The companys expansion into film is a natural progression as the company continues to produce scripted and non-scripted television as well as stand-up comedy specials. Rather than carpet-bomb the whole country with prohibitively expensive television ads, A24 partnered with a social marketing agency called theAudience in order to more precisely reach its target demographic. Login to view all information @ Hodges: I started my career at USA Films, which became Focus Features. Quite often you finish a film, he told me, youve had no contact with the distributor, you hand it to them, you get a quick look at the poster. Katz came from a film finance group, while Fenkel and Hodges both left positions at other independent film companies.
The Little Movie Studio That Could - The New York Times Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Many of the countrys most vital filmmakers, unwilling to accept that their next movie would have to be either shot on an iPhone or connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have begun to abandon ship. These films speak for themselves. Yes, Scream VI Marketing Is Behind the Creepy Ghostface Sightings Causing Scares Across the U.S. David Oyelowo, Taylor Sheridan's 'Bass Reeves' Series at Paramount+ Casts King Richard Star Demi Singleton (EXCLUSIVE), Star Trek: Discovery to End With Season 5, Paramount+ Pushes Premiere to 2024. The films backers will be made whole, its makers will get another chance at bat, and its distributors will continue to enjoy the financial solvency provided by the DirecTV dealnot to mention the $50 million line of credit the company secured last fall. But if it is, a monastic degree of focus will be required to recognize which A24 titles might fare better on VOD. That didnt come with any veto rights or cut rights, Abrahamson told me. This was not a first-look deal, meaning that A24 can continue to produce and acquire films to release outside of the deal, and that it would not affect previous deals that A24 had signed with other companies. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. And we still have a great relationship now. And when youre a loser, you think for a split second, Maybe they got it wrong. You dont watch something like Spring Breakers or Under the Skin without thinking: Where the hell did that come from? I dont think that switch in psychology is supposed to happen that dramatically, or that abruptly. The monster at the center of The Babadook is a personal demon, not a literal one. Katz: We broke the record that weekend. [6] The name "A24" was inspired by the Italian A24 motorway Katz was driving on when he decided to found the company; coincidentally, the motorway is also renowned in Italian film history as the setting of many small Abruzzan towns and rural landscapes employed in the films of neorealist and surrealist masters. And while they invited me into their headquarters to get a feel for the place and chat on background with the core team, they stressed that theyd prefer their movies to speak for themselves. Sacco: I show up at the airport. Focused on High Net Worth Policy holders where policy coverage exceeds $1 million. Moonlight is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor, but loses Best Picture to La La Landwait, what? Distribution: Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, USA. And that question is the birth of fandom. Eggers: People always want to do bigger and better the next time, you know? The company said he will exit to focus on "future opportunities," but did not clarify beyond that statement. It wasnt going to get lost in the shuffle. Love that movie. When it wasnt us. [14], In May 2015, A24 announced that it would start a television division and began producing the USA Network series Playing House, as well as working to develop a television series that would later become Comrade Detective, produced by Channing Tatum. Its trio of foundersDaniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges, whod known each other through years of work in New Yorks indie movie circuitrarely granted interviews. Its like, oh, this person has no idea what Moonlight is, and it just won Best Picture. Set in 1630s New England, a family is banished from their village and starts to unravel when their baby vanishes. More recently, it expanded from being an acquisitions-only distributor to producing home-grown fare as well as branching into TV. Anything in between is dead in the water. I think when movie companies get started, people want to define you immediately. The companys best known movies include Ex Machina, Room, The Witch, Amy and Moonlight, which won the 2016 Academy Award for best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali. Aizenberg: Yeah. Patrick Stewart (actor, Green Room): [The premiere of Green Room] was at the Toronto Film Festivals Midnight Madness. And we just hounded him. Their whole point was, We dont know this world. You were in the A24 offices. So when I saw that, I was like, Okay, those guys, they know what they are doing.. When I was explaining to people what I was doing, it felt like a political campaign. Aizenberg: That Oscar-nomination morning, I remember walking into the office that day, and I was like, Please, dear God, just let Amy and Brie get nominated. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. But youre like, Why didnt other people see that? I have no idea. Thats someone else. The films were darlingsincluding David Michds The Rover, starring Robert Pattinson; Denis Villeneuves Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal; and Jonathan Glazers Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johanssonand, by and large, box-office underperformers. Stay plugged in to the industry with our free newsletter. According to Ponsoldt, who recently became the companys first repeat filmmaker: A24 films run the gamut of genre and style, but they all seem to be incredibly specific, personal visions.. A mile and a half. So we ran there. And then we opened. In between, A24 went from being a tiny, disorganized room of eight or so people to being the place where big stars like Robert Pattinson and Scarlett Johansson go to make small, strange movies, and auteurs like Jonathan Glazer and Denis Villeneuve go to make deeply personal films unmolested by studio notes or clueless executives. Larson: I couldnt be more grateful for an experience that changed the course of my life and career immeasurably. The company, improbably, was based in New York, not Los Angeles. They rented some office space in Manhattan. 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. Kapadia: There were other films that had a lot more money in their campaign and were everywhere. I Was Like, Fuck Yeah!Barry Jenkins. Daniels like, Okay. The gross guysand hes like, All right. Information.
