More Sundance Sales: ‘Another Earth’ & ‘The Guard’ Get Picked Up

We’ve already heard about plenty of sales for films premiering at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival (see all our coverage right here). From comedies like My Idiot Brother to dramas like Martha Marcy May Marlene, there’s plenty of Sundance films getting picked up. Now we have a couple more to add on as Fox Searchlight announced yet another acquisition today with Another Earth, a science fiction sort of romance starring Brit Marling and William Mapother (“Lost”). Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Classics decided to pick up the new crime thriller The Guard starring Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges).

Another Earth (directed by Mike Cahill) follows Rhoda Williams (Marling), a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs (Mapother), has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined. I’ll personally be checking out this film myself on Thursday so look out for a review later this week.

The Guard tells the story of an Irish village police sergeant reluctantly pulled into an FBI agent’s investigation of an international drug-smuggling ring that has hit Ireland’s shores. John Michael McDonagh (writer of Ned Kelly) makes his feature directorial debut with this crime thriller that apparently has a decent amount of comedy as well. THR announced the pick-up for the Irish film in the world cinema dramatic competition with a cast that also includes Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes). We’re not sure if well be able to catch this one before the festival is over but stay tuned. Like the sound of these films?