Sony Pictures Classics Looking To Buy Morgan Spurlock's Branding Documentary

Say what you will about Morgan Spurlock’s abilities as a documentary filmmaker, the man knows how to pick fascinating subject mater. His very well-received Super Size Me infiltrated pop culture unlike any debut non-fiction since Michael Moore’s Roger & Me, and while not as many people saw his follow-up, there was still a ton of buzz surrounding Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? both before and after its ’08 Sundance premiere. His newest effort is peaking widespread interest, and one studio seems already poised to purchase it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures Classics is showing heavy interest almost two weeks before the festival opening of The Greatest Film Ever Sold. The documentary follows Spurlock, once again a subject in his own movie, as he examines sponsorships and corporate tie-ins and how they alter and shape the film industry. Ultimately, he attempts to get the actual corporations themselves to sponsor the film in a multi-layered branding of branding approach. It sounds like a mouthful, but it’s actually quite clever.

The Greatest Film Ever Sold will get purchased by someone. Whether it be Sony Pictures Classics or another distributor, Morgan Spurlock is enough of a name to draw interest. The only question is how much someone will pay and how aggressive they will ultimately be getting it into theaters. Most documentaries play in a few dozen arthouse theaters in preparation for a life on HBO or OnDemand; a few are deemed promising enough to open in a few hundred theaters or more. We’ll see which route this one takes.

If The Greatest Film Ever Sold is half as good as Neil Young's middle finger to the advertising world, "This Note's For You", we'll all be in business.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.