had the largest buy of the year, taking the period drama Mudbound for $12.5 million.
Though a few of the traditional distributors have also grabbed some big fish from the fest, filmmakers are clearly gravitating to Netflix and Amazon.