How A24 is Disrupting Hollywood | GQ Spring Breakers had a whole Oscar campaign: Consider This Shit.Zoe Beyer.
John Hodges - Entertainment Executive | Variety.com But I feel that the fact that it was their first filmthere was a lot of idealism around the process. Franco: I remember the South by Southwest festival, the screeningit was like a rock concert.
John Hodges - IMDb Its infamously irreverent official Twitter account, run by an employee named Zoe Beyer, is as likely to tweet about the Spice Girls or trash-talk Tom Cruise as it is to tweet about one of the companys own movies. The company said he will exit to focus on "future opportunities," but did not clarify beyond that statement.. Signed on as producer beginning with the second season. Fenkel: You dont know how to control yourself. The world opened itself up. And it satisfied something they werent getting.
A24 - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding No one had a voice. In the last 18 months alone,along with Room and The End of the Tour,it has pioneered the abortion comedy with Obvious Child, scored a commercial hit with the seductive thriller Ex Machina, released one of the most daring science fiction films this side of 2001 in Under the Skin, and driven the most lucrative documentary in years with Asif Kapadias Amy Winehouse portrait, Amy. And weve been so consistent about thanking them. But the back end was so crazy. [23], On March 26, 2018, co-founder John Hodges announced that he was exiting the company. 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.
Jax Media Taps A24 Co-Founder John Hodges as Head of New Film - Variety And it was the hair and makeup people. They had heart to them.Harmony Korine, Sacco: I wouldnt say I got it. Ali Herting (acquisitions and development, A24): We were never gonna get Place Beyond the Pines. A vital piece of work far too delicately perverse to have sustained a theatrical run, it was the ideal choice to launch the program. 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. Katz: Tusk, we were like, oh, Kevin Smith! Sacco: We probably saw 20 versions. Filmmakersoften the toughest audiences for their own films marketing campaignsrecognize the companys real excitement for their films. Steven Soderbergh retired. Spike Lee turned to Kickstarter. Judging by the fact that the trailer racked up more than 3 million views in its first week online, the crowds are ready with their pitchforks. We were planting seeds to grow. [Sofia] was like, Oh, will you at least partner with Harvey? We were like, No!. Theres aesthetic and political values to the people behind the company. Heading into production nearly a decade after the premiere of Jenkins only other feature (the excellent Medicine for Melancholy), the film has been waiting a long time for a company with the confidence required to finance it. His relationship with talent and creators is exceptional and we look forward to having him make Jax his new home.. . But its present success and continued survival are dependent on a massive deal that seems to directly contradict everything thats made the company so special. I was like, I think I need to find another job., Aizenberg: They were basically like, Dont release this movie.. I say, Dont go there. Because what happened was, someone ran out with a red envelope. John. And so anytime you speak with someone whos not a pure accountant, is not a pencil pusher? And I was ready to say: It was me! Subsequent DirectTV titles havent fared much better (in fact, most have fared much worse), and it soon became clear that these early acquisitions were the unloved stepchildren of the A24 family. In 2021, A24 won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-jung Youn in Minari, who became the first Korean actress to win an Oscar). What are you working on? [29][30], "A24 Films" redirects here. Animated photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker.
