However, when Variety reported that the eight-year-old A24 was exploring a sale, with Apple expressing interest, the price tag was a shock: $2.5 billion-$3 billion? For an eight-year-old company and its biggest hit is “Hereditary”? (It grossed $80 million worldwide.) Understanding how that could be possible says more about the chaotic state of the entertainment industry, and its new-Hollywood tech overlords, than it does about the company itself.
Considering those circumstances, $3 billion for A24 might seem like a comparative bargain. Or, this could be A24’s version of the Zillow feature Make Me Move: Ask for the highest price and see what happens. “It’s like buying a really premium property in LA. You’re ideally going to find a nice, comfortable place for your family and in the best of situations you’re going to watch the value of that going up just as you live in it,” said Jimmy Schaeffler, CEO of media consultancy the Carmel Group.
“Like so many properties, if a big studio or a tech company invests big in an A24 today, there’s a greater likelihood that they not only will receive the value of the actual content, but also the greater likelihood on the macro level of an asset whose overall value has increased remarkably,” he said. “I’d be surprised to not see a more-than-usual stream of these types of acquisitions in the time between now and year-end 2021.” That might well apply to A24 as well. It earned its first Best Picture win with Barry Jenkins’ 2016 drama “Moonlight.” Ari Aster gave the company its biggest box-office hit with “Hereditary;” two years later, the distributor gave fans more of what they wanted with Aster’s sophomore effort, “Midsommar.” Apple, like A24, is a company whose success is based in loyalty and recognition for its quality products. Devotion to the brand prompted headlines like “Inside the A24 phenomenon: How an indie film company became a major lifestyle brand,” and “Did A24 save horror?” A24’s greatest asset is its anti-Marvel brand — something that, in this moment, could be worth $3 billion to the right buyer.
— Alison Herman (@aherman2006) April 22, 2021 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
