CNN Films and Lionsgate have acquired North American rights to Todd Miller’s “Dinosaur 13″ at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary, which debuted Thursday night in Park City, follows paleontologist Peter Larson of South Dakota’s Black Hills Institute of Geological Research and his finding of a 65 million year-old tyrannosaurus rex fossil named “Sue.”
The film will be released theatrically, with a North American broadcast premiere on CNN in the U.S.
“As CNN Films passes the milestone of its first year, returning to Sundance underscores the strength of our commitment to bringing high quality documentary features to our platforms,” said Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide. “Our acquisition of DINOSAUR 13 is a great way for us to kick off the Festival this year, and we think our audience is going to love learning the incredible story of Sue.”
Last year, CNN purchased another animal doc “Blackfish” at the Sundance Film Festival. The acclaimed feature drew over 20 million viewers on the network.