Mike Fleming

BREAKING: One day after the close of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, The Weinstein Company has finally closed a film acquisition deal. TWC completed a U.S. rights deal on the Stephen Frears-directed Lay the Favorite, the D.V. DeVincentis-scripted adaptation of the Beth Raymer memoir about a young woman who gets in with some older gamblers who figure out how to manipulate the Vegas sports book system. Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Vaughn, Laura Prepon and Joshua Jackson star. The deal was in the $2.2 million range. Distribution is being worked out for the fall, and the plan is a combination of day and date theatrical release in 50 markets and release on VOD. That gives Tom Quinn and Jason Janego–who were hired last fall to start a multi-platform releasing company for TWC–a solid star-studded project to work with. The deal was brokered by the film’s financier, Emmett Furla Films’ Randall Emmett, CAA and TWC’s David Glasser, Quinn and Janego. Emmett said they had offers that were higher, but felt most comfortable with TWC. “Stephen Frears has made several movies with Harvey Weinstein, and that made this a perfect fit for the film.”