Strictly Business Daily Variety -- Sundance Film Festival Preps for Final Frame in Park City; TV Rolls Dice on Board Games
Oct 22, 2025
Brent Lang, an entertainment reporter for Variety specializing in film festivals, shares insights on the future of the Sundance Film Festival as it prepares for its last hurrah in Park City before relocating to Boulder in 2027. He discusses the festival's evolving mission amid the streaming boom, venue changes, and the financial motivations behind the move. Additionally, the conversation explores the rising trend of adapting vintage board games like Monopoly and Catan into TV shows, highlighting creative strategies for successful adaptations.
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Park City's Grit Created Sundance Magic
- Park City's harsh conditions and effort to get there are part of what made Sundance magical.
- Brent Lang says that difficulty created communal buzz and a unique festival ritual.
Sundance's Core Mission Gains Importance
- Sundance's mission to support emerging artists is more vital as distribution shrinks.
- Brent Lang notes independent creators face mounting barriers to make a living and find buyers.
Streaming Boom Created Unsustainable Spike
- The streamer-driven content boom inflated prices and distorted the indie market.
- Brent Lang explains that the post-wars surge wasn't sustainable and now deals take longer and fetch less.
