We just had to catch up to that idea. Katz: We get there. The Rover found a mentally deficient Robert Pattinson singing Keri Hilsons Pretty Girl Rock in the deserts of post-apocalyptic Australia. He booked the theaters over the phone. 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. The news of Hodges exit was abrupt, but one source said the move has been in the works for some time. Its like, oh, this person has no idea what Moonlight is, and it just won Best Picture. That was a thing. Please! 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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. you never leave your partner especially in a fire villas san angel rosarito a24 john hodges net worth. 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. So whos to say that, you know, A24 wont become Warner Brothers five years from now? We wish Hodges the best of luck with his next endeavor, since the indie landscape has certainly benefited from his contributions. Katz: I dont think we had The Bling Ring yet. Katz: We have a better relationship with him now. (Blindsided teens, many of whom had been intrigued at the thought of seeing former Disney star Selena Gomez in a more mature performance, assailed the Internet with complaints that they had paid to see the Worst Movie Ever Made.) Its a film about guilt that forever haunts you and the fear of being watched. They just seem like theyre the first company thats really abandoned a lot of the old models. (Joy, Annapurnas only 2015 title, arrives in theaters on Christmas Day.). I dont think it was related to her professional career. 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.. Its not remarkable that A24 had set such a goalits remarkable that the company is accomplishing it. From It Follows to The Babadook, these horror gems didnt have blockbuster budgets. So I just called the guy. Take the fate of John Macleans Slow West, one of the years best films, a neo-Western starring Michael Fassbender as a bounty hunter. Fenkel: Charlie Sheen was in this interesting place where maybe he was on the verge of a comeback, and Im saying that with a straight face. 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. Theyre on the tarmac, and were having to find a new jet for them within twenty minutes. With Hodges leaving, the. a24. Agent. Anything in between is dead in the water. Other indie labels, like Megan Ellisons Annapurna Pictures (which co-produced Spring Breakers), tend to go in the other direction, releasing a minuscule handful of movies into the currents of Oscar season in the hopes that the waters will carry them toward a crowd. It was a perfectly good jet! They just need to know how it feels.. 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. So long as A24 continues tooperate independently and make edgy films from newcomers and established veterans alike, Ill be a happy moviegoer. [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. @ After a brief flurry of acquisitions gossip, and Monday's announcement that A24 co-founder John Hodges will exit the company, A24 and/or Apple "insiders" let it be known that Apple wasn't. Im dying. Starring Kate Berlant + John Early, "A24 Open Doors For Film Production, Finance, And Production - Movie City News", "The rise and rise of A24, a champion of storytelling on screen", "A24 Teams With Plan B & Adele Romanski To Produce And Finance Barry Jenkins', "A24 Tops All Other Single Movie Studios With 18 Oscar Nominations, Taking a Victory Lap 10 Years in the Making", "Hollywood, Disrupted: Inside the Scrappy Film Company that Made "Moonlight" and "The Witch", "Upstart Distributor A24 Is Making Indie Films Exciting Again", "Nicolette Aizenberg Joins A24 As Head Of Publicity", "A24: the brains behind 'The Bling Ring' zing", "Amazon Prime, A24 Announce Exclusive Multi-Year Streaming Deal", "Sasha Lloyd Takes Top International Post At A24", "A24 Says It Will Boost Film And TV Operations With Raise in Bank Credit Line", "A24 To Handle 'Swiss Army Man' Global Release In Company's First World Rights Move; New U.S. Release Date Update", "A24, Oscilliscope, Honora Join New BitTorrent Now Program", "A24 Lands Sundance Film 'Menashe;' First Foreign Language Film For 'Moonlight' Distributor", "The A24 Podcast by A24 on Apple Podcasts", "A24 Founder John Hodges To Part Ways With The Company", "Apple Taps A24 to Produce Slate of Films", "Showtime Networks Inks Output Film Deal With A24", "Indie Film and TV Studio A24 Explored Sale With $3 Billion Asking Price (EXCLUSIVE)", "The Highest Grossing A24 Movies Of All Time", "Netflix Wins A24 Series Package 'Beef' With 'Minari' Oscar Nominee Steven Yeun & Ali Wong From Creator Lee Sung Jin", "A24 Checks in to VivziePop's Hellish 'Hazbin Hotel', "check in at hazbinhotel.com #hazbinhotel", "Suzanna Son Joins The Weeknd & Lily-Rose Depp In 'The Idol' As HBO Hands Music Industry Drama Series Order", "Ramy Youssef Amazon Animated Series Sets Main Cast, Including Alia Shawkat, Mandy Moore, Chris Redd (EXCLUSIVE)", "Jodie Comer To Star In Series Adaptation Of Jen Beagin's Sex Therapy Novel 'Big Swiss' For HBO From A24 & Adam McKay's Hyperobject Industries", "Janelle Mone To Star As Icon Josephine Baker In A24 Series 'De La Resistance'; Streamers In The Hunt For Buzz Package", "Emma Stone's Fruit Tree, A24 to Develop 'Flicker in the Dark' Series at HBO Max (EXCLUSIVE)", "A24 Boards Shane Meadows' BBC Drama 'The Gallows Pole,' George MacKay Among Cast", "A24 Teams With Judith Godrche And ARTE For TV Comedy Series 'Icon of French Cinema', "Amazon Pilots Shoplifting Comedy 'Lifted' Starring Ivy Wolk, Veronica Taylor, Kate Godfrey & Annie Marie Elliot From Liza Mandelup, Mary Bronstein & A24", "A24, Square Peg to Develop Adrian Tomine's 'The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist' as TV Series (EXCLUSIVE)", "A24 Wins Hot Novel 'Memorial' By Bryan Washington For TV Division", "Greta Lee To Star In, Write & EP Series Adaptation Of Cathy Park Hong's Book 'Minor Feelings' With A24", "A24 Sets Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams Reunion, Plus Amy Adams TV Project", "Robby Hoffman Comedy 'Rivkah' In Works At Showtime", "Rashida Jones To Headline Dark Comedy Series 'Sunny' Ordered By Apple TV+ From A24", "Michelle Buteau Lands Comedy Series 'Survival Of The Thickest' At Netflix As Part Of Expanded Relationship", "Robert Downey Jr. To Co-Star In Drama Series Adaptation Of Viet Thanh Nguyen's 'The Sympathizer' For HBO And A24; Park Chan-wook Directing", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A24&oldid=1142754185, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 05:10. God bless em. If theaters are to remain something more than a repository for superhero movies, everybody might have to be. 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. Three were winners. Love that movie. When it wasnt us. We spoke with the companys friends, collaborators, and employees to make sense of how A24 became the most interesting, creative, and reliable film company of the 21st century. And, you know, partly as a filmmaker, youre like, My God! I open the curtains when Im in L.A., and everywhere I see films on billboards. 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). Sure, were talking about an aggressively uncommercial director whose previous feature was called Trash Humpers, but the success of Spring Breakersand how it was achieveddemonstrated that theres still an audience for the kind of challenging and essential medium-budget movies that most in the business left for dead. The second title was Life After Beth, the domestic theatrical haul of which was a paltry $88,273. That was the first time it screened for U.S. audiences. Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted. John Hodges. Katz: We did great movies. Brie Larson (actress, Room, The Spectacular Now): A24 has the unique ability to find and champion authentic narratives that cut to the core in a raw and honest way. The company has laid the groundwork to evolve from just another upstart distribution label into a multiheaded ministudio capable of developing its own contentand so far theyve done it by releasing movies that tend to earn more cultural cachet than they do money. Hodges has been an integral part of the studio since its inception in 2012. We took a risk on the movie, and it fucking paid off, so why should we cut down our back end? Lets run there. Igoe: Even with Ex Machina at the time, we were getting bigger, but we still had that kind of start-up mentality that I dont know wed be able to get away with now. Daniel Katz and David Fenkel will continue to oversee the NYC-based indie. They didnt have a ton of movies, you know? Beginning with hedonistic images of Disney starlets gone wild, the campaign consisted of producing Facebook ads that could also function as contentpeople wanted to share this stuff. Meanwhile, A24 has already been building an ark. So what is an A24 film? You walk through that office, and there arent a lot of people that look like theyre from Liberty City, Miami. The company, improbably, was based in New York, not Los Angeles. Your eyes dont gloss over James Franco as a trap music Jesus. Everybody was talking a few years ago how cinema had died. Sacco: I used to think seeing people faint was what happened in movies. So I suppose the question now surrounding A24 is what Fenkel and Katz plan to make of it. Its such a really fucking well-executed movie. 