A24 opened Death of Robin Hood today against Toy Story 5. Let that sink in for a moment. A twenty million dollar R-rated period film, shot in thirty days across Northern Ireland, going head to head with the biggest animated franchise in history. That is not a scheduling accident. That is a bet.
A24 is betting that there is an audience out there this weekend who wants something that earns its silence. Not every moviegoer is looking for nostalgia and plastic animation. Some people want to sit in a dark theater and feel something uncomfortable. A24 has built its entire brand on serving that audience, and dropping this film against Toy Story 5 is the purest expression of that philosophy I have seen from them in a while.
Director Sarnoski was drawn to the earliest written sources describing Robin Hood as a "murderous cutthroat." Not the folk hero. Not the noble outlaw. The original texts paint a picture of a violent, desperate man who was romanticized after the fact. Sarnoski saw something in those sources that interested him more than the legend, and he built his film around it. That takes a certain kind of courage, because audiences generally want their Robin Hood to be likable.
Hugh Jackman understood exactly what was being asked of him here. This is not a performance built on charm or physicality, though Jackman has both in abundance. This is a performance built on erosion, on watching a man confront the gap between who people think he is and who he actually was. Jodie Comer plays the woman who tests whether redemption is even possible for someone like this, and everything I have heard suggests she is extraordinary in the role.
The production itself tells a story. Twenty million dollars. Thirty shooting days. Northern Ireland locations. R-rated. Every single one of those details points to a film that was made with discipline rather than excess. When you have limited resources, every scene has to justify its existence. Every shot has to do work. That kind of constraint often produces better films than unlimited budgets do.
Whether the box office rewards A24's gamble is almost beside the point. The fact that they made this film the way they made it, and then released it the way they are releasing it, tells you everything about what they believe movies should be. I think they are right.
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