CODA
Apple Spends Big at Sundance Film Festival
February 1, 2021
Fresh off a record fiscal quarter that saw Apple generate $111 billion in revenue and $28.7 billion in profit, the consumer tech giant went to the annual Sundance Film Festival with its wallet out.
The company reportedly outbid Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, paying a record $25 million for exclusive distribution rights to CODA (Children of Deaf Adults), a coming-of-age movie about a high-school senior (Emilia Jones) who must choose between a music career and working the family business with her deaf parents and sibling.
The previous rights fee record was set by Hulu in 2020 after the Disney-owned streaming service shelled out $22.5 million for Andy Samberg rom-com Palm Springs. In addition to being one of the top streamed movies in 2020, Palm Springs generated $675,000 at the mostly-shuttered box office.
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CODA director Siân Heder is no stranger to streaming video as executive producer of Apple’s “Little America” and writer for Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” In 2015, Heder directed indie romantic-comedy movie Tallulah, which streams on Netflix.