A24, which was founded in 2012, said that no additional changes in management will be made. And the guy asked me, Is there anything we might find suspicious in there? I said, Theres an art piece inside in the shape of a gun. And literally the entire security department was like, What is wrong with you? Long story short, it made it through. Saulnier expertly contains conflict, depth and gore within small confines. Uncut Gems ($50 million). From It Follows to The Babadook, these horror gems didnt have blockbuster budgets. On the most literal level, an A24 film is budgeted from anywhere between $1 million (Obvious Child) and $20 million (A Most Violent Year). So whos to say that, you know, A24 wont become Warner Brothers five years from now? In 2012, Fenkel, Hodges, and Katz left their jobsat Oscilloscope, Big Beach, and Guggenheim Partners, respectivelyto start A24. Sacco: And people on planet Earth, you know, they go see movies that they need to want to see or hear about. We get credit for it even when we have nothing to do with it. John Hodges. A24 Apr 2012 - May 20186 years 2 months Head of Production and Development Big Beach Films 2008 - 20124 years Greater New York City Area Development and Production Executive Michaels Goldwyn. Essie Davis is insanely good as a single mother on the brink of a mental breakdown as she attempts to care for her troubled young son. And she said it sucked. 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. 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.. 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. Thats very unusual. I dunno! I mean, it made sense at the time. They kept shutting us down. By surgically inserting each release into the zeitgeist, it has paved a new road for provocative, modestly sized cinema, bridging the gap between microbudget indies and monolithic studio products in much the same way Italys Autostrada A24 connects Rome to Teramo. I am incredibly proud of the company we created and of the amazing team at A24 that has been integral to its success. The tech titan is reportedly in the midst of dropping $1 billion on original content, but has yet to make a major film market move. Aizenberg: There was a week in January where we dropped the trailer of Spring Breakers. John Hodges is leaving A24, the Oscar-winning indie studio that he co-founded. The latest is Hereditary, the debut film of Ari Aster that premiered at Sundance and is quickly earning a reputation as one of the scariest movies ever. The company said he will exit to focus on future opportunities, but did not clarify beyond that statement.
(He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actor). A24s television division released The Carmichael Show.. All Rights Reserved. Deploying for Major CAT Events, tornadoes . Garland: Under the Skin is exactly the kind of movie that you would not see distributed by a major studio. John has been a trusted partner who helped conceive A24 and for that we will always be grateful, noted A24 in a statement. [11][12], In September 2013, A24 entered a $40 million deal with DirecTV Cinema, where DirecTV Cinema would offer day-and-date releases 30 days prior to a theatrical release by A24; Enemy was the first film to be distributed under the deal. 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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. This is Rudin. 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. Wouldnt call us back. 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. BREAKING: John Hodges, one of the founding members of A24, has announced his departure from the production and distribution studio to focus on future opportunities. 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. Everybody was talking a few years ago how cinema had died. The Oscar-nominated actor gives us his all-time favorites of film. 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.. A24 founding partner John Hodges announced that he will be leaving the indie studio that he helped launch nearly six years ago, the company announced Monday. In 2017,[4] Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture (the first such award for the company), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali). A24 went on a spending spree and released 11 movies in their second year of operation. Did Moonlight just win Best Picture?. This is before Wolf of Wall Street came out, but Margot Robbie, I didnt know her, but she was working with somebody that knew my costumer or something, and got in touch with me and was like, Can you print me a photo of the tattoos in detail, so that I can get this costume perfectly? Because she was fucking Alien that year. Aizenberg: I was at the Q&As at the ArcLight [in Los Angeles], and I remember taking a picture of the screen, and then all of a sudden it was like every screen at the ArcLight: Spring Breakers, Spring Breakers, Spring Breakers. We want to go two thousand screens. They didnt have a ton of movies, you know? Ainzenberg: I remember I went and had to meet with Selena Gomezs team to prove that we were real people and we were gonna be legitimate in releasing the film. But A24 has the money to acquire a steady slate of releases, the model to support them, and the chutzpah to make nearly each one into a mini-phenomenon. Aizenberg: When I came to A24, they had Charles Swan already. I found it so deep in Google Image searches. Talk me through it. It was a perfectly good jet! With Hodges leaving, the. I think when we started [2016], it was another, like, what Id consider a building year. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them. When I saw Robert Eggers The Witch at that same festival, I stumbled out of the 9 a.m. press screening convinced that I had just seen a masterpiece. And it was like a snowy and rainy day, and there was a ton of traffic. And The Place Beyond the Pines. If after seeing it you have a renewed taste for fright, here are nine other recent horror gems that use their modest scale to their advantage. But youre in a tuxedo and everyone around you is older and theyre quiet Jenkins: It sucks, man, because of how it happened, none of us thanked them! I dont mean it that way. Its such a really fucking well-executed movie.
That was where I learned what Tinder was. Fenkel: We knew we were releasing the movie. Since then his contributions to growing the company have been invaluable and we cant wait to see what he does next., Added Hodges, I am incredibly proud of the company we created and of the amazing team at A24 that has been integral to its success. I remember the thing that got him was like, Listen. They became better known after picking up the U.S. rights to Ex Machina and Room, and worldwide rights to The Witch, growing substantially since then. That company and the old Miramax and Fox Searchlight had a real brand and a hold on their audience. He later left A24 on March 2018 to focus on future opportunities. A24s initial funding came via an infusion of capital from Guggenheim Partners, the investment firm at which Katz previously oversaw film financing. Franco: All the distributors knew it was great. But as A24 initiates the second phase of its existence, a transition that includes financing its own films and branching out into television, the companys exponential growth may find it becoming part of the problem it had once seemed destined to solve.
