After premiering very strongly at the recent SXSW film festival, the rights to remake chess documentary Brooklyn Castle have recently been acquired by Sony Pictures, with Scott Rudin set to produce.

The original documentary is about an inner city school in Brooklyn, New York that went from “school in need” to one of the best public schools in New York, primarily because of the accomplishments of the school’s chess team program; however, budget cuts to public schools means that the chess team risks getting shut down. The documentary, which apparently received a standing ovation at its premiere at SXSW last week, is still in need of a distribution deal.

Sony Pictures acquired the rights to remake the film, but not the distribution rights to the original documentary. Scott Rudin previously directed Searching for Bobby Fischer, another chess-oriented film, so Brooklyn Castle seems like a natural fit for the producer.

Check out the trailer for the original documentary after the break.

Discuss:

Would you prefer to watch the Hollywood remake of the film or the original documentary shown at SXSW?

[Via Deadline]