A24 has just wrapped production on the movie adaptation, representing the company’s biggest swing to date. The action epic, starring Kit Connor and directed by Alex Garland, carries an enormous $200 million price tag. The film’s otherworldly setting is fitting, as the art-house giant currently occupies a land between: no longer a scrappy indie studio challenging the establishment, not yet a merged or acquired corporate monolith scaling up to the major studio table.
But this year will go down as A24’s most profitable ever thanks to the runaway success of Gen Z horror breakout “Backrooms” and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s lightning rod Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything.” Those titles and others have boosted A24 above $500 million at the domestic box office for the first time. A24 may also eke out bragging rights as the most nominated studio at the Oscars, just as its fledgling TV division has started producing serious hits (following up HBO’s “Euphoria” with Peacock’s “Crystal Lake,” HBO’s “Neighbors” and Apple TV’s “Margot’s Got Money Troubles”). The traction that A24 is enjoying in this moment of massive disruption and consolidation across the industry is a true flex from one of entertainment’s most bulletproof brands.
But all of this momentum raises the question: What does A24 want to be? Speculation about the studio’s M&A potential has been floating around town since its 2013 inception. Led by founders David Fenkel and Daniel Katz, A24 has over the years flirted with buyers like Apple and Sony.
But no deal has materialized because Fenkel and Katz have ruthlessly protected A24’s cool factor (the abstract secret sauce that’s trained younger generations to reclaim the moviegoing experience and make edgy auteurs their idols). They’ve turned down a host of recent offers for equity investments and held creative control as tightly as first-person gamers treasure the mythical forces of “Elden Ring.” Inside A24, the reigning logic for the past several years has been “grow from within,” as underscored by the 2021 hire of NBA chief financial officer J.B. Lockhart to help the company scale at a cautious pace.
Insiders also credit chief operating officer Matt Bires (an architect of A24’s Cherry Lane Theater acquisition), global TV head Ravi Nandan (the Fielder whisperer) and the all-important chief marketer Graham Retzlik with the steady growth. But make no mistake, the source says, “Fenkel and Katz are absolutely interested in getting rich.” A24’s last fundraise came in mid-2024, courtesy of Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, and valued the company at $3.5 billion. It’s a modest sum compared with the eye-popping $111 billion check that Skydance wrote to acquire Warner Bros.
Discovery, but nevertheless a number that three sources at rival companies find out of line with market realities. Look at what Disney did to FX and 20th Century Fox,” says another top executive. Dice rolls last year — like Ari Aster’s “Eddington” and Dwayne Johnson’s “The Smashing Machine,” each of which cost $50 million — were rejected at the box office.
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