ExploreCompareKidsFind Your IQMy TVITonightBlogAboutNewsletterHow We ScoreJoin Founding Circle

A24 · Films · Ranked

Best A24 Films, Ranked by IQ Score

A24's distribution slate is one of the densest concentrations of prestige cinema in American film. The TVI rubric reads it accordingly. Ranked by IQ Score.

A24's distribution strategy, small-budget, director-driven, prestige-positioned, has produced one of the most consistently high-IQ slates in modern American cinema. The rubric reads the body of work accordingly. Not every A24 release scores in Masterclass tier (the studio takes real swings), but the average is higher than any adjacent distributor's, and the top of the catalog reaches the rubric's ceiling.

Anchor picks: Sing Sing (166) is Greg Kwedar's prison-theater drama, one of the year's most cognitively serious films. The Brutalist (165) and A Real Pain (164) anchor the recent Masterclass-tier slate. Hereditary (164) is the horror exemplar. The Substance (153), Aftersun (157), Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Past Lives round out the contemporary register.

25 titles · ranked by IQ Score

  1. 1
    The Whale poster, IQ Score 173/200, Masterclass tier

    The Whale

    Masterclass drama

    An isolated man attempts reconciliation with his estranged daughter. Educational about isolation and redemption. Cognitive engagement from the character study. Entertainment from the emotional journey.

    173/200
  2. 2
    Moonlight poster, IQ Score 166/200, Masterclass tier

    Moonlight

    Masterclass drama

    A black boy comes of age across three time periods, navigating sexuality, poverty, and masculinity in Miami. Educational about racial identity and sexuality. Cognitive demands from the lyrical, non-verbal storytelling. E…

    166/200
  3. 3
    Sing Sing poster, IQ Score 166/200, Masterclass tier

    Sing Sing

    Masterclass drama

    Best Actor nominee for Colman Domingo. Based on the real Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing prison. Moderate cognitive demands through ensemble dynamics. Exceptional educational value from its authentic…

    166/200
  4. 4
    First Reformed poster, IQ Score 166/200, Masterclass tier

    First Reformed

    Masterclass drama, thriller

    A small-town minister's faith is tested by an environmental activist's despair. Paul Schrader's best work in decades. Exceptional craft, the Calvinist austerity of the visual style is a formal choice that deepens through…

    166/200
  5. 5
    The Brutalist poster, IQ Score 165/200, Masterclass tier

    The Brutalist

    Masterclass drama

    Brady Corbet's epic reimagining of the American immigrant experience through a Hungarian Jewish architect reveals how visionary ambition collides with systemic exploitation and assimilation. The dense thematic layers exa…

    165/200
  6. 6
    Hereditary poster, IQ Score 164/200, Masterclass tier

    Hereditary

    Masterclass drama, horror, mystery

    Layers psychological horror with family trauma across generational patterns and hidden supernatural mythology, requiring viewers to parse ambiguous psychological versus supernatural explanations while managing sustained…

    164/200
  7. 7
    A Real Pain poster, IQ Score 164/200, Masterclass tier

    A Real Pain

    Masterclass drama, comedy

    Jesse Eisenberg's Holocaust-legacy road movie follows two cousins on a Poland heritage tour. Acute observation of how grief, class, and family roles distort intimacy. Kieran Culkin's Oscar-winning turn carries a dialecti…

    164/200
  8. 8
    Eighth Grade poster, IQ Score 164/200, Masterclass tier

    Eighth Grade

    Masterclass drama, comedy, coming-of-age

    Bo Burnham's directorial debut, an excruciatingly accurate portrait of a thirteen-year-old's last week of eighth grade. Elsie Fisher's lead performance models the specific cognitive load of pre-teen self-presentation in…

    164/200
  9. 9
    Everything Everywhere All at Once poster, IQ Score 162/200, Masterclass tier

    Everything Everywhere All at Once

    Masterclass sci-fi, drama

    A woman navigates a multiverse of possibilities while fighting an existential threat. Educational about quantum physics and identity. Cognitive engagement from the multiverse narrative. Entertainment from the visual spec…

    162/200
  10. 10
    Minari poster, IQ Score 159/200, Stimulating tier

    Minari

    Stimulating drama

    A Korean-American family pursues the American dream in rural Arkansas. Educational about immigration and identity. Cognitive engagement from the family dynamics. Entertainment from the character study.

    159/200
  11. 11
    Look Back poster, IQ Score 159/200, Stimulating tier

    Look Back

    Stimulating animation, drama

    Kiyotaka Oshiyama adapts Tatsuki Fujimoto's one-shot manga about two young artists, the extrovert and the recluse, bound and broken by making work together. Compact, devastating meditation on creativity, loss, and the co…

    159/200
  12. 12
    Aftersun poster, IQ Score 157/200, Stimulating tier

    Aftersun

    Stimulating drama

    A man and his daughter vacation in Turkey on the brink of his dissolution. Educational about depression and family. Cognitive engagement from the meditative pacing and the unresolved ending. Entertainment from the charac…

    157/200
  13. 13
    Midsommar poster, IQ Score 157/200, Stimulating tier

    Midsommar

    Stimulating drama, horror, mystery

    Constructs daylight horror where the threat emerges from anthropological research into insular folk ritual, requiring viewers to evaluate cultural context versus recognizable danger while processing visual complexity.

