The best movie of 2024 cost 1000 times less than Wicked

Pa Drew Dych
| Updated 1 week ago

2024 is coming to an end, and it’s time for everyone to start making their Best Of lists. After a resounding success Angrymany critics and moviegoers believe it could be a legitimate contender for the Best Picture Oscar. The $150 million production is a regular crowd-sourced offering that has been hailed as the best movie people have seen in a year. This is thanks to the fact that it is one of the few mega-studio blockbusters that monopolizes the multiplex, and that highlights more original and independent films. If audiences were more knowledgeable and open about the best movies of 2024, they would know that the actual best movie of the year is worth 1/1000 Angrya gigantic budget is now the industry standard.

The best movie of 2024

Hundreds of Beavers is an independent comedy film that cost $150,000 to produce. Inspired by silent comedies, formative black-and-white cartoons, and even video games, Hundreds of beavers tells the deceptively simple story of a down-on-his-luck lad named Jean Kayak who ends up having to survive in the winter wilderness by becoming a fur trapper. It devolves into such incredibly contrived madness that Jean finds herself at war with nature and its inhabitants (mainly beavers, but the title spoils it). Trying to dictate all the gags and jokes here would do them a disservice. Hundreds of beavers really has to be seen to be believed.

Here is what I can relate to you Hundreds of beavers is the best film of the year not only because it’s a hilarious display of expert-level craftsmanship on multiple levels, but also because it stands in stark contrast to the studio system and demonstrates that true creativity is often the domain of independent creators.

Originality from inspiration

While this is not a measure of the quality of an individual film, the overwhelming preponderance of non-original films has become a major challenge for my enjoyment of popular cinema. I have to define “unoriginal” in this context. Let’s take a look at the current 20 biggest box office earners in 2024 and see if we can come up with a definition:

Sixteen of them are sequels. Of those sixteen, ten of them are not direct sequels, meaning they are the third entry or further along in their franchise. When it comes to the four non-sequels, one of them is Angrypart 1 to be continued. And only one of those four sequels is an original script that wasn’t adapted from a previous work. Yes, when it comes to a completely original film that does well at the box office, WHEN is number one.

So what is it all about Hundreds of beavers? One of the reasons this movie is the best movie of 2024 is because it manages to take inspiration from popular media and present it in a way that feels genuinely fresh. Instead of “referencing” to create his art, he mixes all the things he loves into a new dish. You won’t see the Triforce symbol anywhere in the movie as a promotional tie-in (hell entire movies are just advertisements for video games at the moment), but you’ll touch on the film’s use of video game visual language, such as menu selection and the overworld map. Felix the Cat doesn’t appear so that someone can rake in a few royalties and be unknown to any modern audience, but the silent cartoon era of anarchic possibility provides a lot of information about what does Hundreds of Beavers riot of laughter.

But why bring up the comparison Angrybudget? Because it’s not just like that Hundreds of beavers originality makes it the best movie of 2024. Lots of great original movies this year! That’s what Hundreds of Beavers achieves with such a relatively small amount of funds that it moves it to number one.

Creativity regardless of cost

I did not see Angry so I’m not going to criticize anything about this movie other than what I’ve seen in the trailers and other promotional material. In particular, AngryThe approach to cinematography resembles most of the high-end commercial and promotional cinema we see in the biggest advertising campaigns. That’s not to say it’s “bad looking” at all, but it’s uninspiring in the larger cinematography. Part of that is because it has the backing of a huge studio, and studios are becoming more and more risk-averse when it comes to making more flashy and stylistic films.

Compare this with Hundreds of beavers independent financing and the fact that he can use the means of film, with much lower costs. I’m not trying to disparage the work (which I’m sure is over) of the VFX artists and other craftsmen behind it Angrybut observing Hundreds of Beavers to show such ingenuity with 1/1000th of the budget of this film is more energy for the future of cinema than another cut blockbuster.

Do not take this work as “Angry sucks!” checkbox. I haven’t seen it so I don’t know if it sucks or not! But while we’re getting into all this annoying awards blather, remember that the best movie of 2024 is actually a little work of art made for a thousandth Angry.