Warner Bros. Discovery is finalizing a deal to purchase the Christopher Reeve documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received wide acclaim.
According to Variety, the Super/Man deal structure is unclear, but the outlet’s sources intimate that it could include distribution under the DC Studios banner and involve some showing on the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned CNN. It would also involve showings on Max, the company’s streaming service. The sale has not closed, so the possibility of an eleventh-hour collapse remains, though the negotiations are exclusive. Tom Quinn’s specialty studio, Neon, and Netflix are reportedly other interested parties who sought to acquire the rights to the documentary.
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Heading into the Sundance Film Festival, many observers expected Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story to be one of the biggest sales of the event’s 40th edition. Several studios and streamers were already planning to bid aggressively to land rights before the movie’s screening in Park City for audiences and buyers. The deal will secure global rights and cost between $14 million to $15 million.
The Christopher Reeve Story
Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui directed Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which documents Reeve’s rise to superstardom as Superman and his fight to find a cure for spinal cord injuries after he became a quadriplegic following a horse riding accident. The actor’s family participated in producing the documentary. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story uses personal archive material to tell the tragic and inspirational story.
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At the documentary’s Sundance premiere, Reeve’s children discussed how their father’s adversity made him a better man. “I think he was very conscious of that irony and the legacy of Superman when people viewed his story and thought about him after the accident,” Reeve’s daughter Alexandra said. “He talked about redefining what it is to be a hero… it’s an everyday person who survives despite overwhelming obstacles,” she revealed.
Bonhôte, who worked on 2018’s McQueen documentary, revealed his motivation for making a film about the challenges that face people from all walks of life, including those with disabilities. “Christopher said the one minority anyone can become part of in an instant is disability,” he said. “We’re not trying to re-write Superman, but telling a story on how to approach an issue that society has turned its back on,” the director concluded.
Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to acquire the global rights to Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.
Source: Variety
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Reeve’s rise to becoming a film star, follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After which he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability rights.
- Release Date
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January 21, 2024
- Director
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Ian Bonhôte
, Peter Ettedgui - Runtime
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106 minutes
- Main Genre
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Documentary
- Writers
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Ian Bonhôte
, Otto Burnham
, Peter Ettedgui
