Don’t expect the Sundance Film Festival to look exactly the same in Boulder as it had in Park City, Utah.

“We can’t pick up a film festival that’s been in a location for over 40 years… and move it into a new place,” said Ebs Burnough, board chair of the Sundance Institute, on Thursday. “There’s no sense in it.”

He said the festival will keep its spirit, of course. But he added Sundance is building “something new” in Boulder.

Top officials at the Sundance Institute spoke before 400 real estate professionals and students at the 29th annual Real Estate Forum hosted by The Michael A. Klump Center for Real Estate at University of Colorado Boulder in one of the first public engagements by organizers since the festival said goodbye to Utah.

While the event has been typically held in downtown Denver, this year it was hosted at the brand new Limelight Hotel and Convention Center in Boulder.

The new development opened its doors last year as part of a decades-long initiative to inject new energy into the University Hill neighborhood and attract new business activity and events to Boulder, just in time for the festival.

The city and organizers have less than a year until the Sundance Film Festival debuts in Boulder on Jan. 21, 2027.

Sundance staff have already begun to work more out of Colorado, though some jobs will stay in Utah. Festival organizers are working with the city to draft transportation and lodging plans. And renovations are coming to event venues, said Paula DuPré Pesmen, filmmaker and managing director of the festival’s relocation.

It will be a “little bit different,” she also confirmed.

The Sundance Film Festival is expected to generate $2 billion for Colorado over the next decade that it’s confirmed to host the festival, Gov. Jared Polis said last year.

Burnough said the festival has generated about $150 million to nearly $200 million for Utah during recent years.

Could Boulder match up? He sure believes so.

“I have no doubt that it should be equal, if not more,” Burnough said.

It had become increasingly difficult for Sundance to grow the festival and stay in Utah without making sacrifices. The festival also downsized the number of screenings it hosted in the years following the pandemic and hopes to get back to its heights in 2019 — or bigger — he said.

Boulder offered more space, proximity to Denver and the ability to be cheaper for film productions to participate in the festival.

Coming to Boulder, which has a population 12 times bigger than Park City, he said the festival can grow its audience base and attract more people and filmmakers to help get it to generate $200 million a year or more.

DuPré Pesmen said there will be a big swell of seasonal jobs added to the economy once the festival draws near.

Burnough said he expects the festival will fill Boulder’s hotels and restaurants and attract global tourists to the state. More than 80,000 people are projected to take over Boulder over the 10 days.

He imagined some storefronts near Pearl Street could become temporary activations, recalling how he saw a furniture store in Davos transformed into a corporate bank hub during its annual conference that attracts political and financial leaders from around the world.

The festival will attract major sponsorships, think big names like Audible, though official sponsors will have to align with Sundance’s values, he added.

Last week, festival organizers confirmed it selected 11 theaters and four venues concentrated around the CU campus, downtown Boulder and Chautauqua Park.

There are also plans to bring the festival beyond that.

“We have an opportunity to do something that I haven’t seen done anywhere else in the nation,” Burnough said. “We have the opportunity to rally behind an art institution the way that we rally behind sports teams.”

He said he wants to see people wearing Sundance merch when he arrives at Denver International Airport. The nonprofit filmmaking institute is also preparing to expand its presence in communities across the state such as Fort Morgan, Fort Collins and Salida, he added. In its second year, he expects more people will stay in Denver to commute to the festival.

Nearly 70% of Sundance’s audience came from Utah in previous years, DuPré Pesmen said. Now, they expect Colorado will make up the bulk of visitors.

This is all just a glimpse into their lofty ambitions.

Most of all, for the festival’s first year, DuPré Pesmen said their main goal is to just “land the plane.”