A24 hits $500M domestic box office, eyes sale as ‘Elden Ring’ adaptation wraps with $200M budget

A24 has wrapped production on its biggest swing to date — a $200 million movie adaptation of “Elden Ring,” starring Kit Connor and directed by Alex Garland — just as the studio posts its most profitable year ever, Variety reported, crossing $500 million at the domestic box office for the first time and positioning itself as a possible Oscar frontrunner while rivals eye its $3.5 billion valuation with skepticism.

That milestone did not come from the prestige fare the brand was built on. It came from “Backrooms,” a Gen Z horror sensation that became the studio’s highest-grossing film ever with $400 million globally against a $10 million budget, and from “You Can See Everything,” the Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim documentary about Elizabeth Holmes that has pulled in a staggering $64 million. Add “The Drama,” the Zendaya–Robert Pattinson relationship comedy at $134 million globally, and A24 beat Warner Bros. and Paramount in market share over the summer — a rare moment an indie outgrossed the majors during the busiest moviegoing season. The same year also produced misses the studio is accused of burying: “How to Make a Killing” ($21 million against $15 million), “The Death of Robin Hood” ($9.8 million against $20 million), “Misty Green” ($160,000 against $5 million), plus $50 million dice rolls like “Eddington” and “The Smashing Machine” that were rejected at the box office last year.

The Moguls Want to Cash in While the Brand Is Hot

The run of hits has reignited talk of a sale. “If they’re ever going to monetize, this is the time to do it,” one high-flying mogul told Variety. Inside the company, a source said, “Fenkel and Katz are absolutely interested in getting rich.” Founders David Fenkel and Daniel Katz have flirted with buyers like Apple and Sony since the studio’s 2013 inception, but no deal has materialized because they have ruthlessly protected A24’s cool factor and turned down recent equity offers. The last fundraise, in mid-2024 from Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, valued the company at $3.5 billion — modest next to Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, but, three rival-company sources told Variety, out of line with market realities.

“They’ve got a great brand, but in an acquisition scenario, we’ve seen that brands don’t really survive. Look at what Disney did to FX and 20th Century Fox,” one top executive said. “Their earnings look good, especially this year, but the pressure is on to grow into the valuation they chased.”

Scaling Up Without Losing the Audience

A24 has been experimenting with bigger price tags and splashy intellectual property, including a massive recent deal for the film and TV rights to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and its fledgling TV division has started producing hits — “Crystal Lake” on Peacock, “Neighbors” on HBO and “Margot’s Got Money Troubles” on Apple TV+ following HBO’s “Euphoria.” Fenkel and Katz have also been flying globally seeking “potential partners” to establish foreign-market ports with local-language teams, per a Wall Street Journal report, rather than building an expensive international distribution engine. The studio additionally holds physical and tech assets: Manhattan’s Cherry Lane Theatre and a controversial $75 million investment from Google DeepMind to develop AI tools for filmmakers.

The risk of scaling is real, though. Travis Knox, associate professor producing at Chapman University, warned that big budgets change the math entirely.

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“When you get into these price tags, you have to talk four quadrants. A24 didn’t build their brand on four-quadrant films. They chased two quadrants very hard,” Knox said. “At $100 million-plus budgets, you can’t ignore Oklahoma and Indiana.”

That is the central tension: “Hereditary” earned a D+ CinemaScore, “Uncut Gems” a C+ and “Backrooms” a B-, and none cost more than $20 million, so none needed to win over the whole country. “Elden Ring” and next year’s $35 million slasher “Slayground” cannot afford to alienate most of it. Knox also flagged the brand-equity trap for any buyer.

Travis Knox, associate professor of producing at Chapman University, says that if A24 were purchased by, say, Amazon, it would automatically alienate the audience.

What happens next hinges on whether the founders can keep growing from within — the stated logic since hiring NBA CFO J.B. Lockhart in 2021, alongside COO Matt Bires, global TV head Ravi Nandan and chief marketer Graham Retzlik — or whether the $200 million “Elden Ring” bet and the momentum of a record year finally convince them that this land between, as Variety put it, is the moment to sell.

Disclaimer: The cultural analyses and financial data presented in this article are based on available public records and industry metrics at the time of publication.