Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Sundance Record Set as “The Birth of a Nation” Sells to Fox Searchlight for $17.5 Mil

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When the dust — or mud– settled in Sundance today, a new sales record was set. Fox Searchlight has reportedly bought “The Birth of a Nation” for $17.5 million.

The movie tells the story of former slave Nat Turner, who led a liberation of slaves that turned violent in 1831. Nate Parker wrote, directed and stars in the film as Turner.

A fierce bidding war went on all night in Sundance with The Weinstein Company, Paramount and Netflix all vying for the rights.

But Fox Searchlight won the Oscar for “12 Years a Slave,” so this makes sense. “The Birth of a Nation” will be a big player in next year’s Oscars and at the box office next fall.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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