The days of everything, everywhere all at once are over.
A24, which has delivered some great movies over the years, is struggling.
Right now their big release is “The Drama.” The Robert Pattinson-Zendaya dram-com lost 500 theaters on Friday, down to a still healthy 2,629.
But interest has ebbed in “The Drama,” which was sold as a romcom but turns out to be sludge. Weeks three and four will see more theaters gone, and then off they go to streaming.
The company’s new release, “Mother Mary,” is on the precipice of failure. Critics rated it at 71%, there aren’t enough audience reactions to get a score. Anne Hathaway is lucky she has “Devil Wears Prada 2” coming soon. “Mary” is not her golden ticket.
A24 similarly has had challenges with “Pillion,” “How to Make a Killing,” “The Moment,” “The Materialists,” and “Marc by Sofia.” Forget about mass appeal, these films don’t have the limited kind. Let’s not get started about “Eddington.” Or the Dwayne Johnson wrestling movie.
Most of these movies share one thing: they’re downers. They end badly. They’re not edgy in a “good way,” like “Sex, Lies and Videotape.” They’re just uncomfortable-making and pointless. The only thing that’s really worked recently was “Marty Supreme,” built largely on the marketing (we all know how that went) and that the ending was hopeful.
The next chance for A24 is “The Invite,” directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. This is Wilde’s second chance after the dreadful “Don’t Worry Darling.” So far there’s good buzz for this comedy, which could be a breath of fresh air. And maybe there will be $250 jackets!
One thing about the A24 movies: they never seem shaped in the process of filmmaking. There’s no connective tissue among the films. It feels like all the directors get final cut, without any consideration for the audience.
