Independent films, long considered too risky and niche for investment capital, attracted a wave of investments in equities from prestigious funds traditionally attracted by predictability and scalability.
Founded in 2012, the production and distribution company of independent films based in New York A24 has lifted $ 225 million in equity investment led by Stripes in 2022, enhancing it at 2.5 billion dollars. Two years later, he obtained an undisclosed amount of equity led by Thrive Capital, with the support of investors participating in his previous round, such as Neuberger Berman, in an assessment of $ 3.5 billion, an increase of 40%.
Mubi, based in London, a global streaming platform, a film producer and a distributor specializing in Arthouse’s films, has just raised 100 million Capital Dollars led by Sequoia Capital in June 2025 to an evaluation of $ 1 billion, according to Variety. Before that, he increased an undisclosed amount of minority growing investment in Summit Partners in 2021.
Independent films emerge as a convincing alternative in the constantly evolving entertainment landscape today
In 2024, Fortress Investment Group acquired Curzon, an Arthouse cinema company, based in the United Kingdom, for an amount of unknown capital. Curzon operates in three commercial units: Curzon Cinemas, which operates 16 cinemas and 46 screens through the United Kingdom, its film Curzon Film film and the streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema.
Box office box
There is a significant growth potential on the independent films market. Once considered marginal, independent films provide both the results of the box office and the praise of criticism. According to Efe Cakarel, founder of Mubi, a third of the 200 largest films in the past three years at the box office were specialized films. During the 97th Oscars Awards in 2025, six of the ten nominees of the best films were independent films, against four in 2024 and 2023. In addition, the market is far from saturated. A recent study by Keri Putnam, CEO of Frommer from Sundance Institute, estimates that 77 million Americans are open to pay a streaming platform focused on independent films and documentaries, against only 36.7 million Americans who are currently engaging with such content. As she said to Indiewire, “people are looking for alternatives.”
The anime has already become a major alternative to traditional Hollywood blockbusters. Netflix reported that more than half of its 150 million household subscribers had watched anime on the platform, tripling in the past five years, and the number of anime titles appearing in the list of the 10 best (non-English) top 10 of the platform in 2024 has increased to 33, more than double the 2021 number. Thirds of American fans watch them fans.
Netflix reported that more than half of its 150 million household subscribers looked at the anime on the platform
Independent films emerge as a convincing alternative in the constantly evolving entertainment landscape when the traditional large budget model becomes more and more risky. Anecdoally, a manager of a large Hollywood cinema studio once said that their business could continue if they had at least three profitable films each year, but if they do not have a single profitable film for three consecutive years, they will go bankrupt.
When Disney reported $ 2.8 billion in Avengers: endgame at a production cost of $ 356 million and a marketing cost of $ 200 million, it also won only $ 205 million in snow white, barely enough to cover the production cost of $ 270 million. On the other hand, the economy of independent films offers greater resilience and the freedom to take creative risks. As a child displays independent films, the A24 has redefined the game book by taking advantage of creative and effective distribution strategies. An example is the pop-up boutique they launched in Manhattan in 2017 entitled A Ghost Store to promote a history of ghosts. They finally brought in nearly $ 2 million to the box office of this film with only a production cost of $ 100,000, a 20x return. As Cakarel said Financial timeThe independent film industry does not compete with Netflix because they are completely different companies.
We are going to need a larger boat
That said, investors’ release paths in independent films remain uncertain. In the boom of post-comfortable mergers and acquisitions, Hello Sunshine, a studio that puts women at the center of each story and is founded by actress Reese Witherspoon in Los Angeles in 2016, raised an unsuccessful amount of majority investment of Blackstone to support media based on blackstone. The agreement would have evaluated Hello Sunshine at $ 900 million, reporting a strong interest in investors in this sector.
However, as central banks have increased interest rates and geopolitical risks distorting, this path has become less viable. Founded in 2017, another Arthouse cinema studio, based in New York, Neon, often considered as the strongest rival in the A24, distributed each Palm d’Or winner since the 2019 parasite, which has won both success at the box office and the critical acclaim. Despite its solid history, a sale to the owner of Criterion Collection, Steven Rales, rumor at more than $ 100 million, collapsed in 2023 in the midst of the mergers and acquisitions market.
The more systematic challenge for industry lies in the size of the public’s engagement in a landscape dominated by major cinema studios and streaming platforms. Putman observes that a key obstacle for independent content is the absence of a centralized platform. When the public browses the different streaming platforms, the first pages are full of blockbusters, while niche titles are difficult to discover.
Two -door cinema club
A24 and Mubi illustrate the potential paths for independent film studios rich in content but in capital. By pressing external capital, they develop beyond traditional production and distribution to build a direct platform for consumers. A24, for example, offers a monthly subscription of $ 9.90 which includes a ticket for each new version, among other advantages such as a quarterly magazine. Likewise, the $ 19.99 premium membership in Mubi offers a film ticket per week in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The economy of independent films offers greater resilience and freedom to take creative risks
According to VarietyCakarel considers this strategy as a way to bring people back to cinemas. A24 also bought Cherry Lane Theater in New York for $ 10 million in 2023, hoping to build an integrated and omni-channel network.
If the story of the platform is successful and reproducible, we can attend a structural change in the media and entertainment landscape, which could catalyze a new wave of independent cinema studios and a more strategic mergers and acquisitions in the foreseeable future.