‘They Desperately Tried To Beat Us.’ Neon And A24 Are Often Pitted Against One Another. Why The Deep-Pocketed Netflix Is Actually The Real Archnemesis

DGIX

March 6, 2025

The entertainment industry is a funny place, one that often pits people and/or companies against each other. That includes the Marvel vs DC rivalry and, as far as smaller studios go, Neon vs A24. And while the public looks forward to upcoming A24 movies, Neon’s CEO Tom Quinn actually shut down the rumors of that rivalry, and revealed their biggest feud with actually with Netflix.

The 2025 Oscars saw Neon’s Anora win big, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. While speaking with Variety in the wake of this victory, Quinn spoke about the idea that the studio is competitive with A24. He got honest about which studio is actually giving him a headache, offering:

The industry thinks there’s a rivalry [with A24], and there’s not. It’s good headlines. I thought they might be our biggest competitor. But as it turns out, our biggest competitor has been Netflix.

There you have it. While those with a Netflix subscription have been treated to all sorts of exciting new movies, it turns out that many of them were actually the result of a bidding war with Neon. So I guess it’s really not about A24 after all.

It’s fascinating to see how the sausage gets made, and it turns out that the biggest thorn in Neon’s sign is actually Netflix. The streaming service’s pace of releasing new, original content is dizzying, just look at the 2025 Netflix movie and TV list. Later in the same interview, Tom Quinn offered some examples when Neon and Netflix have gone after the same titles, saying:

They desperately tried to beat us to buy I, Tonya and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and we ended up losing out to them on Hit Man, May December and Fair Play. There’s a slew of movies where I’m the second-highest bidder [to Netflix].

Both I, Tonya and Portrait of a Lady on Fire were acclaimed titles upon their release, so Neon no doubt is glad they won those particular battles, with Margot Robbie‘s biopic being nominated for a number of 2018 Academy Awards,and Allison Janney winning for Best Supporting Actress.

Margot Robbie in I, Tonya

(Image credit: Neon)

But as the Neon boss admitted, there have also been a few movies that slipped through Neon’s fingers and ended up streaming on Netflix. That includes Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore‘s May December, which definitely went viral upon its release.

Many fans might have presumed that Neon and A24 were the competitors, thanks to their size and penchant for producing exciting, challenging work. Even Quinn admitted that’s where he thought things were going to, before the rivalry with Netflix began. While it remains to be seen how this influences future releases, both studios have exciting projects on the 2025 movie release list.

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