'Chuck & Buck' Love Sundance

Artisan Entertainment, which picked up a bargain blockbuster with The Blair Witch Project at last year's Sundance Film Festival, was one of the first distributors to cut a deal for a film at this year's festival.

The company, along with Summit Entertainment, bought the comedy Chuck & Buck, Artisan President Amir Malin said Sunday.

Sources said the purchase price was $1 million, the same amount Artisan paid a year ago for Blair Witch Project which grossed $140 million after its release last summer.

Malin said Chuck & Buck has commercial appeal, but its potential should not be compared to the phenomenal success of Blair Witch.

"I think it would be unfair to set the bar so high on any film or any company with the likes of Blair Witch," Malin said.

Chuck & Buck tells the story of a 27-year-old slacker who visits a childhood buddy, now a go-getter in the Los Angeles recording industry. The dark comedy centers on loser Buck's efforts to rekindle his friendship with Charlie, who was called Chuck as a boy.

The movie was directed by Miguel Arteta, a filmmaker originally from Puerto Rico whose first movie Star Maps showed at Sundance in 1997.

Artisan representatives first saw the movie Friday and signed the deal with the filmmakers the next day.

Entertainment Log: Sundance Postcard Film premieres and opening night jitters -- our correspondent files his first festival dispatch.

Two short films also were acquired. AtomFilms, which distributes short features over the Internet, bought the life-after-death comedy In God We Trust.

The movie was directed by Jason Reitman, son of filmmaker Ivan Reitman, who directed Ghostbusters.