A24 has emerged as one of the most original production companies in recent years. And while the films it produces span every genre — horror, documentary, comedy and beyond — the entertainment house has become synonymous with a certain aesthetic.
The company has attracted singular filmmakers like Sofia Coppola, Ari Aster, Yorgos Lanthimos and Barry Jenkins, who have helped define the company’s creative ethos to the point that it’s often easy to recognize a film as being an A24 production. And its films aren’t just underground hits, either. Many of them have also won Oscars, including several of the titles arriving this month like Moonlight and Everything Everywhere All At Once.
While HBO Max is the premier destination to stream the most A24 films, you can find some of its best movies across several free streaming services such as Kanopy, Tubi, Pluto TV and Plex. This July, on top of the Oscar winners we’ve already mentioned, you can catch acclaimed hits like Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and several more great titles.
Here are some of our favorite A24 hits that you can watch in July without spending a dime.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is that rare comedy that won a Best Picture Oscar. More absurdist than outright hilarious, the 2022 film also snagged Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese immigrant whose husband, Waymond (Best Supporting Actor winner Ke Huy Quan), discovers a multiverse that allows them to jump from one parallel universe to the next. The film also stars Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Blending comedy, action and drama all in one, it’s both time-bending and genre-bending.
Civil War, written and directed by Alex Garland, is a dystopian thriller that also happens to feel a little too real. The film is about a modern American civil war fought between the government and secessionist movements seeking to break away from it. As violence erupts all over, a group of war journalists attempts to travel the dangerous route from New York to Washington to interview the President. Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny and Stephen McKinley Henderson co-star.
Yes, it’s a movie based on a series of tweets, but in the hands of director Janicza Bravo, Zola is so much more than that. In 2015, a woman named A’Ziah “Zola” King went viral for a story she wrote over the course of 148 tweets about a road trip she took to Florida with a new friend who was not what she seemed. Taylour Paige plays the title character, and Riley Keough plays Stefani, a stripper who invites Zola to travel to Tampa so they can make money dancing. But what ensues is a wild tale of sex and violence that eventually devolves into murder.
Yet another entry for Alex Garland, Ex Machina stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, a man whose boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac) tasks him with determining whether the humanoid robot he’s developing can pass as human. Caleb develops feelings for the robot, named Ava (Alicia Vikander), and soon realizes that Nathan’s motives are more manipulative and deceptive than Caleb realized.
Moonlight is another Best Picture winner to hit the free streaming platforms this month. The film, directed by Barry Jenkins, is the story about a boy, Chiron Harris, told in three parts, as he moves from adolescence to adulthood while coming to terms with his sexuality. He forms a bond with a drug dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali, who earned an Oscar for his role), who becomes a paternal figure to him as he grows up.
Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as Christine McPherson, a high school senior who calls herself “Lady Bird.” As the school year progresses, she becomes desperate to leave her Sacramento home and attend college on the East Coast, something her family can’t afford. When she secretly applies — and is accepted — to a school in New York, her relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) becomes strained. Gerwig has stated that the film isn’t an autobiography of her life, but the themes of family relationships, adolescent longing and hopeful aspirations are universal and are perfectly captured. (Catch Timothée Chalamet in one of his earliest roles as one of Lady Bird’s high school crushes.)
Sean Baker earned an Oscar for Anora, but before that, he helmed Red Rocket, the acclaimed dramedy about a newly retired adult film star Mikey “Saber” Davies (played by Simon Rex), who returns to his Texas hometown for a fresh start. While he unsuccessfully tries to assimilate back into small-town life, he meets a 17-year-old girl (Suzanna Son) that he persuades to begin an adult film career of her own, so they can move to LA together. Rex earned numerous accolades, including an Independent Spirit Award for his role as Mikey.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
