Of the many movies I saw at Sundance this last week there was only one that immediately screamed "Oscar contender", and that was Dee Rees' Southern drama, Mudbound. Surprisingly, the festival concluded without it picking up distribution, but there were a number of bidders throwing big dollars around to acquire it. Well now we know where the film will make a home, and it's over at Netflix.
Netflix acquired Mudbound for $12.5M, which is a huge chunk of change. Directed by Rees, the film stars Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Garrett Hedlund, and Jonathan Banks in the story of two feuding families in post-WWII Mississippi.
Obviously, Netflix has visions of Academy Awards and will likely give it a release date to match. They've found a ton of awards success with their documentaries but in the Best Picture race it has been Amazon, who have Manchester by the Sea, who have really stepped up. Let's see if Mudbound helps Netflix turn that around because I really want it to do better than Beasts of No Nation. You can check out my review here.