    157/200
  14. 14
    The Florida Project poster, IQ Score 157/200, Stimulating tier

    The Florida Project

    Stimulating drama

    A six-year-old girl and her friends spend the summer in the motels adjacent to Disney World while their mothers struggle with poverty. Sean Baker's film is formally exceptional, shot with non-professional child actors an…

    157/200
  15. 15
    Ex Machina poster, IQ Score 156/200, Stimulating tier

    Ex Machina

    Stimulating sci-fi, thriller

    A coder interacts with an AI robot disguised as a beautiful woman, unknowingly becoming part of a manipulation experiment. Cognitive engagement from the unreliable narration and the twist. Educational about AI, the male…

    156/200
  16. 16
    Lady Bird poster, IQ Score 156/200, Stimulating tier

    Lady Bird

    Stimulating comedy, drama

    2017 Best Picture and Best Actress nominee (Saoirse Ronan). Greta Gerwig's semi-autobiographical portrait of a Sacramento teenager's senior year. Moderate cognitive demands with extraordinary emotional precision. Educati…

    156/200
  17. 17
    The Substance poster, IQ Score 153/200, Stimulating tier

    The Substance

    Stimulating horror, sci-fi, drama

    Coralie Fargeat's body horror satire uses extreme physical transformation as a metaphor for Hollywood's consumption of women's youth. Cognitively demanding, the tonal shifts between clinical precision and Grand Guignol e…

    153/200
  18. 18
    The Lighthouse poster, IQ Score 152/200, Stimulating tier

    The Lighthouse

    Stimulating horror, drama

    Two lighthouse keepers are stranded together on a remote New England island. Robert Eggers's second feature is formally radical, shot in 1.19:1 black and white. Exceptional craft and cognitive engagement from the mytholo…

    152/200
  19. 19
    Uncut Gems poster, IQ Score 152/200, Stimulating tier

    Uncut Gems

    Stimulating thriller, drama

    A New York jeweler spirals through increasingly desperate situations while trying to settle a debt. The Safdie Brothers' formally exhausting thriller. Exceptional craft, the sound design alone is extraordinary. Adam Sand…

    152/200
  20. 20
    Heretic poster, IQ Score 149/200, Stimulating tier

    Heretic

    Stimulating horror, thriller

    Scott Beck and Bryan Woods trap two LDS missionaries in the parlor of Hugh Grant's philosophical sadist. Heady riff on comparative religion, simulation theory, and the weaponization of Socratic method. Grant's heel turn…

    149/200
  21. 21
    Babygirl poster, IQ Score 135/200, Stimulating tier

    Babygirl

    Stimulating drama, thriller

    Halina Reijn's power-inverting erotic drama gives Nicole Kidman a CEO destabilized by an intern. Sharp on the choreography of consent and the gendered theater of desire, though its resolution pulls some punches the premi…

    135/200
  22. 22
    Talk to Me poster, IQ Score 129/200, Competent tier

    Talk to Me

    Competent horror, mystery

    Centers teenage grief and connection through mystical voice device, exploring how supernatural contact with the dead becomes emotional proxy for living loss.

    129/200
  23. 23
    Past Lives poster, IQ Score 129/200, Competent tier

    Past Lives

    Competent drama, romance

    Examines reconnection between childhood friends separated by immigration, using temporal distance and philosophical questioning about predetermined connection.

    129/200
  24. 24
    The Witch poster, IQ Score 129/200, Competent tier

    The Witch

    Competent horror

    Situates family disintegration within Puritan colonial setting, using folk-horror aesthetics to examine patriarch control and female sexuality's perceived corruption.

    129/200
  25. 25
    Civil War poster, IQ Score 124/200, Competent tier

    Civil War

    Competent drama, thriller, war

    War photography documentary-style explores violence's impact on observers and subjects; minimal dialogue demands viewers extrapolate political context from visual evidence and journalist perspective.

    124/200
Your IQ Score for this list
0 of 25 marked
Tap "+ Watched" on cards above to compute your score
--/200

Get the Saturday drop.

Every Saturday: 3 new TVI scores, 1 Brain Diet playlist, and the thinking behind what's worth watching. Free.

Questions about this ranking

What is the best A24 film?

Sing Sing holds the highest IQ Score among A24-distributed films at 166/200 (Masterclass tier) on TV Intelligentsia, Greg Kwedar's prison-theater drama. The Brutalist (165) and A Real Pain (164) round out the recent Masterclass-tier slate.

Why does A24's catalog score so high on TVI?

A24's distribution strategy, small-budget, director-driven, prestige-positioned, selects for the kind of structural intellectual work the rubric measures. Not every release scores in Masterclass tier (the studio takes real swings), but the average is higher than any adjacent distributor's because the curatorial bar is genuinely different.

Founding Circle

Lifetime membership, one payment.

Founders get the monthly founders newsletter, quarterly deep dives with a 30-day founder-first window, two title requests a year, and a place on the founders wall. 100 lifetime spots at $99.

Claim your spot →
6-month full refund. No subscription.

Browse every ranked list on TV Intelligentsia

202 ranked-by-IQ lists, filmographies, decade hubs, year hubs, character rankings, streaming-platform lists, and editorial curations. All scored on the same published rubric.

See all ranked lists → Open the full database