A24has emboldened itself with some incredibly successful films in the last decade, making for an impressive modern box office run few other cinematic brands can compete with. The independent entertainment company has become a trusted name in quality ever since its inception in 2012, taking chances on more bizarre, offbeat, or irreverent stories that bigger studios would be likely to overlook. FromA24’s unique brand of horror movieto their genre-defining dramas, the production and distribution powerhouse has an impressive box office record.
When it comes to their most profitable ventures, around half of A24’s biggest winners are indeed horror movies, with the brand relating itself to scary films that go above and beyond simple campy jumpscares. Beyond that,there are several unique filmsmanymay not realize are under A24’s umbrellathat have done the artistically-minded independent production company well in theaters. The franchise’s best-performing movies represent a good sample platter of what they have to offer.
Midsommar
Cast
Ari Aster’s Midsommar follows a group of American college students who travel to a friend’s isolated rural hometown in Sweden to experience their renowned midsummer festival. What starts out as idyllic quickly becomes a disconcertingly violent pagan ritual, with the friends engaged in a ruthless competition that will test more than just their friendship. Florence Pugh stars alongside Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, and William Jackson Harper.
One director that rose to fame off the back of his work with A24 is none other than the horror visionary Ari Aster.Hereditarymay have been Ari Aster’s big break, butMidsommarproved that his success working with A24 was no fluke, able to think up more disturbing slow-burn horror films that rattle the mind.Midsommartells the story of a grief-stricken young woman enduring the loss of her family to suicide who travels with her boyfriend to an isolated commune in rural Sweden to participate in their Midsommar festivities.
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A24 horror movies have redefined the genre with hits like Midsommar, X, and Hereditary coming from the studio. Here’s every A24 horror movie ranked.
Before long, the cult inhabiting the place sinks its hooks into Dani, gradually picking off her friends one by one as she is inducted into their almost eusocial way of life. Besides being one ofFlorence Pugh’s best performances,Midsommarexplores the ravages of mourning with ghoulish imagery and a startling fairytale sense of dread. It’s no wonder the provocative film brings up the rear of A24’s biggest financial successes.
Uncut Gems
A crime thriller from Josh and Benny Safdie, Uncut Gems follows New York jeweler Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) as his gambling addiction forces him to associate with increasingly dangerous individuals. After receiving an incredibly rare black opal, Howard believes he can finally free himself of his mounting debts, but not without engaging in one final high-stakes balancing act while fending off violent loan sharks.
For the most part, Adam Sandler is beloved as a comedian that defined the childhoods of Millennials and the adult lives of Gen Xers worldwide, immortalized in the space for his silly voices and lighthearted movie fare. But there’s a genuinely brilliant side to Sandler’s acting ability that’s mined for all its rarity inUncut Gems,perhaps A24’s ultimate drama.
Sandler is Howard Ratner, alecherous jeweler with a dangerous addition to sports bettingthat owes money to some dangerous people.Uncut Gemsis one of the most aggressively stressful films one can watch, as Sandler’s character digs himself deeper and deeper into debtsure that he’ll be able to settle the score with just one big payout.
Audiences were apparently eager to see Sandler prove himself as a legitimate actor, allowing the film to ascend the ranks of A24’s most lucrative hits.
Nuggets of irreverent comedy are baked into the very genuine tone of the film, with realistic dialogue flying over the pulsing soundtrack. Audiences were apparently eager to see Sandler prove himself as a legitimate actor, allowing the film to ascend the ranks of A24’s most lucrative hits.
The Zone of Interest
The Zone of Interest examines the lives of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife, Hedwig, as they attempt to cultivate a dream life for their family in a house and garden adjacent to the camp. The film delves into the juxtaposition of their domestic existence against the backdrop of the Holocaust.
Though it might not be the most-talked about A24 film,The Zone of Interesthas quietly risen through the ranks as one of the most valuable feathers in the company’s cap. The period piece war dramatakes place amid the brutality of the holocaust, describing the life of a high-ranking German military officer and his family while living with the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp practically in their backyard. The film examines the psychological impact that genocide on such an industrial scale had not only on the victims, but the perpetrators as well.
