A24 rethinks its arthouse film strategy and considers more commercial projects

The production and distribution studio plans to expand its catalog by adding more commercial films. Like horror sagas like Friday the 13th, for example.

A24 wishes to benefit from its growing notoriety. Last year, Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner of the Oscars (best film, best director, best actress, best actor and supporting actress) and became the company’s first film to exceed $100 million at the box office. Furthermore, The Whaleproduced by A24, also marked the ceremony with its award for best actor, which categorizes the studio as the big winner of the prestigious cinematographic event.

According to The Wrap, Noah Sacco, head of acquisitions at A24, claims the desire to develop a broader strategy aimed at proposing larger projects. With a valuation of $2.5 billion, “it is logical that the distribution company launches into more commercial films”, declares a studio manager. Investment firm Stripes paid $225 million for less than 10% of A24. These staggering figures force the studio to keep pace with their significant development by diversifying their production horizon.

“Art-house films don’t make money and are very risky. This is not a good long-term strategy. You have to find a good balance between the two.”quotes the article from an anonymous informant working at A24.

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A24 maintains its diversification project by focusing on iconic horror sagas. Even though the studio recently lost the standoff against Miramax for the rights to the franchise Halloweenthe production company has positioned itself on the exciting production of a series Friday 13 titled Crystal Lake last October. These projects can be produced at low costs for good results at the box office: this is particularly what has been true in recent years at Blumhouse (Insidious, Get Out…) his good reputation, and his good health for around ten years.

Over time, A24 positioned itself differently, financing ambitious and offbeat indie films. The firm was able to arouse significant appeal for cinema lovers, but without garnering enormous revenues. Moonlightthe broke film by Barry Jenkins, big winner at the 2016 Oscars, for example earned $65 million at the worldwide box office, even though it had cost ten times less; Midsommar by Ari Aster has an excellent reputation, but was especially a hit on VOD and DVD (at the box office, it earned 50 million dollars for less than 10 million in budget). Uncut Gems by Josh and Ben Safdie was distributed on Netflix, again acclaimed by critics. Xby Ti West, earned 15 million greenbacks on the planet when it only cost a third, and its creator was able to film an entire trilogy in the process…

Soon, the box is counting on Dream Scenarioa concept film carried by Nicolas Cage, or The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s drama acclaimed at the Cannes Film Festival, to intrigue moviegoers. Not to mention its numerous distributions, like Priscillaby Sofia Coppola, produced by American Zoetrope, but shown to American audiences via A24.

The studio is regularly praised for its audacity, and to make more profits from its original productions, it also grants itself the freedom to accompany their releases with an assortment of derivative products on their official site, which does not fail to delight the public. It now remains to take the next step, suggests this article announcing the evolution of their strategy, in order to perpetuate more event-based outings.

The directors of The Hand have already completed its prequel for A24