Netflix Buys That Zac Efron Ted Bundy Movie For $9M
Last week, audiences at Sundance got a look at Joe Berlinger’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a film no one will ever refer to by that title. We were all very excited for the film due to the campy first looks that came out of hunky Zac Efron in costume as the notorious serial killer. Now that I’ve seen the film, we were right to be excited.
In the meantime, Netflix has been stoking those Bundy fires with its four-episode documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes. A lot of people watched and discussed the doc, so it only makes sense that Netflix would want more.
And according to THR, they are getting it. Netflix has purchased Extremely Wicked for a whopping nine million dollars, which is a lot for a Sundance acquisition.
Here’s the thing. As a comedy about a never-say-die optimist you just can't help but love, Extremely Wicked is great. As a legit drama, it is laughably bad. Hey, funny either way! I feel strongly that the film goes out of its way to be humorous, but THR claims Netflix will release it this fall to position the film as an award contender. That amazes me if true and shoots some holes in my “intentional comedy” theory - unless the award is for John Malkovich’s hilarious performance.
In any case, I truly can’t wait for the rest of you to see this film and argue about it with me.