The Zone of Interestabsolutely ransackedthe 96th Academy Awards, and for good reason. Its stark fly-on-the-wall shooting style and slice-of-life narrative set against the backdrop of such a despicable time of human cruelty puts into perspective what the reality carrying out of such a ghastly order was really like. While the film examines the psychological impact such crimes against humanity had on the perpetrators,it makes no mistake in acknowledging the complicity of Nazi leadership. It’s easy to see how the film did so well at the box office.
The Whale
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, The Whale is based on a 2012 stage play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter. The film star Brenden Fraser as Charlie, a reclusive and obese English teacher who, faced with his own mortality and guilt-ridden over his past, attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter Ellie, played by Sadie Sink. The film was part of Fraser’s comeback to acting and earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Another one of A24’s biggest box office winners is Darren Aronofsky’sThe Whale,whichproved just how brilliant of a shapeshifting actor Brendan Fraser really is. The film posits Fraser as a morbidly obese English teacher with a troubled relationship with his daughter, trying to do better for her after abandoning her eight years prior.
As the health of Fraser’s Charlie rapidly declines, he attempts to explore the concept of honesty in every aspect of his life and failed relationships.The Whaleis a brilliant, meditative, and cuttingly real character study that’s both shocking and somehow comforting, though some critics took issue with the script’s heavy-handed approach and depiction of obesity.
However, the consensus consistently places Brendan Fraser’s ability to disappear into the role asone of the strongest performances of 2022. It’s likely that the simple curiosity to see Fraser’s acting chops realized through layers of transformative prosthetics earned the movie its valuable box office take.
Moonlight
Written and directed by Barry Jenkins, Moonlight follows Chiron (Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, and Alex Hibbert) during three stages of his life, starting in childhood and progressing all the way up through adulthood. The film explores themes of identity and sexuality, chronicling Chiron’s life as a gay black man growing up in Miami to an abusive, drug-addicted mother.
A24 certainly has a knack for producing grounded dramas that leave a deep, cutting impression on those that view them.Moonlightis yet another ofA24’s Oscar Award darlingsthat rose to fame for winning the coveted Best Picture Academy Award for 2016’s cinematic landscape. Told in three distinct acts,the film follows the life of a gay African American boynamed Chiron growing up in Miami at the peak of the crack epidemic, struggling with reconciling his multifaceted identity.
Moonlightisa beautiful coming-of-age storythat tenderly and respectfully describes the difficulties of growing up as a gay man, particularly in the hypermasculine setting of a poverty-stricken Miami borough. As Chiron’s nickname changes from “Little” to “Black”, so too does his outlook on life and tragic sense of having missed out, unable to codify his romantic feelings or forgive his drug-dealing father figure. Taking chances on thoughtful films likeMoonlighthas given A24 no end of financial success.
Lady Bird
Acting as Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, a high school senior who dreams of leaving what she sees as a miserable existence in Sacramento, California, and going to college on the East Coast. Lady Bird’s dreams clash with the overbearing wishes of her mother Marion, played by Laurie Metcalf. As Lady Bird faces the social and emotional challenges of her final year of high school, her relationship with her mother becomes more and more strained the harder she attempts to break free.
Speaking of coming-of-age movies, one of A24’s most valuable films is the archetypalstory of a troubled girl’s adolescence,Lady Bird.The movie centers on a high school girl, who calls herself Lady Bird, and her strained relationship with her mother, yearning to go to an elite New England college on the opposite side of the country despite her family’s financial woes. As Lady Bird grows and learns, she comes to realize that even if her and her mother may butt heads, they do genuinely love one another.
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Lady Birdexploded in popularity upon its release, putting director Greta Gerwig’s name on the map. The poignant performances and true-to-life depiction of a complicated mother-daughter relationship brings to light a subject that is all-too-often skipped over in film. The film is also notable for being one of Timothée Chalamet’s earlier popular roles that flung him into becoming a household name.
