In the first deal of the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to Supertroopers, a crazy comedy directed by Jay Chandrasekhar which screened as a midnight movie on Friday.

The company is believed to have paid some $2m for the picture which was represented by John Sloss of Sloss Law Office.

Chandrasekhar is the director of Broken Lizard, the film-making, television and stage group which first made Puddle Cruiser in 1997. On Super Troopers, Broken Lizard enlisted Jersey Shore, the specialised division of Danny De Vito, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher's Jersey Films, as the executive producers.

The film follows the adventures of a hapless team of Vermont state troopers patrolling the Canadian border whose station is targeted for closure by the state. They quickly take steps to prevent the shutdown.

Brian Cox leads a cast which includes Daniel Von Bargen, Marisa Coughlan, Lynda Carter, Jim Gaffigan and Broken Lizard.