Sony Pictures Classics Picks Up Apatow's 'Poetic License'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Sony Pictures Classics acquired Maude Apatow's directorial debut "Poetic License" after upstart distributor Row K collapsed in the first quarter of 2026, leaving already-purchased festival films without a release path.
- SPC plans to release the college-set dramedy in 2027, settling months of uncertainty over the film's theatrical fate.
- "Poetic License" debuted at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival to strong reviews, with Row K having acquired it out of the festival before its financial troubles.
- Leslie Mann stars as Liz, a former therapist and soon-to-be empty nester whose new town life is upended when she becomes the focal point of a rivalry between inseparable college-best-friend seniors played by Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman.
- The ensemble also features Nico Parker, Maisy Stella, Martha Kelly, Will Price, and Cliff "Method Man" Smith, with Apatow directing from a script by Raffi Donatich.
- Producers include Judd Apatow, Josh Church, and Benjamin Hung for August Night, with executive producers Jamal Daniel, Michelle Upton, Renee Witt, Harrison Kreiss, and Jay Cassidy.
- The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and WME on behalf of the filmmakers and August Night.
Why it matters: When a distributor collapses mid-cycle, already-acquired festival titles can vanish — making SPC's pickup a literal rescue for a TIFF-premiering film that had a strong reviews-to-release pipeline. For Apatow, daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, launching her directorial career under a veteran specialty label that released the films she grew up on (per her own statement) gives the debut a credibility boost a newer distributor could not. For SPC, it adds a 2027 specialty title with a marketable ensemble and a built-in hooks (empty-nester drama, college rivalry) to its slate.
