Evaluating film studio A24's cult status since achieving mainstream success

Why A24 has had such massive success

It's rare for a production studio to have a fanbase, but A24 Films has achieved that in its decade of existence. This five-minute video explains why the studio's focus on authentic, "cool" films has helped make it standout.

The people behind the indie film studio A24

The movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once" has dominated at the box office and in awards shows, the latest in indie film studio A24's string of cult favorites. This absorbing piece reports on what makes A24's executives distinct from other...

The official podcast of A24 film studio

They've made arthouse cinema mainstream while winning critical acclaim at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and more. Catch up on the latest episode of A24's official podcast here with interview of actors, directors, and more.

A deep dive into A24's top ten films

The film studio has released over 100 films since it's founding in 2012, so where should a newcomer begin? This extended video breaks down ten of the best of the studio's productions, showcasing its quality and variety. (Note: The video contains...

Cult classics are often defined by their polarization

Films that reach cult status are far from universally beloved. In fact, fans of cult movies often become such passionate supporters because a title has been lambasted by mainstream audiences. Stat Significant breaks down some of the most polarizing films of all time based on the data behind audience scores. It should come as no surprise that many in the top 10 are considered cult franchises.

The best cult movies

Cult film followings develop for a number of reasons. Some admire a movie's unappreciated genius. Others believe the work was simply ahead of its time. And, yes, some cult classics gain their cult status because they're unbelievably, laughably bad. This list includes all of the above, ranking the films that have developed passionate, even obsessive, followings—for whatever reason.

Cult classics are often defined by their initial commercial failure

Whether they're films, albums, television shows, or some other work of art, cult classics usually develop ardent followings because of their early struggles, either as box office flops or modest, self-released affairs. Richard Kelly, director of cult film "Donnie Darko," explains why he believes that endears audiences.

The internet has changed the definition of a cult classic

Cult classics were often established slowly over time, often through alternative outlets, like independent video and record stores, underground magazines, and tape trading. The internet has put those delivery methods on hyperdrive, helping to splinter the notion of a mainstream monoculture. The Ringer's Miles Surrey wonders whether anything can have a "cult following" if everything now exists outside the "mainstream."

Visualizing Hollywood's flops and winners in 2023

Is the movie worth watching? See how this year's cinematic releases compare with one another by revenue and popularity with this simple chart. Hollywood movies can be ranked on two axes: their popular rating and total revenues earned. In this data...

'The Big Lebowski' slowly spawned a cult following—and a religion

When it was released in 1998, the Coen brothers' film didn't garner overwhelming critical praise or generate impressive ticket sales. Over time, though, it's become one of the defining cult movies, with midnight showings where audience members dress as Jeff Bridges' "Dude" and drink White Russians. It's even spawned its own religion: dudeism.

Critics rank the best movie franchises of all time

Franchises and sequels make up a growing percentage of annual films at the box office and aren't typically associated with critical acclaim. However, many franchises over the decades have achieved high praise from critics. This list compiled from...

The best cult TV shows

Before the streaming era, television shows lived and died by their weekly ratings. That led to early cancellations for several well-regarded shows, like "Freaks and Geeks," "Party Down," and "Veronica Mars." Thanks to DVD boxsets and streaming, the shows often became cult classics long after they were taken off the air.

How ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ rewrote the indie movie marketing playbook

"Napoleon Dynamite" was a phenomenon when it was released in 2004, but the excitement around the film was the result of a carefully executed, outside-the-box PR strategy that featured free screenings, endless merch, and an early form of stan-centric social media. This deep dive into the film’s inventive marketing tactics explain how a film with a modest budget was able to become a cultural sensation.

Fans of 'The Room' love it for its (many) faults

The movie has bad acting, nonsensical dialogue, and a plot that doesn't add up. Still, its fans attend midnight screenings, recite its most famous lines, and even act out scenes in the aisles. Studies have found that fans are drawn to "trash cinema" like "The Room" for the same reason they're drawn to avant-garde works: because they flout mainstream standards.

The cult of 'Rocky Horror' has its own rituals

The movie was initially a commercial failure, but it began amassing a loyal following through midnight showings, where audience members dressed as their favorite characters and acted out scenes from the movie in the aisles—a tradition that continues to this day.

