10 Highest Grossing A24 Movies 2026: Expert Reviews

When I sat down to rank the highest grossing A24 movies, I expected the same old suspects: Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Everything Everywhere All at Once dominating the list. Then I saw the numbers. A24 released a record-shattering film in 2026 that pushed everything else down a notch, and a 2025 sleeper hit quietly climbed into the top five. The studio that started as a scrappy indie distributor in 2012 now sits comfortably among the most profitable film companies on the planet.

If you're building a watchlist, you might also want to explore our guide to all the Punisher movies in order for more ranking-style film content, or check how A24 stacks up against traditional franchise ordering patterns in our complete Madea movies ranking.

In this guide, I'm walking through the top 10 highest grossing A24 movies ranked by worldwide box office, plus the budget-to-gross ratios that actually matter if you want to understand A24's playbook. I'll also touch on the directors who keep delivering for the studio, the horror boom that fueled half of these hits, and the Oscar wins that turned a niche label into a household name.

How A24 Became a Box Office Powerhouse?

A24 launched in 2012 with three founders, a small office in New York, and a pitch that sounded impossible: make weird, small, art-driven films that also make money. For the first few years, the studio survived on critical love and a growing cult following, not ticket sales. Spring Breakers (2012) was the breakout that put A24 on the map, even though most viewers still couldn't name the distributor.

The real shift happened in 2016 when Moonlight won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That was the first time an A24 film had taken the top Oscar, and suddenly every filmmaker in Hollywood wanted to be on A24's slate. By 2020, the studio was winning Best Picture again with a tiny, surreal kung fu comedy called Everything Everywhere All at Once, which became its biggest commercial hit at the time.

Since then, A24 has leaned harder into horror, high-concept thrillers, and prestige dramas with built-in audiences. The result is a filmography that pulls in nine-figure grosses on budgets that would make any major studio jealous. Looking at the highest grossing A24 movies today, you see horror dominating the upper tier, dramas in the middle, and a 2026 phenomenon at the very top that nobody saw coming.

The Top 10 Highest Grossing A24 Movies Ranked

Here is the current ranking of the highest grossing A24 movies based on worldwide box office receipts. Figures reflect cumulative theatrical runs through 2026 and include reissues where applicable.

1. Backrooms ($396.5 million worldwide)

The horror phenomenon Backrooms became the highest grossing A24 movie in 2026, pulling in roughly $396.6 million worldwide on an estimated $15 million budget. A viral internet concept became a box office juggernaut, and A24 turned what could have been a niche creepypasta into a mainstream theatrical event. The film leaned into found-footage aesthetics and dread-driven pacing that resonated with younger audiences.

Director's debut feature, Backrooms proves A24's instinct for matching the right concept with the right release window. Critics gave it mixed reviews (a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences turned out in droves. That gap between critic score and ticket sales is now a recognizable A24 signature.

2. Marty Supreme ($191.3 million worldwide)

Timothée Chalamet's sports dramedy Marty Supreme rounded out 2025 as A24's second-biggest hit ever with about $191.3 million worldwide. A24 greenlit the project on a reported $40 million budget, and the gamble paid off. Chalamet's star power drove opening weekend numbers, and strong word-of-mouth kept the film in theaters for weeks.

The movie earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and gave A24 its third consecutive year of Best Picture contention. Critics praised Chalamet's performance as the best of his career, and the film's blend of period detail and deadpan humor felt distinctly A24.

3. Everything Everywhere All at Once ($147.9 million worldwide)

The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once ($147.9 million worldwide) was the film that proved A24 could turn a multiverse martial arts comedy into Oscar gold. Made for around $25 million, the film grossed nearly six times its budget and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh.

That Oscar sweep remains the high-water mark for any indie distributor, not just A24. The movie launched a thousand imitators and made multiverse storytelling a permanent fixture of the studio's slate.

4. The Drama ($130.8 million worldwide)

The Drama, a relationship thriller released in 2026, grossed approximately $130.8 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. The film starred Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as a couple whose wedding weekend spirals into chaos. Critics called it A24's most accessible thriller yet.

It marked the first time A24 crossed the $100 million threshold twice in a single calendar year. The Drama also opened the door to bigger, more star-driven productions from the studio.

