Sundance 2012: HBO and Scott Rudin to Remake Documentary 'Indie Game: The Movie'

HBO and Scott Rudin have acquired remake rights to the documentary Indie Game: The Movie, with Rudin set to develop a fictional half-hour comedy series based on it.

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Other rights, including theatrical and TV, are still available, and a source says that since the remake rights deal was completed, interest in other rights has increased.

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The documentary about indie video game designers premiered at the Yarrow Hotel Theatre on Friday afternoon and has received strong reviews. The project, which in part was funded through Kickstarter donations, is from first-time directors James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot.

The film, which is screening in Sundance's World Cinema Documentary Competition section, follows four video game developers as they painstakingly create their games.

At last year's festival, HBO acquired remake rights to Knuckle, a documentary about Irish bare-knuckle brawlers, with plans to turn it into a television drama.

The deal for Indie Game is the second for HBO, which purchased U.S. broadcast rights to documentary Me @ The Zoo Jan. 17, before Sundance began. That film, about the phenomenon of Internet celebrity, is screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition section.

Andrew Herwitz of Film Sales Co. handled the deal for Indie Game.

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