Legion M SUNDANCE Highlights
Paul and Jeff recap the highlights of Legion M's first Sundance.
In January, Legion M made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. For two weeks, Sundance became the epicenter for the movie industry and independent films, so it was important that Legion M made its mark amongst Hollywood’s heavy-hitters. Not only were we able to showcase the Legion in a big way, we made invaluable connections with filmmakers, distributors and financiers that will be vital to our future growth, plus scores of energized film buffs who were very receptive to the Legion M story.
Our first-ever Legion Midnight film MANDY bowed as a Sundance Midnight screening on January 19! It was a huge moment for Legion M, especially when our photo mosaic production logo appeared on the big screen during the film’s end credits, eliciting cheers and applause from the Legion audience. It’s your investment and support that makes production opportunities like MANDY possible. The entire community should be proud!
Just prior to its world debut, Legion M’s Terri Lubaroff conducted an incredible interview with SpectreVision’s Elijah Wood, Lisa Whalen, Josh Waller and Daniel Noah. The Legion M-exclusive Q&A with our production partner, which streamed live from the Legion M Lounge, took an incredible turn when MANDY’s star Nicolas Cage and director Panos Cosmatos showed up to chat with Terri and Legion M members! Oh, and Nic brought his buddy Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil to the stage! You can watch the full interview on Legion M’s Facebook page or at LegionM.com.
The critical reception for MANDY has been overwhelmingly positive, with many outlets like Nerdist, The Hollywood Reporter, Thrillist and Variety singing its praise as one of the best films of Sundance 2018. MANDY is currently the best-reviewed Sundance film on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% fresh score. We’re incredibly proud of our involvement on MANDY. Recently, Panos expressed his excitement when he shared with the Legion his gratitude and exclusive pre-production art of the film’s epic chainsaw battle! Legion M members will be the first to know when MANDY gets a distribution deal and when you can see it in theaters.
For four days, the Red Banjo Pizza Parlour in the heart of Sundance transformed into the Legion M Lounge, becoming one of the hottest destinations during the first weekend of the festival. Wonderful sponsors, including Evolution Fresh, Cinemark Movie Club, Rockstar Energy Drink, Corona Premium, and San Diablo Churros helped offset the costs, making the event possible. Thousands of festival goers visited the lounge, many of whom stayed to watch live interviews conducted by world-renowned film critic and historian (and Legion M adviser) Leonard Maltin and Movie Pilot’s Russ Fischer.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Visitors to Legion M Lounge: 2,250
Pizza Slices Handed Out: 3,890
Celebrity Interviews: 28
Positive reviews for Mandy: 22
Negative reviews for Mandy: 0
Rotten Tomatoes Score for Mandy: 100%
Cheddar Goblin Beanies: 300
Nic Cage/Vince Neil Party Crashes: 1
Cricket Churros Eaten: 11
Rental Cars Broken: 2
Spirits Channeled at 1st Ever Sundance Seance: 17
Empty Bottles of Evolution Fresh, Corona Premier, and Rockstar Energy: 8,163
Amazing Sponsors: 5
People Thrown Over Balcony: 0
Impact made: IMMEASURABLE!
Legion M hosted 23 interviews over three days, which were live-streamed on Movie Pilot’s various Facebook channels, featured a wide range of talent and ground-breaking films making their Sundance debut like ASSASSINATION NATION, HEARTS BEAT LOUD and WHITE RABBIT. Celebrities who passed through the lounge included Joel McHale, Ted Danson, Chris Elliott and his family – including Bridey Elliott who wrote, directed and starred in CLARA’S GHOST – and Matilda Lutz from the desert-vacation-gone-bad thriller REVENGE.
On our last day at Sundance, we live-streamed eight hours of content on the official Legion M Twitch channel, including cross-streaming the Movie Pilot interviews, behind-the-scenes peeks at the Legion M Lounge, and great interviews with executives and Legion M members. You can check out the archived Twitch stream here. Also, enjoy the great recap of Legion M at Sundance which is embedded in this newsletter!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS FOR HELPING MAKE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE!
