A24 Carat Gold: The Sophomore Studio

Written by Dallas King

When looking for a single movie that defines the film distributor A24, one needs to look no further than Josh & Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems. Ambi�ous, bold, funny, in-your-face and 100% born and bred in New York City, A24 could be personified by Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner. Howie’s mindset as he constantly takes bigger and bigger risks throughout the movie, addicted to the thrill, looking for that one big win is reflected in A24’s approach; the acquisi�on, marke�ng and distribu�on of their film slate. Both Howie and A24 do their best work when finding rare gems, including sophomore directors, and polishing them up and selling them to a cap�ve audience. A24 Films was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges in New York City. Named a�er an Italian motorway Katz was driving on when he thought of founding the company, with an aim to showcase “movies from a dis�nc�ve point of view”.They only distribute their films in the US, but the studio has become synonymous with its unique brand and style and has become famous worldwide. Not only are they able to market their films to audiences but they have had great success selling limited edi�on merchandise to their loyal fanbase at high �cket prices. Though their film catalogue features an eclec�c and disparate range of genres and subject ma�ers, all of them share dis�nct quali�es that can be recognizably described as “an A24 film”. In the eight years since they began, A24 has distributed 98 films to date. Of that near century of cinema, 25% have been films by sophomore directors or returning directors working with A24 for a second �me. It hasn’t always been the case that all that gli�ers is gold for the company. Nor has every bet paid off. For every Spring Breakers (2013) or The Bling Ring (2013) there was A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2013). For every Under the Skin (2014) you got a Revenge of The Green Dragons (2014). In the studios fledgling days, success was found releasing brand new films from established and recognized directors such as Jonathan Glazer and Sofia Coppola. What they needed to do was find the next big thing. Just as Howard needs someone to do the digging, A24 needed to unearth the latest uncut gems. Like the pioneers they would head out west (and east) to film fes�vals looking for gold. Cannes would bring them The Rover (2014) and Krisha (2016). At Venice, they picked up Spring Breakers (2013) and First Reformed (2018). However, the main source they have mined over the years has been the Sundance Film Fes�val. In the snowcapped mountains of Utah, the team acquired films such as The VVitch (2015), Swiss Army Man (2016) and A Ghost Story (2017). Bringing young, talented and up and coming directors such as Robert Eggers into the A24 family. Taking a film with cri�cal buzz coming out of Sundance like The VVitch and turning it into a profitable box office success, to be fair, is a pre�y safe bet. However, in 2015, A24 took their biggest risk yet when they would greenlight produc�on of their first feature with a second �me director by the name of Barry Jenkins to adapt the unproduced play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The resul�ng film, Moonlight (2016), was a stunning triptych about a gay African American man growing up in Florida whilst coming to terms with his abusive mother’s drug addic�on, along with the struggles he faced regarding his own sexuality. With odds greater than a six-way parlay on the Cel�cs in game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semi Finals, A24 shocked the world by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, literally taking the Best Picture Oscar out of the hands of La La Land with Moonlight. Moonlight is arguably the film that put them on the map. The one that made the rest of the industry sit up and take no�ce. Not only is it their third highest grossing film but it was also voted Best Film of The Decade by the likes of Rolling Stone, Indiewire and The Independent. Buoyed by this success, the studio would double down on sophomore features by producing Krisha director Trey Edward Schults’s It Comes at Night (2016) and distribu�ng Greta Gerwig’s semiautobiographical coming-of-age drama Lady Bird (2017). O�en mistaken for her directorial debut (Gerwig had codirected Nights and Weekends in 2008 with Joe Swanberg) A24 would help drive it to five Academy Award nomina�ons and their highest grossing film un�l the widely acclaimed horror smash hit Hereditary (2018). Fast forward to 2019 and A24 would have their most successful year in terms of box office success along with Independent Spirit Award wins… albeit snubbed at that year’s Oscars sadly. Of their four highest grossing films last year, the biggest was Uncut Gems. Produced by A24, The Safdie Brothers’ cinema�c panic a�ack was their second film with the company following 2017’s Good Time. As it so happens, good �mes are pre�y much guaranteed second �me around for A24 with their three other breakout films coming from directors making their second features.

A24’s brand of elevated horror con�nued to flourish thanks to Midsommar and The Lighthouse (2019). One of the company’s strengths is recognizing talent and rewarding directors by having faith in their ideas and allowing them to realize their ar�s�c vision. Both Ari Aster and Robert Eggers were able to make the films they wanted independently, without studio interference and the results were incredible. Midsommar is a waking fever dream of gasligh�ng, toxic rela�onships and female empowerment filtered through the lens of folk horror like The Wicker Man (the 1973 original not the Nic Cage remake). The claustrophobic, cabin fever-inducing descent into monochroma�c madness that is The Lighthouse featured incredible performances from Robert Pa�nson and Willem Dafoe that have almost taken on a life of their own during the Coronavirus Lockdown.

Given their impressive track record, writerdirector Lulu Wang chose A24 over streaming services to release The Farewell (2019). She knew they would give the film the proper theatrical release it deserved, and it turned out to be the right call. Riding the crest of a wave that summer, alongside Crazy, Rich Asians (2019), they were validated in their belief that there was an audience for films starring predominantly Asian-American casts and spoken in the characters na�ve tongue. Golden Globe and BAFTA nomina�ons and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature would be the reward for A24 and Wang collec�vely. What’s next for A24? Commi�ed to the theatrical experience, the distributor has been rather quiet during the last few months whilst US cinemas have been closed. Fortunately for them and their fans, post-lockdown, the future shines brighter than an opal you can see the en�re universe in. Not only do they have their second collabora�on with David Lowery with The Green Knight (release TBA) but Kogonada’s A�er Yang and John Lee’s False Posi�ve will also hit cinemas (or Premium Video on Demand at the very least) in 2021. The studio has already begun shipping their merchandise to the UK, so perhaps distribu�on beyond the US is the next step in achieving world domina�on?

With Searchlight Pictures poten�ally not being a priority for Disney following the takeover of 20th Century Fox, A24 are perfectly situated to move seamlessly into that gap in the market for a distributor willing to take a gamble on filmmakers wan�ng to make quality, awardworthy mid-range budget movies with breakout poten�al. The evidence is undeniable. Gerwig, Aster, Eggers. Just as Howard’s mo�va�onal speech and opal helped Kevin Garne� win the big game in Uncut Gems, sophomore directors will find that A24 can help turn them into industry allstars. And that is how we win!