A romantic abortion comedy. A horror film about a walrus-man hybrid. A daring look at the chilling possibilities of artificial intelligence. A quirky comedy about an undead girlfriend. James Franco in cornrows and a grill.
If anything is to be said about A24 Films, the scrappy little studio behind many of 2015’s surprise hits, it’s that they don’t play it safe.
More similar to a startup than a major film distributor, A24 has taken Hollywood by storm in the past few years, not only consistently cranking out hits, but producing some of the industry’s favorite fresh faces.
The critically and commercially adored “Ex Machina” was a springboard for not one but three of this year’s breakout stars: Oscar Isaac, Domnhall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander.
Isaac in particular is an A24 favorite, and a case could be made that says he owes them his career thus far. His 2014 debut in “A Most Violent Year” gained him his first real critical acclaim and short-lived awards buzz. He also joins Garrett Hedlund in A24’s recently released “Mojave.”
Despite past critical success for films like “Under the Skin,” “Locke,” “Obvious Child” and “A Most Violent Year,” A24 enters the awards race for the first time this year.
Vikander’s “Ex Machina” performance earned her a Golden Globes nomination, and three A24 films — “Ex Machina,” “Amy,” and “Room” — earned the company a total of seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director. A24 breakout Brie Larson has been cleaning up for her performance in “Room” and is the favorite to take home the gold come Oscar night.
Other acclaimed 2015 films from A24 include “The End of the Tour,” starring Jason Segel in his dramatic debut as David Foster Wallace, surreal Western “Slow West,” starring Michael Fassbender and newcomer Kodi Smit-Mcphee and “Mississippi Grind,” with Ben Mendohlson and Ryan Reynolds.
Despite often earning small box office returns, A24’s percentage of critically adored films and performances is almost unprecedented.
So how do they do it? In recent years, mid-sized films have been surrendering the box office to major blockbusters. By purchasing provocative mid-size films from festivals and promoting them primarily via social media, A24 has developed a millennial audience that is the envy of many massive studios.
Their aggressive advertising helps cement their films as cultural phenomena, rather than mere entertainment.
It’s rare that cult films are seen as such within a decade of their release, but with fare like “Ex Machina,” “Under the Skin” and “Spring Breakers,” cult status is all but guaranteed upon release.
With all of their recent success, A24 shows no signs of slowing down or playing it safe. Purchases at the just-ended Sundance Film Festival included, most notably, Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe’s “Swiss Army Man,” in which Dano rides Radcliffe’s corpse across the ocean like a jet-ski, propelled by the latter’s posthumous flatulence.
Go ahead, read that sentence again. It won’t make any more sense upon review.
Other, less risky 2016 releases will include Sundance purchase “Morris from America” and the highly anticipated horror flick “The Witch.”
Apparently not content with their current meteoric ascent, A24 recently revealed that they plan to begin financing their own films and expanding into television.
Hopefully the expansion won’t damage their scrappy, daring brand — if A24 keeps this up, 2016 will be full of the same kind of strange, thrilling content. I, for one, can’t wait to see what they take a chance on next.
