Igoe: At SXSW, we had Spectacular Now, and Spring Breakers showed there. Wed be like, Heavey, just make sure hes alive and you can get him to communicate.. 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. Here's who: Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, John Hodges and James Schultz. Who are A24 - the company behind Uncut Gems, Euphoria and Hereditary? Hodges. a24 john hodges net worth 2023 Variety Media, LLC. Villeneuve: If my memorys good, I was amongst their, not their first movies, but they were a young company at the time. Wanna follow A24 (company)'s net worth? It was such an out-of-body experience. Garland: Under the Skin is exactly the kind of movie that you would not see distributed by a major studio. We all go nuts for a few minutes, and then were all like, Okay, what do we do?. Beyer: I remember when we had Room, like, six months after Ex Machina or something, Fenkel was like, Whats the Tinder for Room? And I was like, No, no! You know what? Trench coat was enough. A24 co-founder John Hodges is exiting the indie company to "focus on future opportunities," he and the company jointly announced on Monday. That was 2013. We sit in. 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. Sacco: I used to think seeing people faint was what happened in movies. We are thrilled to have someone of Johns pedigree join the Jax Media team and lead our expansion into the film world, Jax Media partners Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, John Skidmore, and Brooke Posch said in a joint statement. Hollywood is run by accountants at this point. Hodges has been an integral part of the studio since its inception in 2012. Your vision is incredible.. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. But we liked them. Katz, Fenkel and Hodges prior to A24 worked in film and production, before leaving to eventually co-found the company, Beyer: There were like a few ads that we made. Fenkel: I was at the Union Square theater, and they couldnt have had enough theaters. Fenkel: I just cannot stop. Alex Garland (director, Ex Machina): They make things work that according to standard procedures really shouldnt work. 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. We get movies. And the only thing we could put it in was a cardboard box with duct tape. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Franco: I actually did win some awards. It was like being in some kind of arena. I dunno! I mean, it made sense at the time. Ad Choices. His relationship with talent and creators is exceptional and we look forward to having him make Jax his new home.. All rights reserved. You could tell that they wanted to be great. It was millions in one day. Thats not a go-wide movie. 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). 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. And I felt with these guys it was a dialogue. Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Its a film about guilt that forever haunts you and the fear of being watched. Katz: It was early in the relationship. And it was on the A24 [motorway]. The photo has been replaced. 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. And when youre a loser, you think for a split second, Maybe they got it wrong. I asked him what he wants his company to be. Katz formerly led the film finance group at Guggenheim Partners, Fenkel was the president, co-founder and partner at Oscilloscope, and Hodges served as Head of Production and Development at Big Beach. He later left A24 on March 2018 to focus on future opportunities. Noah Sacco (head of acquisitions and production, A24): I think some of our biggest movies had no stars in them at the time of releaseEx Machina, Moonlight, The Witch, Room, The Spectacular Now. It premiered at Sundance in January, where it deservedly won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. For a start, it was founded on the wrong coast - New York, not Los Angeles - by three relatively young arthouse film executives, Daniel Katz, David. Still, A24 has never enjoyed a box-office breakout hit. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Leave it to Jim Jarmusch to make the coolest vampire movie ever. 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. Art and Experience : John Hodges is leaving A24, the Oscar-winning indie studio that he co-founded. And although it describes itself as Midnight Madness, the film didnt start until close to one oclock in the morning. How A24 is Disrupting Hollywood | GQ So whos to say that, you know, A24 wont become Warner Brothers five years from now? You look at the underdog story, I think thats not by accident. It would be fascinating for just the unnerving dread of an awkward gathering of friends, but Kusama then provides the film a killer twist. Not like we should have paid more. Aizenberg: When I started, we didnt have Spring Breakers yet, but the whole focus of that very first meeting I went to was like, How do we get Spring Breakers? Nicolette Aizenberg (distribution executive, A24): It is very cyclical. The story behind the studio that brought you Moonlight and It Comes At Night, as told by Barry Jenkins, Sofia Coppola, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, and the founders of A24 themselves. 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. With Hodges leaving, the. 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. Im glad it all worked out. 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. I remember when all the commotion started, I look at David. Like Get Out, or Baby Driver. Their whole point was, We dont know this world. You were in the A24 offices. [He won at least six.] And I think that really helped the movie. We tried to put together a slate in, like, four months, as opposed to just really growing it, building it in the right way. The company said he will exit to focus on "future opportunities," but did not clarify beyond that statement.. I dont think it was related to her professional career. 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. Katz: I always had dreams of [starting a company]. I think that was Nicolette, actually: Consider This Shit.. IFC earned a raft of Oscar nominations when it decided to put its muscle behind Boyhood and transform it into a phenomenon, but dumping all of its eggs into one beautifully textured basket helped to underline the paucity of love that most indies receive from their distributors, who ferry them from festivals to home video with all the solemn purpose of Charon taking passengers across the river Styx. 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. Lets do Kevin Smith horror! II was tasked. 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. Good A24 films anticipate the zeitgeist, and the best ones galvanize it. This elegant, yet sadistic horror film from Austria resembles Michael Hanekes Funny Games, yet the home invader was under the victims noses all along. You prepare like for your dissertation at Harvard. Maybe even that guy with a two-way radio who keeps you from walking through a movie set. 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. For instance, an actress. John Heavey (distribution, A24): Especially the first two years, we fell in love with every movie. Ask for forgiveness. I think it just showed that we cared about these movies so much. 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. A24 Founder John Hodges To Part Ways With The Company If I had to guess, Id wager that Hodges was simply ready to move on after reaching the top of the mountain winning Best Picture for Moonlight. 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. The End of the Tour freed Jason Segel from the succubus of network sitcoms by allowing him to inhabit the image of an iconic American writer. While there is speculation in the trades that A24 may be on the block, I get the impression that sale rumors are just that rumors. (He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actor). We had to get a second one. How do you know when an ad campaign is working? Saulnier expertly contains conflict, depth and gore within small confines. Despite lacking any pre-defined structure, episodes generally contain discussions around recent works of the two guests, allowing for branching discussions to other areas. Hodges previously served as head of production and development at Big Beach Films and exec produced "Our Idiot Brother" and "Safety Not Guaranteed.". You get a movie with them and it represents something. 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. All rights reserved. They were not the company that they are today. Jennifer Kents drama is a psychological heavyweight that examines how parents feed their demons to quell the pain. They have a very good understanding of the Zeitgeist. Sacco: Youre not like, Oh, we got a Best Picture winner! Youre just like, Oh, we got a great movie.. She looked great. 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. Prior to joining Jax in 2019, John was a founding partner of A24, where he helped oversee acquisition and distribution on some of the company's roster of more than 70 films, which includes Spring Breakers, Ex Machina, Amy, Lady Bird, and Best . (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.) When the film comes out in early 2016, it will arrive exclusively in theaters, and its trial by fire will be exclusively in theaters. Theyre on the tarmac, and were having to find a new jet for them within twenty minutes. I found it so deep in Google Image searches. It made me crack up. I kept calling the guy. 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. We were about to have two movies [Ex Machina and While Were Young] with him. But I do remember finally looking over, because I didnt know where they were sitting, and I spotted Dan Katz and Dave Fenkel, and, man, the smile on their faces! 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.