Producer Joel Silver and Dark Castle in talks to buy Sundance hit Splice; to be distributed by Warner Bros.
Months ago, when the first images were released for the sci-fi/horror film Splice from director Vincenzo Natali (Cube), I immediately knew this was a movie I couldn't wait to see. In addition to being produced by Guillermo del Toro, it stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as a husband and wife team of geneticists who specialize in creating new creatures by combining different animal DNA. But when they decide to put human DNA in one of their creations, the situation turns disastrous. From what I can tell, it offers up a thought-provoking commentary of scientific ethics about "playing God," while still keeping the chilling and gory touches that del Toro and Natali are so good at. That's enough to get me interested. Additionally, many reviewers have compared it to some of David Cronenberg's older work.
For several months I had been silently waiting to hear anything about a release date. When I heard it would be playing at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival last month, I was excited for the chance to hear some kind of buzz about the film. I've heard almost universally positive words from critics and bloggers who saw it. Steve "Frosty" Weintraub of Collider called it "original, dark, and twisted, and it looks like a Hollywood film."
The news just keeps getting better. Yesterday, both Collider and Slashfilm reported via a story at Deadline Hollywood, that mega-producer Joel Silver (Die Hard, The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Sherlock Holmes) and his Dark Castle label are in negotiations to purchase the film for at least $25 million, if not more. Warner Brothers would presumably distribute. This would make it one of the biggest buys in recent Sundance memory. The deal is also said to include a requirement that the film get a big summer release of 3,000 screens. If this comes true, it could turn a film that would probably have been nothing more than a niche cult-classic into a huge blockbuster. Imagine possible Paranormal Activity, except this one might actually have replay value.
Here's a clip released last year that was premiered by Rotten Tomatoes:
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