Slamdance Winner DAVE MADE A MAZE Picked Up By Gravitas

One of my personal favorites from Slamdance 2017, Bill Watterson‘s Dave Made a Maze, has been pick up for distribution in the U.S. and Canada by Gravitas Ventures. The film stars Nick Thune as a slacker who creates, and subsequently gets lost in, a seemingly infinite labyrinth in his apartment. Funny and endlessly creative, this is definitely one you’ll want to add to your watch list. You can check out my full review here.

Dave Made a Maze opens in theaters and on VOD August 18th. Check below for the full release.

LOS ANGELES (May 3, 2017) — Gravitas Ventures has acquired all rights, U.S. and Canada, to Dave Made A Maze, coming off its critical acclaim and an Audience Award win for “Best Narrative” at the Slamdance Film Festival. The offbeat comedy, starring Nick Thune (Knocked Up), takes viewers on a wild and whimsical ride, merging fantasy with reality from the confines of a living room chock-full of cut-up cardboard boxes. Meera Rohit Kumbhani (Donny!), James Urbaniak (Difficult People), Stephanie Allynne (In a World) and Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds) also star.

Dave Made a Maze will make its theatrical and on demand debut on August 18.

Dave (Thune), an artist who has yet to complete anything significant in his career, builds a fort in his living room out of pure frustration, only to wind up trapped by the fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his own creation. Ignoring his warnings, Dave’s girlfriend Annie (Kumbhani) leads a band of oddball explorers on a rescue mission. Once inside, they find themselves trapped in an ever-changing supernatural world, threatened by booby traps and pursued by a bloodthirsty Minotaur.

“We wanted to re-imagine classic 80’s adventure films with a comedic edge and a higher body count. To reignite that tactile sense of wonder triggered by those films, we played in the sandbox of old-school practical effects – puppetry, miniatures, stop motion animation, and in-camera optical illusions,” said Director Bill Watterson.

“We’d never seen anything like Dave Made a Maze before,” stated Gravitas Founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher. “We were drawn to its profound creativity and originality and look forward to – what is sure to be – a unique collaboration with this filmmaking team.”

Dave Made a Maze comes from the minds of first-time director Bill Watterson and his co-writer Steven Sears. John Charles Meyer and John Chuldenko produced; Carlos Cusco and Emerson Machtus (The Little Hours) are the Executive Producers.

The deal for Dave Made a Maze was negotiated by Nolan Gallagher on behalf of Gravitas and by Matt Burke of Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers.