How A24 Will Save Cinema, and Why It's Ultimately Doomed

The independent film production and distribution company has changed the game, but challenges lie ahead.

May 07, 2024

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As usual, the biggest challenge as a creator has been the consistency. There’s no shortage of ideas, just… life gets in the way. Yes, even when not working a 9-5. Finding the time to sit down and focus for a couple hours is much harder than I thought in this phase of life.

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📰 Top Stories tl;dr

News Industry Divides Over AI
- Dotdash Meredith, a prominent digital publisher in the U.S., has entered into a partnership with OpenAI, marking the first time a major publisher, primarily focused on search traffic, has engaged with an AI firm.
- What it means: This deal could influence how other publishers, especially those reliant on search traffic, approach negotiations with AI companies in the future. Others like the New York Times have famously sued OpenAI for illegal use of their content.
Introducing Substack Creator Studio, a fellowship for the next wave of video stars
- The platform I use to make this newsletter is offering support and promotion to help video creators transition their TikTok channels into Substack shows, aiming to provide monetization through subscriptions.
- What it means: This is a hot topic among people who use this platform because it’s mostly antithetical to their original mission, but every growth company goes through this. Other platforms smell blood in the water with TikTok’s ban likely, and they’re moving in to grab a share of power users.
Helping Creators Find New Audiences (Instagram)
- Instagram is introducing changes to its content ranking and recommendations to give smaller, original content creators a more equal chance of reaching new audiences, and removing content aggregators from recommendations.
- What it means: Much was made of this news when it came out. The truth is, this has been done to some extent since I was at Facebook in 2014. I think concern over this was overblown. Original content rules will protect the top creators, but not the “little guys” as they imply. Meanwhile, aggregators will always have their place because of how frequently their posts are shared.

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A couple weeks ago, my buddy and I went to see a movie in theaters. It was just my second in-theater viewing since 2019. The film we went to see? A24’s Civil War.

Even before the added concern of COVID, I was already trending toward swearing off the theater altogether. The ever-inflating cost of a visit aside, the crowd chatter, the people kicking your seat, or coughing and sneezing—it’s enough to take an anxious person’s mind out of the experience entirely. But here, at this brand-new, state-of-the-art AMC theater, nostalgia was seizing all my senses and reminding me what I’d missed; the smell of fresh popcorn and Red Vines, the sound of several different movies playing out as you walk down the hall to your theater, the sight of endless trailers before the feature presentation. It was enough to remind me why I loved going to the movies as a kid, when it was one of the only things you could do with friends. It was a highlight of every summer.

These days, not even the blockbusters could bring me back to the cinema, but what got me off the couch and out the door, besides good company, was an original story with a unique perspective. Civil War, I figured, would have something interesting to contribute to the political conversation given that it’s made by Alex Garland, an English screenwriter and director. If nothing else, I trust A24.

Maybe the name of the independent entertainment company won’t ring a bell for everyone, but it’s a safe bet that you’ve seen something the company has produced in recent years: Everything Everywhere All At Once (2023 Best Picture), Uncut Gems, Lady Bird, Moonlight (2017 Best Picture), Midsommar, Ex Machina. Then there’s TV shows they’ve produced like Euphoria, Beef, Ramy, and The Curse to name a few. A24’s claim to fame is being auteur driven and repeatedly banking high-grossing films uncharacteristic of indie productions. They’ve gained such a massive following of cinephiles that they even ventured into selling merch. Merch for a movie studio…

Civil War was good, not great. At least I didn’t regret going to see it. And I’m not the only one who showed up early to see it—Civil War had the biggest R-rated opening of the year so far.

So, how did A24 become such a trusted name for someone like me who is counting on their rare movie-theater-ticket purchase being worthwhile?

A Savior from Sequels

The trailers before our movie started were as follows: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Twisters, A Quiet Place: Day One, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. I was already thinking what my friend turned to me and said: “Not one new story.” The next trailer caught my attention though. It was for I Saw The TV Glow by A24.

