Sundance Film Festival shifting a week later to avoid MLK holiday

By Michael Balderston LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Sundance Film Festival will shift roughly a week later starting in 2015 to avoid the MLK holiday, part of its contract extension with Park City to keep the event at its usual locale until 2026, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The new contract, which was posted on the city's website Tuesday, makes sure that the festival will not overlap with the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. In the past, the fest would coincide with the three-day weekend four out of ten years. Park City is a go-to ski location and loses an estimated $4.2 million in ski revenue (Sundance more than makes up for that in party revenue alone, but it's going to different places) when the town is occupied with the festival — more so over a long weekend like with MLK Day. The shift will not take place for next year's festival, however, which is scheduled for January 16-26; the 2015 fest will be the first to run January 22 - February 1, after the holiday weekend. The Park City Council will discuss the contract on Thursday.