HBO Max & Utopia Pick Up Sundance Coming-Of-Age Horror ‘We’re All Going To The World’s Fair’

EXCLUSIVE: HBO Max and U.S. distributor and sales firm Utopia have acquired rights to well-received Sundance Film Festival title We’re All Going To The World’s Fair.

The coming-of-age horror-drama follows teenager Casey who becomes immersed in an online role-playing horror game, wherein she begins to document the changes that may or may not be happening to her.

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The film, which will have its NY premiere later this month at the New Directors/New Films festival, is the narrative feature debut of writer-director Jane Schoenbrun. Utopia will release the film in U.S. theaters early next year and also has international rights. HBO Max has licensed U.S. streaming rights.

With an original score by Alex G, the movie stars Anna Cobb and Michael J Rogers alongside a number of performers appearing in various real and staged YouTube videos, including Theo Anthony, Evan Santiago, and the ASMR content creator Slight Sounds.

Carlos Zozaya and Sarah Winshall produced the film, with cinematography by Daniel Patrick Carbone and Abby Harri serving as co-producer and casting director.

The deal was negotiated by Danielle DiGiacomo for Utopia and Chris Grunden for HBO Max with CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers.

“Utopia is honored to be partnering with Jane Schoenbrun on the release of their first feature, Sundance standout We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, a chillingly immersive and emotional journey into the all-encompassing universe of the internet. We cannot wait for audiences to enter into the riveting cinematic world that Jane has built,” said Danielle DiGiacomo, Head of Content for Utopia.

“I am so honored to be working with the smart and lovely team at Utopia, and to be bringing my first film to streaming via HBO Max. We’re All Going To The World’s Fair is a deeply personal film that was made with a lot of love by a small group of artists and friends, and to know it’ll have a proper chance to find its audience with the help of these great companies is so exciting to me,” added Jane Schoenbrun.

Utopia’s previous acquisitions have included TIFF comedy Shiva Baby, Cannes title Mickey And The Bear and Errol Morris’s American Dharma.

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