A24 Crosses $500 Million as $200 Million Elden Ring Bets Big

A24 has passed $500 million at the domestic box office for the first time in its history. The milestone comes in what sources describe as the studio's most profitable year ever, driven by the Gen Z horror hit "Backrooms" and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything."

The record year now collides with the biggest gamble A24 has ever taken: a $200 million film adaptation of "Elden Ring," one of the most popular video games of all time. The action epic stars Kit Connor and is directed by Alex Garland. Its fantasy setting — the Lands Between, a space between life and death where humans battle gods and monsters — has become an accidental metaphor for the company itself: no longer a scrappy indie, not yet a merged corporate monolith.

What does the record year look like in numbers?

• "Backrooms" became A24's highest-grossing film ever: $400 million globally against a $10 million budget — a 40-to-1 return.
• "You Can See Everything" has earned $64 million to date.
• "The Drama," an offbeat relationship comedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, grossed $134 million globally.
• Over the summer, A24 beat Warner Bros. and Paramount in market share — a rare moment for an indie during peak moviegoing season.

Those hits mop up the red ink from 2025's misses: Glen Powell's "How to Make a Killing" ($21 million against a $15 million budget), Hugh Jackman's "The Death of Robin Hood" ($9.8 million against $20 million) and Chris Rock's "Misty Green" ($160,000 against $5 million). A24 may also claim bragging rights as the most nominated studio at the Oscars.

The takeaway: A24's low-budget model still prints money when the bets land.

Is A24 finally for sale?

"If they're ever going to monetize, this is the time to do it," one high-flying mogul says of the studio. Speculation about A24's M&A potential has circulated since its 2013 inception. Founders David Fenkel and Daniel Katz have flirted with buyers including Apple and Sony, but no deal has materialized. The founders have turned down a host of recent offers for equity investments and protected creative control tightly. Still, a source says plainly: "Fenkel and Katz are absolutely interested in getting rich."

A24's last fundraise came in mid-2024, led by Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital, and valued the company at $3.5 billion. Three sources at rival companies consider that number out of line with market realities — modest against the $111 billion Skydance paid for Warner Bros. Discovery, yet rich relative to A24's earnings.

"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," another top executive says. "Their earnings look good, especially this year, but the pressure is on to grow into the valuation they chased."

The takeaway: the valuation has set a bar A24 must now outgrow.

Who is building the company?

The internal logic for several years has been "grow from within." The 2021 hire of NBA chief financial officer J.B. Lockhart signaled a cautious scaling strategy. Insiders credit chief operating officer Matt Bires, architect of the Cherry Lane Theater acquisition; global TV head Ravi Nandan, described as the Fielder whisperer; and chief marketer Graham Retzlik. The fledgling TV division has delivered Peacock's "Crystal Lake," HBO's "Neighbors" and Apple TV's "Margot's Got Money Troubles," following up HBO's "Euphoria."

Can big budgets coexist with a polarizing brand?

Scaling beyond low-budget roots has produced mixed results. Last year, Ari Aster's "Eddington" and Dwayne Johnson's "The Smashing Machine" — each costing $50 million — were rejected at the box office. The studio recently paid big for film and TV rights to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Next year brings the $35 million slasher "Slayground."

A24's buzziest films have always been polarizing: CinemaScores include "Hereditary" (D+), "Uncut Gems" (C+) and "Backrooms" (B-). None of those cost above $20 million, so mass appeal never mattered.

"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," says Travis Knox, associate professor of producing at Chapman University. "At $100 million-plus budgets, you can't ignore Oklahoma and Indiana."

What about international markets?

A24 does not handle overseas distribution itself. It sells foreign rights to regional distributors, which recoups losses on underperformers but forfeits windfalls — "Backrooms" earned more than $200 million internationally, money that largely bypassed the studio. Rivals gripe that this structure helps A24 bury its failures.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Fenkel and Katz have spent the past year flying globally to find "potential partners" — local-language teams with sensibilities matching the U.S. outfit. It is a cheaper strategy than building an international distribution engine, if a creatively risky one.

What would a buyer actually get?

Beyond films, TV and viral merchandise, A24 holds physical assets: New York's Cherry Lane Theatre and a controversial $75 million investment from Google DeepMind to develop AI tools for filmmakers. But Knox identifies the core caveat: A24's single greatest asset is its brand's power to draw younger audiences without the stench of corporate greed.

"If they were purchased by, say, Amazon … it would automatically alienate the audience," Knox says.

That is the paradox A24 must resolve as "Elden Ring" approaches: the brand's value depends on independence, and its valuation depends on scale.