5. Civil War ($127.3 million worldwide)

Alex Garland's Civil War brought in roughly $127.3 million worldwide on a $50 million budget, making it one of A24's most expensive productions ever. The film depicted a near-future American conflict and earned widespread attention for its prescient political tone. It became the studio's first R-rated film to clear $100 million domestically.

Kirsten Dunst's lead performance earned her an Oscar nomination, and the film sparked weeks of cultural debate about civil discourse. Civil War proved A24 could handle bigger-budget action filmmaking without losing its edge.

6. Materialists ($105.6 million worldwide)

Celine Song's follow-up to Past Lives, Materialists, grossed approximately $105.6 million worldwide. The romantic comedy-drama starred Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal in a love-triangle story set against the New York dating scene. A24 marketed the film heavily to adult audiences, and it paid off.

The film's success cemented Song's status as one of A24's most bankable directors. Her two features have combined for over $150 million worldwide on modest budgets.

7. Talk to Me ($92.2 million worldwide)

The Australian horror hit Talk to Me earned roughly $92.2 million worldwide on a tiny $4.5 million budget, making it one of the most profitable A24 films on a per-dollar basis. Directors Danny and Michael Philippou turned a short film into a theatrical sensation, and the sequel is already in development.

The movie introduced A24 to a new generation of horror fans and proved that low-budget supernatural thrillers still have massive commercial potential.

8. Hereditary ($90.4 million worldwide)

Ari Aster's directorial debut Hereditary grossed about $90.4 million worldwide against a $10 million budget. The film launched Toni Collette into a new career chapter and set the template for elevated horror that A24 would refine for the next decade. Hereditary remains one of the most discussed horror films of the 2010s.

Its $90 million return on a $10 million spend is the kind of ROI every indie distributor dreams about. Aster has stayed with A24 ever since, and his later films (Midsommar, Beau Is Afraid) followed the same model.

9. Lady Bird ($79.4 million worldwide)

Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird earned approximately $79.4 million worldwide on a $10 million budget and earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Saoirse Ronan gave the defining performance of her career as a Sacramento teenager dreaming of escape.

Lady Bird marked the moment A24 became synonymous with coming-of-age stories told with intelligence and warmth. It also launched Gerwig's directing career into the mainstream.

10. Moonlight ($67.9 million worldwide)

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight rounds out the list at roughly $67.9 million worldwide. Made for $1.5 million (the lowest budget on this list), Moonlight won three Oscars, including the historic Best Picture win after the infamous envelope mix-up with La La Land. The film's cultural footprint far exceeds its box office.

Moonlight is also the highest grossing Best Picture winner from any indie distributor in the past decade, and it remains the gold standard for low-budget filmmaking with maximum cultural impact.

Budget-to-Gross Efficiency: A24's Hidden Edge

Raw box office numbers tell one story, but the more interesting story is how efficiently A24 makes its money. Talk to Me grossed roughly 20x its $4.5 million budget. Hereditary pulled in about 9x its $10 million spend. Even Civil War, A24's biggest budget on this list at $50 million, cleared 2.5x its production cost.

Compare that to major studio releases, where $200 million films routinely need $500 million+ worldwide just to break even after marketing. A24's average production budget across these ten films is around $20 million, and the studio averages about 6x return on that spend. That ratio is what makes A24 attractive to investors and what keeps filmmakers lining up to work with the label.

Directors Behind the Hits

Looking at the highest grossing A24 movies, three directors stand out for repeat success. Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau Is Afraid) has stayed exclusively with A24 since his debut and has become the studio's horror signature. The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Swiss Army Man) delivered the studio's first Best Picture winner and remain A24 favorites. Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) and Celine Song (Past Lives, Materialists) anchor the studio's prestige drama wing.

A24 also has a knack for discovering first-time directors who go on to have long careers. The Philippou brothers (Talk to Me), Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina), and Damien Chazelle before they moved on all had their early films distributed by A24. That pipeline of new talent is what keeps the studio's slate fresh year after year.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Future of A24's Box Office

The highest grossing A24 movies ranked today tell a clear story: the studio has figured out how to balance art-house credibility with blockbuster economics. With Backrooms at the top and a packed 2026-2027 slate ahead, A24 looks positioned to keep rewriting its own records. For anyone tracking where independent film is headed next, this list is the best roadmap we have.

If you're curious how A24's ordering compares to other franchise ranking guides, browse our full library of Christmas movie rankings and Father Christmas movie order guides for more seasonal watchlist helpers.