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. Katz: Theres an A24 audience, and sometimes a movie connects with the A24 audience. I felt like we were all on the same team. Franco: I actually did win some awards. Katz: Maybe even greater. It specializes in film distribution, and film and television production. Jennifer Kents drama is a psychological heavyweight that examines how parents feed their demons to quell the pain. And although it describes itself as Midnight Madness, the film didnt start until close to one oclock in the morning. [26], In July 2021, A24 reportedly explored a possible buyout for between $2.5 billion to $3 billion. Put it on screens. No way., Katz: It was just like, Wait. 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! Everybody wants to be A24. 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. A24 took Ex Machina to the 2015 South by Southwest festival and built a Tinder chatbot with the face of Alicia Vikander to help promote the film. How do you know when an ad campaign is working? They wanted, like, the Disney, massive one. 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. People had thought that entire part of the industry had just died. And that takes time. No!. Distribution: Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, USA. The things about it that didnt were what made me most excited, both for Moonlight and the future of a company thats confident enough in its sense of self to stretch toward something new. The company is behind instant fan favorites like Uncut Gems, Ladybird, The Lighthouse, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Steven Spielberg publicly predicted the implosion of the film industry, which is sort of like God telling you to brace for rain. See what happens.. Aizenberg: I think we knew we had something at South By. Franco: I would bet that [Alien] was one of the biggest, most popular Halloween costumes that year. Your vision is incredible.. It was also that A24 was releasing these films not with a sigh and a shrug, but with panache, style, and humor: bright neon colors, guerrilla marketing tactics, and in the case of James Francos Britney Spears-loving gangster character from Spring Breakers, an actual Oscar campaign. Heavey: He didnt really use a computer. I think he was in Hawaii on his honeymoon or something while it was all going down, so I felt terrible. Eggers: People always want to do bigger and better the next time, you know? This elegant, yet sadistic horror film from Austria resembles Michael Hanekes Funny Games, yet the home invader was under the victims noses all along. John Hodges is leaving A24, the Oscar-winning indie studio that he co-founded. 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. It could be the CEO or an intern.. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. John Hodges is leaving A24, the Oscar-winning indie studio that he co-founded. Uncut Gems ($50 million). Like, no way in hell. A24 was set up ten years ago by David Fenkel, John Hodges and Daniel Katz, all veterans of New York's independent film business. Company Details: On the TV side, Jaxs current projects include the recently released Russian Doll on Netflix, starring Natasha Lyonne; The Other Two, which was just picked up for a second season; and the final season of Broad City for Comedy Central. 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? I think that was Nicolette, actually: Consider This Shit.. Kapadia: Theyve won Best Picture. He was calling me. 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. A24 was founded on August 20, 2012, by film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges. I want to be A24, he said. Signed on as producer beginning with the third season. Buying and burying not-great movies isnt necessarily a problem if it grows the business without harming the brand. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Were gonna put it in theaters, and were gonna find a way to keep it there. Now, look, at that point, none of us were thinking, Hey, were gonna win Best Picture! But we wanted to give the movie the chance to have as much of a life as we possibly could. Hodges had been an integral part of the studio since its inception in 2012, along with co-founders David Fenkel and Daniel Katz. The photo has been replaced. Johansson plays something between an android and alien symbiote who seduces men in order to envelop them in a dark, infinite pool of nothingness. And there are studio subdivisions, like Fox Searchlight, that have consistently guided films like 12 Years a Slave and Birdman to Academy Awards and box office success over the past twenty years. But the back end was so crazy. It is based in New York City . I legitimately watched people almost pass out. (He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actor). We wanted to deliver in a meaningful way. You dont watch something like Spring Breakers or Under the Skin without thinking: Where the hell did that come from? And it was on the A24 [motorway]. Katz: People say, Oh, Barry, why didnt you bring us Moonlight?As if that was the most obvious Best Picture! Tinder was yelling at us. 