Many critically panned cult classics did well at the box office

Franchise flops like 1997's "Batman & Robin," 1983's "Jaws 3-D," and 2015's "Fantastic Four" were panned, though that didn't stop them from selling hundreds of millions of dollars in tickets.

The studio behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled its promotion before the film's national release, looking to cut its losses.

‘Horror hosts’ helped build the genre’s cult following

Horror is now considered high art, but much of its cult popularity is due to the B-movies that defined the genre. Starting in the 1950s, many of these low-grade films were licensed on the cheap by television networks to fill airtime, introduced by “horror hosts”—MCs with campy, over-the-top personas.

Letterboxd, the social media app for movie reviews, was named one of Time's 100 most influential companies of 2026.

The 2022 best picture winner, 'CODA,' was an Apple+ original

Streaming has changed more than how we watch movies—it's changed the way we recognize them during awards season. When movie theaters shut down during the early days of the pandemic, studios had no choice but to release their films on streaming. Once the shift occurred, there was no going back.

'Harold and Maude' became a cult classic thanks to a one-screen theater in Minnesota that featured the film for two years straight.

HBO's business model is based on driving the cultural conversation

HBO CEO Casey Bloys steered the network’s programming to critical acclaim and cultural relevance with hits like “Succession” and “The White Lotus.” Bloys discusses how the network’s programming evolved as it shifted toward streaming—and how the success of shows like “House of the Dragon” informs HBO’s future.

Rotten Tomatoes scores have gone up by 13% in the past decade

Rotten Tomatoes is the gold standard in the film industry, offering viewers aggregated critical scores of recently released movies. Filmmakers have criticized the site, though, suggesting its scores are now meaningless, evident from the past decade's inflation, and that the company has a conflict of interest.

The 100 greatest cinemas in the world

Sure, it's convenient to stream a movie at home, but we believe there's no better way to see a great film than at a great theater. This extensive list explores the best of the best, featuring profiles of a Pennsylvania drive-in, an Icelandic arthouse, and many other amazing venues.

‘Halloween’ is one of the most profitable indie films of all time

The 1978 John Carpenter movie grossed $70M in its initial run despite a modest budget. It helped pioneer the “slasher flick” subgenre, though it wasn’t filled with cheap thrills. As Roger Ebert pointed out in his review of the movie, Carpenter’s filmmaking techniques—alongside his original score—were a work of art.

Horror grossed more than $1B at the box office for the first time in 2017

It was the first time the genre broke the barrier for domestic box offices, powered by hits like "Get Out," "IT" and "Split." Since then, horror movies have remained commercial juggernauts: In 2025, the genre surpassed the $1B mark by September.

Even at the height of his popularity, Spielberg felt like an outsider

By 1992, Spielberg was already one of the most successful names in Hollywood, but he had trouble kicking the alienation he’d felt as a kid. In this interview from 1992, on the cusp of the biggest year of his career, he talks about that feeling and how it motivated him.

Inclusivity at the Oscars

The push for more diversity in the film industry has been decades in the making, but questions are raised about the efficacy of the tactics put in place to bring about those needed changes. The Hollywood Reporter explores the new diversity requirements for Oscars eligibility, speaking to filmmakers and producers about the importance of inclusivity and the complications that such requirements can cause.

Breaking down what makes HBO different

The network took an early gamble on longer episodes and more complicated narratives than a standard television drama. That paid off and, in the process, created what we now consider "prestige TV."

Film festivals are where independent projects find studios

Film festivals are incubators for the movie industry, providing smaller films and their producers with opportunities to screen in front of live audiences, as well as potential investors who may offer wider distribution.

‘The Substance’ is a great food film

"The Substance" has received numerous accolades, including five Academy Award nominations, for its satirical horror story about celebrity. This writer argues that it's also one of the best food movies in recent memory.

Plenty of groundbreaking films never won an Oscar

The Academy Awards may look to celebrate the best films in a given year, but they sometimes miss the mark. This list breaks down 15 important movies that didn't win a single Oscar, including early classics like "Frankenstein" and "Double Indemnity," New Hollywood landmarks like "Easy Rider" and "Taxi Driver," and pop culture phenoms like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Reservoir Dogs."

HBO's success inspired Showtime, AMC, Netflix, and more

HBO’s success in the early 21st century bred plenty of imitators, who were now more willing to embrace darker, more challenging series like “Weeds,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “House of Cards.”

