Sundance: Deal for ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’

“Brooklyn’s Finest,” one of the better movies I’ve seen at Sundance, has landed the first real deal of the festival (Sony Classics announced it had closed a deal for the doc “Tyson,” which had been in works since its Cannes premiere, just before Sundance opened). Variety reports Senator Entertainment is ponying up “under $5 million” for Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest,” plus a “seven-figure commitment” for promotion and advertising. It’s a gritty dramatic thriller about three NYPD cops with moral and ethical issues that come to a climax one night in a Brooklyn housing project. The flick, which will be released during awards season, features particularly fine performances by Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and especially Richard Gere. My only quibble is what I felt was the excessively bleak closing moments, and Variety reports there are discussings taking place about changing the ending with the consent of Fuqua, who also directed the cop thriller “Training Day,” which netted an Oscar for Denzel Washington and a nomination for Hawke. Asked how much “Brooklyn’s Finest” cost at a Q & A session this morning, Fuqua said, “very little.”