Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth was acquired by Apple TV Plus. The tech giant has nabbed the second feature from the heat-seeking director out of this year’s Sundance Film Fest.

Apple emerged victorious from a competitive bidding situation that attracted Netflix, Amazon and Sony Pictures as potential buyers. The deal closed around $15 million.

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” stars Raiff as a recent graduate working as a bar mitzvah hype man. While on the job, he strikes up a unique friendship with a young mother (Dakota Johnson) and her teenage daughter (Vanessa Burghardt). Leslie Mann, Evan Assante, Raúl Castillo and Odeya Rush fill out the ensemble.

Erik Feig’s PictureStart and Johnson and Ro Donnelly’s TeaTime Pictures produced the film alongside Endeavor Content. The movie walked into this year’s Sundance Film Festival as one of the buzziest sales titles.

Raiff’s 2020 debut Shithouse won the grand jury prize at the SXSW Film Festival, placing the writer-director on the map.

The price tag on “Cha Cha Real Smooth” represents the highest purchase yet for this year’s virtual Sundance market.

Last year, Apple also signed a record-breaking $25 million check for CODA, which is currently making the awards rounds.

Other Acquisitions

Additional titles that have found distributors at this year’s Sundance include “Fire of Love” and “The Territory” to National Geographic, “Living” to Sony Pictures Classics and “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” to Searchlight and Hulu.