Every winner of the Cannes Palmes d’Or

It’s one of the most prestigious awards in all cinema. Winning not only guarantees significant buzz but also means you’re a part of film history, with past winners including “Pulp Fiction,” “Taxi Driver,” and “La Dolce Vita.”

HBO is credited for the rise of ‘prestige television’

“Prestige television,” sometimes referred to as “the golden age of TV,” is a critical term for serious, darker, auteur-driven television from the late 1990s through the 2020s. HBO shows are often cited as examples of this style, with “The Sopranos” evolving the style and developing a model for the form.

Hitchcock films thrive on the terror of the ordinary

Hitchcock's films rely on seemingly ordinary elements—like birds or hotels—but slowly turn them into menaces, thanks to the director's pioneering camera techniques. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Hitchcock uses recurring images, themes, and tropes in his films

Movie nerds Adam Frost and Zhenia Vasiliev break down eight of the director’s “trademark obsessions,” including his penchant for killing blonde leading ladies, the way mothers are portrayed, and the various ways characters are killed.

Sequels that performed better than their original

If modern cinema is a testament to one thing alone, it’s that a smash hit will inevitably spawn a sequel. On occasion, that sequel will outperform its predecessor. Here are 50 times it happened.

Steven Spielberg’s movies have a unique style

Despite their distinct genres, Spielberg films often have much in common with one another. For example, supernatural phenomena, middle-class values, and camera techniques—including long, uninterrupted shots and a dolly-zoom method called the "Spielberg Face.”

'Barbenheimer' resulted in a historic box-office event

The cultural sensation that erupted when Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" shared an opening night was something that no one could have predicted. "Barbenheimer," as the pairing was called, became a semiserious litmus test for relationships: Who wanted to see which film, and in what order? The viral moment led to box-office gold for both movies, as well as a few Oscars.

The 'Movie Brats'—the nickname given to 1970s film directors like Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and others—ushered in a new era of Hollywood.

Alfred Hitchcock influenced modern horror director Jordan Peele

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele has built a filmography that’s equal parts thrilling, suspenseful, genre-bending, and literary. It’s no surprise, then, that so many critics have been quick to name Peele as the second coming of “the Master of Suspense.”

Explore a critic's list of the most underappreciated TV shows of the 21st century, including cult hits like 'Detroiters,' 'The Corner,' and more.

'Plan 9 from Outer Space' gained an audience after it was trashed by critics

The science-fiction film went mostly unnoticed in its original theatrical run, often playing in double-features aimed at teenagers. It wasn't until 1980, when film critics Harry and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made," that it began to attract a cult following. In 1994, Johnny Depp starred in a biopic about its director, Ed Wood.

A statistical breakdown of the global film industry

Dive into this collection of stats and infographics explaining the current state of both Hollywood and the global film industry. The page covers a variety of topics, including independent film production, box office revenue, global film markets, movie-going demographics and more. It also addresses the relatively new phenomenon of home video streaming.

Disney movies pulled in over $5B in 2024

2024 was a banner year for Disney, with the global film studio finding success with "Inside Out 2," "Moana 2," and "Deadpool & Wolverine." While Disney has faced criticism for its reliance on sequels, reboots, and offshoots, the 2024 numbers suggest the public is still eager for its content.

The best movies about Wall Street

From Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” to “American Psycho” starring Christian Bale, Hollywood has no shortage of Wall-Street-centric filmography. These films often distinguish themselves by interrogating why excess wealth and success are so often deemed synonymous in American culture.

Keep track of how many of the '100 best films' you've seen

This list from the AFI, a nonprofit dedicated to the cinematic arts, ranks the 100 best films of the past 100 years. A jury of 1,500 film experts compiled the list and includes movies from nearly every genre. It’s also an interactive checklist, allowing you to keep track of how many of the films you’ve seen.

Marina Abramović provides an interesting bridge between mainstream pop culture and unconventional art

In a 2024 interview with GQ, Abramović shares her opinion on the “Barbie” movie and Kim Kardashian, while also sharing abstract insights into the power of dreaming, solitude, and stillness.

How Alfred Hitchcock changed cinema

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock changed moviegoing with "Psycho." At a time when audiences came and went during screenings, he enforced strict start times, banned late arrivals, and kept plot details secret. The result? A $32M hit that helped shape modern theater etiquette.