Independent film and TV studio A24 has just closed an enormous investment round driven by Thrive Capital, a firm founded by Josh Kushner. The film house is now reportedly valued at about $3.5 billion.
Multiple reports have cited Thrive Capital’s $75 million investment and additional support from existing investors as bumping the studio’s valuation to $3.5 billion. This represents a reported 40% increase from its previous funding round a year ago in 2022 when a $225 million equity investment valued it at $2.5 billion.
According to Deadline, the studio will further expand its production and distribution and continue investing in live theater, consumer products, and music.
At the end of June, Forbes estimated Kushner’s worth at $3.6 billion, ranking him the 896th richest person worldwide. His stake in Thrive Capital is around the $3.5 billion mark.
A24’s Background
The studio launched in 2012 with plans to acquire films for distribution and produce original content. In 2013, A24 distributed its first release, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, which failed financially and received low critic ratings. However, A24 broke through this with the distribution of the 2014 film Spring Breakers, which was such a polarizing film that it was hailed by some critics and grossed more than six times its $5 million budget.
The 2023 Academy Awards really belonged to A24, which became the first studio ever to sweep all six top awards. Everything Everywhere All at Once cleaned up Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor, while The Whale took home Best Actor.
The studio went home with a total of nine awards from 18 nominations, the highest number by any studio. Everything Everywhere All at Once also smashed records to become the studio’s highest-grossing film and its first to top the $100 million mark at the box office. It also entered its biggest-budget films in 2024 with Civil War, a dystopian drama budgeted at $50 million and grossing $121 million worldwide.
Television wins
In addition to film, the studio has experienced television success. Their series Euphoria has won nine Emmy Awards, with its star, Zendaya, winning two for lead actress in a drama. Beef, another A24 show, also won eight awards at the latest Emmys ceremony.
A24 is known for its distinctive brand and cult following, particularly among young moviegoers. IndieWire has suggested A24 has succeeded in cultivating brand loyalty, stating that an A24 movie is known among cinephiles as “something a little weird and potentially cool, maybe great.”
The studio is known for distributing films by directors with large followings, such as horror directors Ari Aster (known for Hereditary and Midsommar) and Robert Eggers (who directed The Witch and The Lighthouse). Other well-known films A24 has produced include Lady Bird (2017), Uncut Gems (2019), Talk To Me (2023), and The Iron Claw (2023).