Hereditary
The feature film debut of writer-director Ari Aster, Hereditary tells the story of the unwittingly cursed Graham family. Annie Graham (Toni Collette) lives with her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) and their children Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). After the death of Annie’s mother, the family is beset by disaster and stalked by a supernatural entity that dredges up a past that Annie had spent her life trying to overlook.
WhileMidsommarmay be a great follow-up, the breakout filmHereditarystill remainsAri Aster’s strongest work. A horror movie unlike any other,Hereditarytellsthe story of a well-to-do family grappling with the death of a family matriarch, a grandmother that seemed to hold some devious secrets.
Hereditaryisn’t just one of A24’s best movies, but arguably one of the greatest modern horror films of all time.
In the wake of her death, another tragedy soon befalls the rattled family, providing a foothold for a terrifying demonic presence and a secret conspiracy to slowly tear them apart.Hereditaryisn’t just one of A24’s best movies, but arguablyone of the greatest modern horror films of all time.
The insidious infection of dread and trauma that seeps its way into the unprepared family ramps up in intensity until the profane evil of the entity haunting them becomes too much to bear. Toni Colette’s performance is nothing short of genre-defining, and the rewatchability ofHereditary’s hidden details that only make sense on a second viewing likely helped propel it to such a lofty spot in A24’s financial successes.
Talk to Me
While trying to cope with the death of her mother, Mia (Sophie Wilde) becomes enthralled with an embalmed hand that can conjure spirits. While Mia and her group of friends get a thrill out of communicating with spirits, things go too far when Mia doesn’t close the door to the other side.
Horror continues to be a winning genre for A24, proven as recently as 2023 withTalk To Me.The Australia-produced movie centers on a young girl in the throes of grief after the death of her mother who comes across a friend group with an unusual pastime.Thanks to an embalmed hand, the young kids are able to allow themselves to be possessed by spiritsfrom beyond the grave.
Before long, the troubled Mia is abusing the hand’s power in hopes of contacting her dead mother.Talk To Meprovides a chilling medium for glimpsing into the depraved worlds of trauma and drug addiction, using the dangers of its titular supernatural game to serve as a stand-in for many real-life perils.
The entire cast turns in some amazing dual performances as their base characters and the spirits who possess them, culminating in one of the most terrifying depictions of the afterlife ever put to screen.Talk To Meis an overall more accessible horror movie that paid A24 dividends at the box office.
Civil War
Civil War is a 2024 action thriller from writer and director Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, Civil War takes place in the near future and shows the United States entering a new Civil War after California and Texas attempt to separate from the country.
Finally allowing A24 to breach the annals of returns in the triple-million digits is amovie from Alex Garland, a previously successful A24 director that put out hits for the company likeEx Machina.The film takes place in an alternate history in whichthe United States has become engulfed in civil war once again, with a despotic federal government clashing with several new secessionist states. The action follows a team of wartime journalists who attempt to make a trip from New York to Washington, D.C. to interview the president before he’s possibly overthrown.
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In a modern age in which the United States seems more divided than ever, it’s no wonder thatCivil Warreceived so much attention. Besides the premise piquing the curiosity of many moviegoers, the acclaimed performances and grim vision for the future Garland presents drew critical commendation.Civil Warmight be so compelling because it feels startlingly possible.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu).
A24’s most successful movie to-date,Everything Everywhere All At Oncemore than earns both its critical accolades and its box office success. Thebrilliant and innovative martial arts science fiction moviefollows an older woman named Evelyn. Between her daughter wanting to come out to her traditional grandfather, her husband wanting a divorce, and the financial troubles of her business, Evelyn’s life isn’t going great. Things go from bad to bizarre when Evelyn is made privy to a multiversal war, thrown into the midst of absurd action.
Everything Everywhere All At Once(2022) has a 94% rating onRotten Tomatoes.
It’s a rare movie likeEverything Everywhere All At Oncethat can claim to truly “have it all”, from hilarious slapstick comedy to thrilling fist fights and genuinely devastating emotional bombs. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan both put in the performances of their career as the floundering married couple, helping the film to sweep the Academy Awards.An instant classic,Everything Everywhere All At OnceremainsA24’s crowning achievement.
