It was crazy. All rights reserved. Filmmakersoften the toughest audiences for their own films marketing campaignsrecognize the companys real excitement for their films. In September 2013, A24 struck a partnership valued up to $40 millionwith satellite television provider DirecTV. Since then, A24's success has been immeasurable, especially for an independent Production company founded the same year The Avengers came out. And you could tell that it was in their reach. It was like being in some kind of arena. Barry Jenkins (director, Moonlight): A24s the kind of company where they say, Yeah, they dont need to know what its about. Theres aesthetic and political values to the people behind the company. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. But youre like, Why didnt other people see that? I have no idea. (Joy, Annapurnas only 2015 title, arrives in theaters on Christmas Day.). Starting off moderately in 2013 with A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, the company's growth started with the release of Spring Breakers later that year. Likewise, A24 loves Sundance acquisition Mississippi Grind, a tremendously appealing riff on Robert Altmans California Split that co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn as compulsive gamblers on a road trip to nowhere. But the back end was so crazy. Katz: There was still, I think, the element ofthey thought we got lucky. Art and Experience : John Hodges is leaving A24, the Oscar-winning indie studio that he co-founded. You get a movie with them and it represents something. Igoe: That morning was crazy. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, Sundance, SXSW Comedy 'Never Goin' Back' Sells to A24. For the company's filmography, see, 20142017: Television and later productions, 2018present: Management changes, partnerships. Its super inspiring. Katz, Fenkel and Hodges all got together in 2012 and decided to make their late night yammerings a reality. [10] The company's first theatrical release was Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, which had a limited release. I dont think it was related to her professional career. Next year theyll re-team with While Were Young director Noah Baumbach on his brilliant doc about Brian De Palma, distribute one of the best horror films since The Shining, and release the first of the films theyve financed themselves. Were good. On the most literal level, an A24 film is budgeted from anywhere between $1 million (Obvious Child) and $20 million (A Most Violent Year). Its funny. Zach Baron is GQs staff writer. The world opened itself up. And it satisfied something they werent getting. So, how much is Johnny Hodges . Daniel Radcliffe (actor, Swiss Army Man): Ive had experiences on films in the past where they get bought by somebody who sees something in it that they like, which is nice, but it also happens to be notand is sometimes antithetical towhat the people who made the film wanted it to be. Sacco: Its sobering and motivating in a different way. As one of the founding members of the New York-based company, Hodges played a key role. For a truly great film like this, being excluded from the conversation into which A24 works so hard to insinuate its main slate can feel like a fate worse than Harvey Weinstein. Beyer: And respect them and treat them the way they would by any other company. I felt like we were all on the same team. I remember when all the commotion started, I look at David. You look at the underdog story, I think thats not by accident. John Hodges (co-founder and co-head of TV, A24): It was one of those conversations where it was always like, How would we do it differently? And it was usually fueled by beer and things scribbled down on napkins and a lot of bravado. Like, there was one that was like the shotit was [Francos character] Alien with the two girls, and hes holding machine guns or something. All rights reserved. In 2013, A24 released their first five films: Sally Potters Ginger & Rosa, Harmony Korines Spring Breakers, Sofia Coppolas The Bling Ring, James Ponsoldts The Spectacular Now, and Roman Coppolas A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, starring Charlie Sheen. It wasnt going to get lost in the shuffle. We tried to get the Union Square movie theaterwe didnt have a theatrical booking yet. Activity. And I think A24 and companies like that areyou know, people want to go to the cinema. 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Rowling More Grace and Listen to Her, Britain's $4 Billion Boss: ITV Chief Carolyn McCall Bets It All on Talent, 2023 Music Festivals: How to Buy Tickets to Coachella, Governors Ball, Lollapalooza and More. raised the Oscar at them. Youre incredible. The filmmakers were like, I made a good movie. You know what? You want to have a grown-up conversation about the best way to get your work to the people who would spend money to see it, Abrahamson concludes. Fenkel: And we had a booker at the time, this big old school guy, gentle giant, hes a sweet guy, but kind of a gangster, but levels of, like, cool gangster. Sasha Lane (actress, American Honey): They were like, You guys are who you are and were not going to change that. No one had to be perfected for anything. Whatever lingering reservations I had about the VOD side of A24s business were dismantled by the recent rumblings of a demonically possessed goat: The DirecTV logo may still be lurking toward the bottom of The Witchs teaser poster (which accurately identifies and champions Black Phillip as the movies breakout star), but at some point along the way it was decided that this crowd-pleasing, pants-ruining work of art has the makings of a communal sensation, and A24 pivoted. Everybody wants to be A24. And suddenly its all over, and you think, Of all people, I knew the most about my film, so why was I was on the periphery of its release? But working closely with A24 throughout Rooms pre-release has altered his philosophy on film marketing: I used to think that the publicity process was both morally questionable and smoke and mirrors, that it was one of those invented jobs. In the last few years, there have been a spate ofindie horror films that have broken into the mainstream. Jenkins: I just would never allow myself to believe that something I made could win Best Picture. Beyer: It was all about this tension between, like, trying to legitimize ourselves as a real company that can handle working with, like, big. You know, theyre big-time. And I think that really helped the movie.
Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. a24 john hodges net worth. Like Get Out, or Baby Driver. we don't have a good idea of their yearly revenue either as the most recent stats were from 2012 estimating around $20 million, but that wasn't putting into account pure profit only the overall gross of all the films released that year. They had heart to them. James Franco (actor, Spring Breakers, The Adderall Diaries): This is one of the things theyre great at: taking something small and delicate and giving it the kind of support that other people cant. Katz: Tusk, we were like, oh, Kevin Smith! Well handle it! And if it works, its them; if it doesnt work, its all your fault anyway. Harmony Korine (director, Spring Breakers): They have balls. Heavey: He didnt really use a computer. If the companys success continues apace, it might not be long before a profitable mid-budget movie no longer seems like a unicorn, and it might not be much longer until being an A24 film is the only hook a film needs. Please! James Ponsoldt (director, The Spectacular Now, The End of the Tour): Ive heard people refer to Miramax. Aizenberg: I was already, like, putting together the distribution plans for Frances Ha. Focused on High Net Worth Policy holders where policy coverage exceeds $1 million. And then there was another one where hes deep-throating the gun, and we replaced it with a gold statue. All Rights Reserved. Beyer: I think the operating principle was, Dont ask for permission. And integral and critical for the film to rise on its own feet. New York, no one gives a shit. When an A24 acquisitions exec pitched the story to me, excitedly laying out the plot in broad but heartbreaking strokes, he asked if it sounded like an A24 film. Fenkel: And we did this, like, illegal Tinder stuff. NetWorthSpot.com's industry expertise thinks A24's net worth at $1.89 million, but A24's finalized net worth is still being verified. Lets do Kevin Smith horror! Thats completely nuts. You walk through that office, and there arent a lot of people that look like theyre from Liberty City, Miami. Contrast that with its embrace of every grimy detail of demented dubstep nightmare Spring Breakers, for which the company went so far as to mount a sincere consider this sh*t awards campaign for James Franco. Dave Franco & Alison Brie Take a Couples Quiz, Heres a First Look at Daniel Lees Burberry, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez Are Shaping NASCAR's Future, Inside Daniel Lee's Burberry Debut, London Fashion Week's Biggest Show. Katz: I always had dreams of [starting a company]. Nathan (Oscar Isaac) and Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno). The company may be a lovely acquisition target for a buyer seeking an arthouse pipeline,but A24 is still building itself as a brand one that is synonymous with quality. All three had grown up admiring the rich world of 90s independent cinema, and they noticed a void where those movies had once been. Its exciting. Eddie Guy. It was like Broadcast News. Fenkel: And then I started saying, No way. Larson: I couldnt be more grateful for an experience that changed the course of my life and career immeasurably. So it was strange, if you were a moviegoer in 2013, to see the A24 logo pop up again and again before movies as varied and weird as Harmony Korines Spring Breakers and Sofia Coppolas The Bling Ring, James Ponsoldts The Spectacular Now and Roman Coppolas A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III. Starring Splits Anya Taylor-Joy, Robert Eggers creates a world devoid of God in this thunderous and bleak religious melodrama. John Hodges. Our site's data suggests A24's net worth to be about $1.89 million. No way., Katz: It was just like, Wait. You know more than me.. That was just acting! It was not like being in a cinema. Her film The Invitation" plays on agitation and insecurities between a group of old friends and some suspicious strangers at a lavish dinner party. The first: Barry Jenkins Moonlight, which chronicles a gay mans coming of age across three stages of his life in war on drugsera Miami. A24 knew that Slow West was great well before it premiered to rave reviews, but the company also recognized that it was an odd duck, neither broad enough to be a prestige picture nor strange enough to galvanize a legion of fans. Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Katz: We broke the record that weekend. Other 2013 theatrical releases included Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, and James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now. Katz came from a film finance group, while Fenkel and Hodges both left positions at other independent film companies. I think that was Nicolette, actually: Consider This Shit.. Johansson plays something between an android and alien symbiote who seduces men in order to envelop them in a dark, infinite pool of nothingness. Really?