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. Colin Farrell (actor, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer): They have such a great eye for these small little films and rich and unique stories that may have not found it to the big screen if it wasnt for them. I think what theyve understood is theres a sufficient number of people out there who want more challenging or different material. She looked great. In 2016, A24 expanded into original production with Moonlight. It also put out some of its weirder and most singular movies to date: Trey Edward Shultss micro-budget family drama Krisha; Swiss Army Man, in which Daniel Radcliffe plays a corpse; and Yorgos Lanthimoss romantic tragedy, The Lobster. In February, Robert Eggerss The Witch, which A24 bought at Sundance for one million dollars, made $40 million and became the companys highest grossing film to date (Moonlight has since surpassed it). 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And with the opening weekend, with the numbers that we did, it became very clear that, yes, this is a viable strategy, to keep this very small, gay, art-house hood-ass filmlike, yeah, were just gonna keep it in theaters. A24, originally a small independent movie distributor, has quickly transformed into one of the most respected and successful names in cinema production. And we werent thinking about that. [23], On March 26, 2018, co-founder John Hodges announced that he was exiting the company. No Comments Yet Be the first to comment on John Hodges! Whether thats old white people in the Academy, or people all over the country, or frankly the rest of the world. Their hair and makeup people, actually, are the people that had an issue with this. Suddenly, in order to be financially viable, a project has to cost less than $2 million or more than $200 million. 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). TV production powerhouse Jax Media is expanding into film and tapped John Hodges, one of the founding partners of A24, as its new head of film. A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein, Would It Kill You to Laugh? Larson: I couldnt be more grateful for an experience that changed the course of my life and career immeasurably. Katz, Fenkel and Hodges prior to A24 worked in film and production, before leaving to eventually co-found the company, You know what? Trench coat was enough. Asif Kapadia (director, Amy): I suppose most filmmakers have had bad experiences in the past where you do all the hard work, and then these guys in slick suits come along and theyre like, We know what were doing now! Prior to A24, all had worked extensively in film and production before leaving their current positions to co-found the company, originally A24 Films, which specialized in film distribution. When you can get a distribution company that likes the film for the same reasons that people that made it like the filmIve found that rare. Logo by GrandArmy Photos via A24. [Sofia] was like, Oh, will you at least partner with Harvey? We were like, No!. And on some level, honestly, I was afraid to go out on my own and try to make it work. His relationship with talent and creators is exceptional and we look forward to having him make Jax his new home.. All three had grown up admiring the rich world of 90s independent cinema, and they noticed a void where those movies had once been. Kapadia: There were other films that had a lot more money in their campaign and were everywhere. 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. I mean, I have no idea what theyre doing, really. January, February, we didnt know we had The Lobster. Since its inception in 2012, A24 has become one of the hottest destinations for indie filmmakers, ushering such edgy films to theaters as The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers. It was, like, every time another person walked out, I was like, Oh, there goes another one!, Sacco: All my friends and family, they kept asking about this new company. Also Read: Sundance, SXSW Comedy 'Never Goin' Back' Sells to A24, John has been a trusted partner who helped conceive A24 and for that we will always be grateful, the studio said in a statement. There is no Tinder for Room! John Heavey (distribution, A24): Especially the first two years, we fell in love with every movie. 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. Fenkel: I just cannot stop. Fenkel: Id love to say from the first cut we knew. 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.