Profile of the independent film distributor A24, the company behind And in that moment I was like: Now its time to go do this. (For context, the Spring Breakers Facebook page has 1.1 million likes, while that for Fox Searchlights Best Picture-winning Birdman has only 289,000.) A24 was founded on August 20, 2012, by film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges. 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. NetWorthSpot.com's industry expertise thinks A24's net worth at $1.89 million, but A24's finalized net worth is still being verified. That was 2013. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Greetings From the Vortex of Unpredictability, Robert Pattinson singing Keri Hilsons Pretty Girl Rock.
There are more glamorous things to be, in Hollywood, than an independent distribution company.
Johnny Hodges Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family 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. Trey Edward Schultz's moody, atmospheric thriller plays on our country's present division and how mistrust in others can come back to harm us. Jon Hodges CEO at Evergreen North America Industrial Services League City, Texas, United States 2K followers 500+ connections Join to connect Evergreen industrial services and GEM mobile. With how bad it tested. We sit in. So everything had to be explained to me, and by the time it was explained, it was over. So I think they were hoping, and discovering, that they might be able to do that with The Witch. Hes not gonna be able to do this right now. Our first release. 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. Beyer: It was all about this tension between, like, trying to legitimize ourselves as a real company that can handle working with, like, big. But more independent existed then. Aizenberg: Remember he didnt show up to the premiere? A24 co-founder John Hodges is exiting the indie companyto focus on future opportunities, he and the company jointly announced on Monday. For instance, an actress. Theres music labels I can think of as well. Some dissatisfied customers later accused the marketing campaign of misrepresenting the movie as a fun adolescent romp. Moonlight we hadnt seen yet. Theyre on the tarmac, and were having to find a new jet for them within twenty minutes. Igoe: That morning was crazy. Correction, Sept. 30, 2015:This article originally contained a photo of John Hodges, a film producer, rather than John Hodges, co-founder of A24. I think he would say something now. [15], In January 2016, Sasha Lloyd joined the company to handle all film, television distribution and business development in the international marketplace. Theyre just on it. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Usually you talk to somebody and they tell you all the reasons they shouldnt make something, and why its so difficult. Fenkel: We test-screened [Spring Breakers] in downtown Manhattan. PARK CITY, Utah At the Sundance Film Festival here in January, executives at A24, the upstart movie and television studio, stood in the back of a makeshift theater looking as if . And you could tell that it was in their reach. Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges have unveiled New York-based A24 as a distribution, financing and production company with plans to release eight to 10 titles annually. John Hodges will be leaving A24 to pursue other opportunities, the indie distributor announced Monday. Kleiner: They had the movie, I want to say, 22, 23 weeks in theatrical release? ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE|SUBSCRIBE|CONTACT. Were gonna get there on time. An A24 project is far more likely to be female-driven than a film released by another company, and it is typically directed by a major filmmaker (Sally Potter, Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach) or a filmmaker on the cusp of becoming one (J.C. Chandor, James Ponsoldt). We were about to have two movies [Ex Machina and While Were Young] with him. When your business model is predicated on treating each movie like an event, how do you get bigger without changing who you are? We saw the red envelope. The optimistic way to view this situation is that A24 is getting much better at buying good movies for its DirecTV deal, rather than filler like Barely Lethal. [17] In April, the company acquired all foreign rights to Swiss Army Man, distributing the film in all territories, and partnering with distributors who previously acquired rights to the film, a first for the company. Fenkel: And then I started saying, No way. All three had grown up admiring the rich world of 90s independent cinema, and they noticed a void where those movies had once been. I felt like there was a huge opportunity to create something where the talented people could be talented. 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. Earlier this year I was drinking in a hotel bar with the head of another distribution company at a film festival. Youre incredible. I think we lost control. Hollywood is run by accountants at this point. When the film comes out in early 2016, it will arrive exclusively in theaters, and its trial by fire will be exclusively in theaters. Its exciting. In September 2013, A24 struck a partnership valued up to $40 millionwith satellite television provider DirecTV. Villeneuve: If my memorys good, I was amongst their, not their first movies, but they were a young company at the time. The division of labor is clear, but there arent any titles for the companys employees, who all work elbow to elbow in a single room. 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). Other similarly sized outfits tend to flood the flooded marketplace with a steady barrage of quality independent and foreign fare in a way that can feel indiscriminate: Send the DCPs to Film Forum and let God sort em out. They came on strong in the late 90s, really. The question with any company that lavishes attention and resources upon a modest amount of product is, of course, where does the money come from?