A24 Co-Founder John Hodges Exits - Variety At the time of my visit, however, A24 still looked more like a startup than a movie studio, and you could find the countrys fastest-growing film companys actual HQ only by following the flimsy paper signs that had been taped up along the 17th-floor hallway outside its headquarters. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. That was a thing. It specializes in film distribution, and film and television production. Theyre on the tarmac, and were having to find a new jet for them within twenty minutes. Coppola: I was a little nervous about not going with a company that I knew had a track record, but I knew that they were going to really do their best. It was another way of getting the message out there. When I arrived at A24s office, in an anonymous building so close to the western lip of lower Manhattan that it can practically taste New Jersey, my fears that the company might be growing too fast werent exactly assuaged by learning that within weeks it was moving to an enormous office closer to midtown. Garland: I would say that if Ex Machina had been distributed by a big studiothis isnt actually a criticism of studios; its actually just a statement of factthe film would not have been remotely as well received or successful as it was. Sacco: And people on planet Earth, you know, they go see movies that they need to want to see or hear about. Eggers: In the very beginning, when we went to Sundance initially, I didnt think that this was going to have such a large audience. Fenkel: It actually went very well, for what the movie was. Hodges, who previously served as head of production at the indie production company Big Beach (Little Miss Sunshine), did not announce any immediate career plans. Film-distribution companies tend to be important but invisible: They buy finished films, cut trailers, make posters, and put movies into movie theatersor, more often these days, dump them onto VOD, never to be heard from again. Were always cognizant of trying to sell the film by not selling it, said marketing exec Jesse Patrone-Werdiger, speaking to A24s rare faculty for promoting around the product its trying to push, shifting the tectonic plates of culture in the hopes of giving rise to a mountain. Please, just let those two!. And I was with a bunch of friends, and we were in the south of Italy, and we were driving into Rome and I kind of had this moment of clarity. For a medium-size film to succeed without a marketing blitz twice the size of its production budget, its not enough for it to be goodit has to have a hook. Films distributed by A24 ended up getting nominated for seven Academy Awards that year, including Best Picture (Room), Actress (Brie Larson), Documentary (Amy), and Original Screenplay (Ex Machina). Thats the chief message of an A24 campaign, really, from elegant design to sharp social media to clever co-branding choices: This is a company that gets it.
A24 Co-Founder John Hodges Exits - Yahoo Jeanie Igoe (production, A24): None of us really knew what we were doing. A24 typically pays a bit more for these movies than it does the ones the it buys itself, andlike most VOD content providersit doesnt make its grosses public. Hes not gonna be able to do this right now. Our first release. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Without the same star power or effects as your typical studio horror film, these scary movies rely on mood, style and character to create a feeling of dread, rather than jump scares.
A24 Net Worth & Earnings (2023) Profile of the independent film distributor A24, the company behind But A24, it became clear when I spoke to the companys employees, saw Spring Breakers as a Trojan horse for progressive cinemathe company less concerned about the nine kids who found the film too weird than they were the one kid who went home and rented Gummo. It was our first Sundance all together. The indies can be liquid and fluid. A24 may be growing fast, but no one has displayed greater agility in navigating the waters of a business that constantly seems to be changing course. His relationship with talent and creators is exceptional and we look forward to having him make Jax his new home.. Steven Spielberg publicly predicted the implosion of the film industry, which is sort of like God telling you to brace for rain. It is currently unknown if this slate of films will have a theatrical release or be exclusive to Apple's Apple TV+ streaming service. At the same time, we get a call saying that Selena and Ashley [Benson], their hair and makeup team hadnt gone on the private jet we had got for them, because they didnt think it was big enough or secure enough. Fenkel: I stare straight ahead. Fenkel: Id love to say from the first cut we knew. And theyre aiming at them. And I think it is down to companies like A24.
Apple Not Buying A24, but Silicon Valley Increasingly - IndieWire Sofia Coppola (director, The Bling Ring): I really like those guys. But I feel that the fact that it was their first filmthere was a lot of idealism around the process. He was calling me. And The Place Beyond the Pines. Over the past six years I have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of talented storytellers across film and TV and look forward to continuing those collaborations in my future endeavors.. As of April 2022[update], twenty-seven episodes had been released. Its true that most audiences may not care about who it is thats releasing the movies they see, but an A24 film demands even casual viewers to consider the source. (He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actor). It wasnt just that, for a new distribution company, it seemed to have a level of taste and an instinct for cool that is atypical in Hollywood. Fenkel: And the Spring Breakers trailer dropped the first day of Sundance, and MTVs servers fucked up, because we gave them the exclusive, and they stopped serving the video. The Bling Ring provoked Emma Watson to cast off the shadow of Hermione Granger and step into the pink Juicy Couture sweatpants of a spoiled teen criminal in contemporary Hollywood. And so with [The Rover], they took that into account, and instead of blowing loads of money, [they did] more targeted marketing and also really sophisticated online campaigns and stuff.