Movieline has WTTR on top 5 flicks to start a bidding war @ Sundance

The 5 Films Likeliest to Ignite a Sundance Bidding War

'Welcome to the Rileys' makes the list!

Your Movieline crew is preparing to brave the snow, swag and spectacle of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which can mean only one thing: Reckless predictions of this year’s titles most likely to ignite a distribution bidding war. Granted, Sundance isn’t the market it was 10 years ago (or even five years ago); few buyers have any real money to lavish on acquisitions, and a “bidding war” today might mean a producer strings out a few interested parties overnight for a million-dollar (or less) deal. It could mean a couple cable channels scrapping over a documentary. Or, in more traditional style, it could mean buyers fighting to release the one where Kristen Stewart plays a hooker. Anything goes!

For the record, this isn’t simply a catalog of star allure trolling for big buys (e.g. The Romantics, The Kids Are All Right) or the films necessarily having high-percentage shots of leaving Park City with a deal (e.g. The Extra Man, The Killer Inside Me). Instead, it’s a fistful of educated guesses based on five wholly unseen films (some of which may turn out to completely suck), their casts and other principals, program descriptions, advance buzz (if any), social/cultural context and potential audiences. In other words: Pure speculation. Would you have it any other way?

· Welcome to the Rileys

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A couple (James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo) mourning the death of their teenage daughter in dramatically different ways attempt to rebuild their lives.

UPSIDE: Jake Scott’s feature directorial debut is all class, with the executive-producer imprimatur of father Ridley Scott and uncle Tony (not to mention Ridley’s collaborator Steven Zaillian) and a cast featuring James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo and Kristen Stewart as a teenaged prostitute in New Orleans. OK, mostly all class.

DOWNSIDE: Could turn out to be this year’s The Greatest, which fizzled at Sundance ‘09 with a similar story line and Big Actor Moments cranked to 11.

POTENTIAL BUYERS: Overture, Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate

HOW MUCH? The bidding starts at $4.5 million.

Complete list of Movielinie's top 5 flicks here: