![Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zoe Kazan, Adeel Akhtar, Zenobia Shroff, and Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjc1YzExMzYtNzVkZC00ODc3LTkxNzktMDI5YWZmMDQ2NTQ2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA4NjE0NjEy._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zoe Kazan, Adeel Akhtar, Zenobia Shroff, and Kumail Nanjiani in The Big Sick (2017)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjc1YzExMzYtNzVkZC00ODc3LTkxNzktMDI5YWZmMDQ2NTQ2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA4NjE0NjEy._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,207_.jpg)
Going into Sundance 2017, the hottest acquisition title was Michael Showalter’s “The Big Sick,” written by comedian-star Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon, based on their true-life cross-cultural romance, and produced by Judd Apatow. It promised all the elements you would want from a breakout Sundance movie: comedy, pathos, authenticity and two rising stars, Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan, along with Holly Hunter and Ray Romano as Emily’s parents.
Why not buy it sight unseen? “It was a movie you see at the Eccles and bid on, especially with a comedy,” said one bidder.
The movie turned out to be that rare creature: a hilarious and humane love story, not saccharine, that feels real.
A host of buyers, from A24 to Weinstein Co., attended the enthusiastic Eccles Friday premiere, after which the players with the deepest-pockets entered the bidding — Netflix, Open Road and others dropped out early when the numbers hit eight figures.
Why not buy it sight unseen? “It was a movie you see at the Eccles and bid on, especially with a comedy,” said one bidder.
The movie turned out to be that rare creature: a hilarious and humane love story, not saccharine, that feels real.
A host of buyers, from A24 to Weinstein Co., attended the enthusiastic Eccles Friday premiere, after which the players with the deepest-pockets entered the bidding — Netflix, Open Road and others dropped out early when the numbers hit eight figures.
- 1/23/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
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