There’s a lot of pressure on Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” to deliver when it goes wide next week during the Christmas break. Not only is it A24’s most expensive movie ever, with a reported production cost of $90 million, but it also arrives at a moment when the studio has struggled to expand beyond its indie-boutique roots into full-fledged major-studio territory.
There’s some good news: presales for “Marty Supreme” are through the roof. It has become the fastest-selling title in A24 history, with more than 65 sellouts across 100 showtimes and over 70% of tickets sold overall.
This may have something to do with the pull Timothée Chalamet has with moviegoers, as well as the immense buzz the film has been receiving from critics. Sitting at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 91 on Metacritic, it’s one of the most acclaimed films of the year and will open wide on Christmas Day across more than 2,500 screens.
A key detail in the presales data: a majority of ticket buyers are between 17 and 24 years old. The Timmy effect—and, to a lesser extent, the Letterboxd effect.
In the film, Chalamet portrays Marty Mauser, an ambitious young man whose aspirations are dismissed by everyone around him. The story traces his grueling rise as he endures relentless setbacks in a fictionalized account of a cocky shoe salesman who reinvents himself as a ping-pong champion in postwar New York City.
Safdie wrote the screenplay with Ronald Bronstein. The film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Luke Manley, and Koto Kawaguchi.
A24’s promotional push centered on a blimp video that went viral, fueling online excitement alongside a real blimp that toured the country. Reports suggest A24 spent $100,000 a day to keep the blimp in the air. Chalamet also partnered with designer Nahmias on limited-edition sweatshirts that gained traction on social media after being worn by figures such as Tom Brady, Misty Copeland, Kid Cudi, and Bill Nye, with pop-up events held in New York, London, and Brazil.
And did I mention A24 managed to light the Empire State Building in orange—along with the Sphere in Las Vegas? The marketing has been balls to the wall, and for good reason: “Marty Supreme” could very well be a make-or-break moment for A24.
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