All of a sudden, it feels like A24 content is everywhere, all at once. The independent entertainment company behind this year’s Best Picture winner, for example, is also responsible for the #3 Netflix series in the world right now (Beef). It’s also got a new romantic drama called Past Lives coming next month that looks staggeringly good — and it’s the company behind buzzy HBO content like Euphoria and The Idol (also from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson).
HBO just released a new teaser for the latter, coming on June 4, in which Lily-Rose Depp plays a fame-obsessed popstar wannabe named Jocelyn, who seems to be an answer to the question one character asks in the new teaser — about when the music industry last featured a “truly f**king nasty, nasty pop girl.” The Weeknd, meanwhile, plays a sex-mad cult leader named Tedros, and Jocelyn’s proximity to him takes her career and her profile to the next level.
Aside from however critics come to regard A24’s hotly anticipated new drama, one thing we do know for sure about The Idol is that it’s all but certain to extend HBO’s hot streak of launching new dramas that get everyone talking and drive interest and attention online. The stacked cast — which also includes Dan Levy, Eli Roth, and Blackpink’s Jennie — will ensure that’s the case, as will the fact that it comes from Euphoria’s Levinson (notwithstanding the much-talked-about coverage in Rolling Stone that suggested the show has already “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails”).
As for the company behind it — again, what else is there to say but what a run A24 is currently having. At this year’s Oscars, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once won seven of its 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director.
Beef, meanwhile, has knocked it out of the park on Netflix, earning praise as one of the streamer’s best TV releases of the year so far. The 10-episode drama is currently the #2 Netflix series in the US and, based on Netflix’s latest weekly global Top 10 chart, #3 in the world (having racked up more than 34 million hours viewed in its first week).
In addition to A24’s upcoming projects like The Idol, there’s also the movie Past Lives that I’m especially looking forward to. Directed by Celine Song, this one already feels like it’ll end up being my favorite new movie of 2023. The summary, from A24:
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.
