Indie Giant A24 Recently Entertained A Potential 3 Billion Dollar Sale

What Makes A24 Unique

We recently talked about the A24 brand in relation to horror. The studio is known for its innovative marketing, like binding the 150-tweet thread that inspired Zola into a clothbound hardcover. It’s also known for its spooky trailers, some of which have been slightly misleading, setting up audiences (and disgruntled CinemaScore responders) with monster-movie expectations, when they were really about to experience a slow-burn psychodrama. We should have known what to expect by the time Hereditary and Midsommar rolled around, but alas.

Of course, A24 isn’t only an indie-horror boutique. It’s also responsible for “sci-fi caviar” (as iTunes likes to package it) such as Ex Machina, High Life, and Under the Skin. In addition, the studio has received dozens of Oscar nominations for films like Room and a big Best Picture win in 2018 with Moonlight. Per Variety, the move to potentially sell is one that has been going on under the radar for the last year and a half, yet the trade cites sources within the studio that say A24 is now “focused on expansion and is not prioritizing a sale.” We often hear rumblings of this kind right before the deals go through, so if one does happen soon, what would A24 look like under a major media company? Would it get swallowed up or might it prosper in new ways?

The studio already has an existing deal with Apple, which has debuted Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and other films as Apple TV+ exclusives. However, they’ve reportedly “passed on numerous titles” that A24 was floating, so that may be a wash. Becoming a subsidy of a larger corporation might allow A24 to reach a new audience. Alternatively, its niche appeal might get lost in the sea of subscription options and we may see the edges of a unique studio sanded off. As always with the pivot to streaming, the fear is that this is potentially one of those things where the toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube.

Indie Giant A24 Recently Entertained A Potential $3 Billion Dollar Sale

By Joshua Meyer/July 13, 2021 8:30 pm EST

What Makes A24 Unique

We recently talked about the A24 brand in relation to horror. The studio is known for its innovative marketing, like binding the 150-tweet thread that inspired Zola into a clothbound hardcover. It’s also known for its spooky trailers, some of which have been slightly misleading, setting up audiences (and disgruntled CinemaScore responders) with monster-movie expectations, when they were really about to experience a slow-burn psychodrama. We should have known what to expect by the time Hereditary and Midsommar rolled around, but alas.

Of course, A24 isn’t only an indie-horror boutique. It’s also responsible for “sci-fi caviar” (as iTunes likes to package it) such as Ex Machina, High Life, and Under the Skin. In addition, the studio has received dozens of Oscar nominations for films like Room and a big Best Picture win in 2018 with Moonlight. Per Variety, the move to potentially sell is one that has been going on under the radar for the last year and a half, yet the trade cites sources within the studio that say A24 is now “focused on expansion and is not prioritizing a sale.” We often hear rumblings of this kind right before the deals go through, so if one does happen soon, what would A24 look like under a major media company? Would it get swallowed up or might it prosper in new ways?

The studio already has an existing deal with Apple, which has debuted Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and other films as Apple TV+ exclusives. However, they’ve reportedly “passed on numerous titles” that A24 was floating, so that may be a wash. Becoming a subsidy of a larger corporation might allow A24 to reach a new audience. Alternatively, its niche appeal might get lost in the sea of subscription options and we may see the edges of a unique studio sanded off. As always with the pivot to streaming, the fear is that this is potentially one of those things where the toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube.

Of course, A24 isn’t only an indie-horror boutique. It’s also responsible for “sci-fi caviar” (as iTunes likes to package it) such as Ex Machina, High Life, and Under the Skin. In addition, the studio has received dozens of Oscar nominations for films like Room and a big Best Picture win in 2018 with Moonlight.

Per Variety, the move to potentially sell is one that has been going on under the radar for the last year and a half, yet the trade cites sources within the studio that say A24 is now “focused on expansion and is not prioritizing a sale.” We often hear rumblings of this kind right before the deals go through, so if one does happen soon, what would A24 look like under a major media company? Would it get swallowed up or might it prosper in new ways?

The studio already has an existing deal with Apple, which has debuted Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and other films as Apple TV+ exclusives. However, they’ve reportedly “passed on numerous titles” that A24 was floating, so that may be a wash.

Becoming a subsidy of a larger corporation might allow A24 to reach a new audience. Alternatively, its niche appeal might get lost in the sea of subscription options and we may see the edges of a unique studio sanded off. As always with the pivot to streaming, the fear is that this is potentially one of those things where the toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube.