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But most studio execs are hungering to snap up the rights to a surprise blockbuster like the 1999 Sundance entry that didn't win anything at all: ''The Blair Witch Project,'' which raked in $140 million. This year's most buzzed about entries (below, in alphabetical order) may not be able to scare up that kind of money at the box office, but if they live up to the hype, they'll be playing at a theater near you sooner than you think.
THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS
WHO Stockard Channing, Julia Stiles
WHY IT'S HOT Channing plays a steely executive who nearly fires her irresponsible assistant (Stiles), then ends up bonding with her during a debauched, revealing meeting at a hotel bar.
BRIGHT SIDE Channing, who plays the First Lady on ''The West Wing,'' finally gets the spotlight she deserves in a star vehicle.
BUT Stiles has yet to prove her chops (note her mewling Ophelia in last year's ''Hamlet''), and the narrow focus of the movie could stagnate on screen.
DONNIE DARKO
WHO Drew Barrymore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze
WHY IT'S HOT Gyllenhaal (''October Sky'') plays a troubled teen tortured by visions of an evil rabbit, while suffering through the usual adolescent traumas involving time travel, fundamentalist gurus, and almost getting crushed under a falling plane engine.
BRIGHT SIDE This feature debut from newcomer Richard Kelly, 25, could be the breath of fresh air that indie film's been dying for.
BUT An evil rabbit?
DOUBLE WHAMMY
WHO Denis Leary, Elizabeth Hurley, Steve Buscemi, Chris Noth
WHY IT'S HOT The latest from veteran indie writer/director Tom DiCillo (''Living in Oblivion,'' ''The Real Blonde''), this comic thriller stars Leary as a luckless cop and Hurley as his chiropractor lover. Luis Guzman (''Traffic'') and ''Sex and the City'''s Mr. Big himself, Noth, come along for the ride.
BRIGHT SIDE Nobody does snark better than Leary; plus, he has a love scene (on the living room rug, no less) with the pulchritudinous Hurley.
BUT ''The Real Blonde'' was widely regarded as substandard DiCillo, and Leary's career as a leading man has been uneven at best (anyone remember ''Two If By Sea''?).
ENIGMA
WHO Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows
WHY IT'S HOT Produced by the weird combo of Mick Jagger and ''SNL'' head
Lorne Michaels, and directed by Michael Apted (''The World Is Not Enough''), this is a WWII espionage thriller about a group of mathematicians who must crack a Nazi code before German troops can destroy an Allied shipping convoy.
BRIGHT SIDE Screenwriter Tom Stoppard also penned the hit ''Shakespeare in Love'' and cowrote ''Brazil'' with Terry Gilliam, so expect the plot to be both smart and involving.
BUT Audiences may prefer their WWII dramas with more action (as in the upcoming ''Pearl Harbor''), and mathematicians haven't been heroic since ''Revenge of the Nerds.''
GREEN DRAGON
WHO Forest Whitaker, Long Nguyen, Patrick Swayze
WHY IT'S HOT Tony Bui, ''Green'''s cowriter and coproducer and whose ''Three Seasons'' took home the fest's Grand Jury prize in 1999, returns with a tale about a disparate group of people living and working within a U.S. refugee camp for Vietnamese emigrants in 1975.
BRIGHT SIDE It's all about Bui. Expectations are high that the young auteur will build on the success of his acclaimed ''Seasons.''
BUT Though loved by critics, ''Seasons''' slow pacing didn't win over audiences (the film grossed just $2 million), and Swayze isn't likely to draw in art house patrons, either.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
WHO John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin
WHY IT'S HOT The story of an East German transsexual who dreams of becoming an American rock star, ''Hedwig'' was a smash off Broadway hit before making the journey to the big screen.
BRIGHT SIDE Dubbed the first rock musical ''that truly rocks'' by Rolling Stone magazine, ''Hedwig'' has already won fans with its Grammy nominated soundtrack and outrageous yet poignant drag queen diva.
BUT Not every smash musical makes a graceful transition to the big screen (think ''Evita'').
IN THE BEDROOM
WHO Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, Nick Stahl
WHY IT'S HOT This drama about an upper class family that's rocked by an
unexpected tragedy has two Oscar winners (Spacek and Tomei) to its credit and is directed by actor Todd Field, who ''Once & Again'' fans know as Billy Campbell's long suffering business partner.
BRIGHT SIDE Spacek can always be counted on for a solid performance, and producer Ted Hope (''The Ice Storm,'' ''Happiness'') has an eye for intriguing stories.
BUT The intricacies of life in a privileged, upper crust community could make for a boring slice of white bread onscreen.