Open up Letterboxd and browse the most anticipated movies and you’ll see more of the same. Movie watchers are drowning in sequels, prequels, reboots, and spin-offs. In the movie industry, creating franchises is the goal, and IP is like gold. Make no mistake, consumers essentially signed off on this by going out in droves to see every part of the MCU when it first began with 2008’s Iron Man, but studios have milked this bit for all it’s worth. Finally we’re awakening to the harsh reality of being fed the same stories over and over again and we’re refusing to pay for it, as evidenced in some of the recent superhero films’ flops.

The entire industry zigged at the same time, but A24 zagged. They now stand as a beacon of original storytelling specifically because they have not gone the easy route of chasing what’s worked for them in the past.

Originality is why I first fell in love with Disney movies as a kid. They had the best stories, and they made my imagination soar. When Disney ventured into some form of a sequel, it was always a straight-to-video release. They knew the final product was half-assed, but it served as a simple cash grab for them and a layup for any parent looking to appease their Lion King or Little Mermaid obsessed tike with fresh content. They were a win-win, and Disney didn’t try to pawn them off as legitimate. That changed when they started going hard into the Toy Story franchise, creating live-action remakes of their animated classics, and bringing their elaborate roadmap for the MCU to life. We were made to believe that whether it was Frozen 3, Ant Man 3, or Cruella, the quality wouldn’t slip. Only, it did, and the entire product was diluted as a result.

To this point, A24 has avoided the slippery slope of sequels, though one is planned for Talk to Me. This fact gives consumers confidence that what they will see with any A24 film is unlike anything they’ve seen before. Not just because A24 partners with visionary directors, but also because they manage to get the most out of their actors.

Originality That Permeates Performances

It’s a rare feat these days for a movie to find success with lesser-known actors. Frequently, we’re told how the likes of Disney won’t produce a movie without first securing a big name actor or two to star in it. Whereas I once called Ryan Reynolds and Gosling my favorite actors, now I’ve reached a level of fatigue with their omnipresence. I used to find excitement in a movie creating a star, but there seems to be little opportunity for that in 2024.

A24 has largely bucked that trend, introducing the world to new stars but also reinventing the personas of familiar ones. The indie studio has empowered the likes of Adam Sandler, Brendan Fraser, Brie Larson, and Kirsten Dunst to do some of their best work, subverting expectations, breaking typecasting, and giving standout performances that jolt audiences into attention.

Although I just named four white actors, in theory, this change is good for diversity in casting. As consumers hard pivot to reject recycled IP and the 10th iteration of a franchise, they signal a craving for novelty: new ideas, new perspectives, new faces. A24 has been delivering on all of this since before the pandemic, and I think it has the best shot at stopping the decay of theaters and bringing people back before the big screen—that is, if they can maintain their focus on quality content above all else.

A24 Before the Storm

In March, 2022, A24 secured a $225 million equity investment. Although two years have passed since then, time will tell if the studio can assuage the pressure that comes with such investments. Time and time again, media companies have earned funding only to face a growth-at-all-costs mentality from their investors looking to double their money. This often manifests in the form of a push for quantity over quality, only producing “bankable” films with proven stars in familiar roles, proven IP, or big-budget spectacles that give away the entire plot in a 3-minute trailer.

Why don’t I have faith in the future of films? Greed. Just like any news or media outlet could tell you, these companies always start out with the best intentions, but along the way creativity ceases to be the top-line KPI. Welcome to business in a capitalistic society.

A24 is a lot like The Athletic for movies. It started out with a focus on talented creators delivering original stories that you can’t get anywhere else. Financial investments in the work are great, but they also come with expectations that the people who run these companies are measured against. Can A24 deliver? Or will they lose the plot? Will they take the massive goodwill they’ve earned from critics and movie buffs alike in recent years and build a legacy like Disney’s, or will it all disappear in an attempt to be the next big-budget studio?

Unfortunately, I think we’ve seen this movie before.