A24 is one of the most revered independent studios in Hollywood, but an upcoming movie suggests that its place in the industry might be in the midst of a seismic shift. Known for their limited-edition merchandise and controversial A24 horror movies, in addition to other arthouse projects, the studio has grown larger and more influential with each pᴀssing year.

Some of A24’s earlier movies are surprising, as the studio worked to define its particular voice. Movies like The Spectacular Now feel like odd selections within its challenging oeuvre, but arguably it did not entirely come into itself until Moonlight, the first project they fully developed in-house, which won a slew of Academy Awards.

Known for challenging visions from auteur voices, the best A24 movies sit highly among the best films of this century. Still, with the studio growing larger and more successful, elements of their operation are forced to change. This is seen by the release of a new Timothée Chalamet movie, which might signal the end of A24 as audiences know it.

A24 Is Fully Embracing Bigger Budgets After Years Of Success

Marty Supreme is releasing this year, and it looks to be A24’s most expensive movie by a wide margin. ᴅᴇᴀᴅline reports that a figure up to $90 million is rumored, but that the final cost is likely closer to $70 million.

Either way, this is a huge jump up from previous A24 projects. Only last year, 2024’s Civil War previously held the тιтle of its most expensive film, at a much lower $50 million.

This represents a huge change for the studio, especially alongside its other big fall release, The Smashing Machine, directed by Josh’s brother Benny Safdie, and made for at least a cost of $40 million.

The Safdie brothers previously worked as a pair, and grew alongside A24. Their first film for the studio, Good Time, was made for a paltry budget of only $2 million. A scaling of costs is demanded by inflation, but it seems that A24 also wants to have a much bigger place in Hollywood.

Noah Sacco, the current head of film at A24, was discussed with The New Yorker by many of his collaborators in the past. The young executive is seen to have his finger on the pulse. Celine Song, director of Materialists, gave him effusive praise, saying “Noah will always understand the movie I’m making.”

As A24 has grown, the films it produces are forced to grow as well. Halina Reijn, who recently worked with the studio on her film Babygirl, outlined how this outlook has changed the studio’s path.

Rein spoke of Sacco, and how his input has grown to be more blockbuster-centric. “Even if you’re, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he says, ‘No, no, now you have to take the next step,’” she explained, recounting their conversations. Personal movies can still get made at A24, but only with minuscule budgets. Greater resources are devoted to more profitable endeavors.

All of this has led to more difficulty with small projects at the studio, as they direct their time and resources elsewhere. With such intensive investment by limited executives, this is a necessary move. However, this move into blockbuster territory does come at a cost.

A24 Still Hopes To Foster New Talent, But It’s Hard To Have Both

A24 still wants to adhere to the same ethos. While their resources are being spent more directly on more expensive projects, facilitated under similar conditions, they also want to continue to foster new talent.

A recent example of this comes in the studio’s acquisition of Eva Victor’s strongly reviewed Sorry, Baby. This is hoped to build a sustainable relationship between the studio and Victor, who looks to be a genuinely original voice that the studio wishes to build a relationship with.

As things grow, other things are lost. While the Safdies have retained their mutually beneficial relationship with the studio, other filmmakers have moved on. With the attention of the executives that lured them there, including Noah Sacco and David Fenkel, being devoted to these more impactful projects, there is less room for new voices to be given the same focus.

A potential challenge for A24 now is Ari Aster, whose future with the studio will be telling. While the director produced some of the biggest hits of all time for A24, his work is not scaling up in a sustainable way for the studio. His recent efforts, Beau is Afraid and Eddington, were expensive movies that failed to generate profit.

With resources and funds being put elsewhere, A24 will need to see corresponding returns. By producing new films at the scale of $50 million, the opportunity for investment in smaller pictures, at least with the same care, shrinks. The attention and focus of the studio becomes far more concerned with larger profit sums, potentially at the expense of creativity.

A24’s next chapter remains to be seen. Perhaps, like Miramax before them, they will stop being a major force in developing auteur voices and instead focus on bigger pictures by established ones. With this scaling, as seen with Marty Supreme, their practices are clearly in flux. While they may find even greater success, this could be a disappointing path.