From Tiny Studio to Cult Sensation, Here's Why You Should Be Watching A24 Films:
When we think of great cinema we tend to mainly think about directors, like Hitchcock, Spielberg, Nolan, Peele, etc. Or maybe we think of an actor we particularly like or believe is talented like Morgan Freeman, Florence Pugh, Joaquin Phoenix, etc. However, there now, more than ever before, seems to be a new name in the mix, and it's not a person, but a studio.
A24 movies have been nominated for over 50 Oscars, and have won 16 of them. The studio has been able to accomplish something that I personally would say has never been done before. From taking over Halloween with their distinguishable and highly praised niche for horror, to making audience members cry with their knack for producing incredible coming of age films, A24 seems to be doing it all. In addition to their catalog of weird and wonderful movies, though, A24 was one of the only studios to comply with the actors’ and writers’ strikes, and fairly pay their workers, thus making it one of the few studios able to continue releasing and producing films during the 148 days that the 2023 WGA strike lasted. So how did A24 become the mass cultural sensation it has and why should we be excited about it?
A24 as a studio was founded on two main principles: giving directors as much creative freedom as possible, and forgoing traditional marketing techniques in order to use cheaper, viral methods. These two principles alone may not seem like such a huge deal, but when coupled with their masterful strategies in their early career, it was these two ideas that were able to set A24 apart from other studios.
During the early days, from about 2012 to 2016, A24 as a studio exclusively bought films, never making their own. In other words, A24 was founded as a distribution company. If that word doesn't mean much to you, then don't worry, because I'm about to break down exactly what that means.
Within the movie-making pipeline there are various different steps and parties involved in the making and showing of a piece of work. First there is production, where the movie gets made. Then there is distribution, where a company buys the rights to an already finished film (what A24 originally did) and takes on marketing possibilities in order to find an exhibitor to showcase it. The third part is the exhibition, where movie theaters and streaming services showcase films for the general public. Studios that we are most used to like Disney, Universal, and Sony generally take on both production and distribution responsibilities. However, smaller, more independent films often go to film festivals like Sundance (my personal favorite!) or Tribeca in order to hopefully find someone to distribute their film and help them make those connections.
Does that make a bit more sense? Good.
So in the beginning, A24’s sole aim was to scout out great indie films and independently made material (some of which, upon reflection, may have been better than others…) and buy their distribution rights. This turned out to be a much cheaper and easier way to build a steady catalog of excellent films without breaking the bank. From there they were able to hand-pick particular films that could bring their company together and create a unique style that would become distinctly “A24-esque”. With their earliest film Spring Breakers, A24 was able to craft a technicolor, visually striking, and honestly memorable film that helped them begin to craft out exactly what an A24 film would be.
Nowadays if you were to ask someone about A24, most people would have a pretty clear idea of what a film from that studio would look like, and that comes down to their very particular taste in the movies they choose to produce. Weird and wacky horror visuals, absurdly arthouse plot twists, and crazy color palettes all quickly became staples in A24 films, and their horizons only expanded from then on. As they took on more intimate, vulnerable stories of childhood and grief, A24 truly became a studio for everybody.
Over the course of their existence, A24 has launched a plethora of successful careers, such as Ari Astler, whose smash-hit debut Hereditary is still considered to be one of, if not the biggest A24 film. They also helped kickstart the careers of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Sheinhert, especially with their ‘Best Picture’ winner and Oscar-sweeping film Everything Everywhere All At Once. As well as Robert Eggers, who went on to make one of my personal favorite horror films of all time: The Lighthouse.
In addition to these names, they afforded directorial debuts to people like Greta Gerwig, Jonah Hill, and Bo Burnham, all of whom ended up being incredible successes and helped fill out the studio’s catalog for more subtle, touching stories.
Films like Ex Machina demonstrated just how far A24 would take their marketing, as they created a Tinder profile for the film’s protagonist (an AI robot who— well I won't spoil anything there…). Films like Room also won A24 some of their first Oscars, and finally, 4 years after the studio’s creation, they decided to begin producing films on their own. This journey began with the film Moonlight, which is arguably the film that really put A24 on the map as a studio that was going to be releasing some truly great films, taking home ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars that year as well (sorry to all my fellow La La Land fans). It was from then on that they began making a lot of the films that we would most likely think of when it comes to A24 like Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Lady Bird, X, etc.
All this being said, A24 has made some missteps (cough cough sorry to all the Tusk fans out there…). However, those missteps don't seem to matter very much as the films that don't perform well or don't live up to the “A24 standard” usually go straight to streaming sites like DirectTV and Apple TV, thus effectively getting swept under the rug anyway.
At the end of the day, what most people like about A24 is the community it's created and the sense of variety it brings. When you go to watch an A24 film you know it's going to be different, there's a good chance it'll be great, a possibility it'll be terrible, but you know it'll definitely be something new. While so many studios and companies have taken to churning out the same thing time and time again (don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for those films too), it can sometimes be refreshing just to watch something new and exciting even if it doesn't end up being your cup of tea. So if you get a chance this week, why not sit down and try a new A24 film. Who knows? You may just get sucked into the rabbit hole like me…
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tuRJIkDcXg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9kgN-q6HoQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrMIpFqiVTM
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/ben-lester/a24-studios-best-films
