11 Years Later, A24’s Cerebral Sci-Fi Thriller Becomes a Free Streaming Cult Classic

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Published Mar 7, 2026, 1:01 PM EST

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Having emerged as the highest-grossing A24 film in history even before it has the chance to receive a customary Oscar bump, Marty Supreme has justified its budget. The film cost around $65 million to produce and has so far grossed more than $155 million worldwide. In fact, it has made more at the box office than star Timothée Chalamet's previous Oscar contender, A Complete Unknown. Marty Supreme's success ushers A24 into a new era, which will presumably see the arthouse outfit producing and distributing more expensive movies than it used to. The first film in this more mainstream era was Civil War, which grossed more than $120 million worldwide against a reported budget of $50 million. Civil War was directed by Alex Garland, who has since been entrusted with what could be A24's biggest movie yet, an adaptation of the fantasy video game Elden Ring. Garland's association with A24 began over a decade ago, with a movie that recently landed on a free streaming platform.

The movie in question remains one of the most acclaimed hard sci-fi titles of the 21st century. It went on to win an Oscar for its understated visual effects in a year when flashier films such as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens were also in contention. The film was released theatrically in 2015, grossing more than $35 million worldwide against a reported budget of $15 million. Incidentally, it featured two prominent members of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast, Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson, alongside Alicia Vikander and Sonoya Mizuno.

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Here's Where You Can Watch the Critically Acclaimed Sci-Fi Movie

The movie in question is Ex Machina, which remains as topical now as it was a decade ago. Ex Machina follows a computer programmer who is invited by a technocrat to administer the Turing test on a humanoid robot. The film earned widespread acclaim, and is now sitting at a "Certified Fresh" 92% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The website's consensus reads, "Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of work — and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature." The movie made it to several critics' year-end lists and earned five BAFTA nods in addition to an Oscar nomination for Garland's original screenplay. You can now watch it for free on the Pluto TV streaming service. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.