The Big Picture · Auction

The 2024 Movie Auction: Chapter Two

July 1, 2024/ 96 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan

The mid-year sequel to January's auction: Chris Ryan comes in and he, Sean, and Amanda each spend $1,000 on a five-film slate of unreleased second-half-2024 movies. Category triggers (box office, Oscar nominations, an 85 Metacritic score) and a no-more-than-two-sequels rule box everyone in, and Amanda drafts fresh off announcing her pregnancy and coming leave.

A sale of 15 lots across 3 paddles, $2,980 at the hammer.

Top lot: Anora, to Paddle 1, $410.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The paddles who spent what

Paddle 1

Sean Fennessey

$1,000

5 lots

Paddle 2

Amanda Dobbins

$980

5 lots · $20 unspent

Paddle 3

Chris Ryan

$1,000

5 lots

The board this sale, by hammer price

01

Anora 2024

No.1 Sean Fennessey

$410
Sean Baker; Mikey Madison as a sex worker who marries a Russian oligarch's son. Palme d'Or winner. Top lot of the sale, taken off Chris in a bidding war.
02

Trap 2024

No.2 Amanda Dobbins

$345
M. Night Shyamalan; Josh Hartnett as a serial killer boxed in at a pop concert. Amanda's birthday movie: she says she'd have gone to $700.
03

Nightbitch 2024

No.1 Sean Fennessey

$321
Marielle Heller; Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mother whose domestic life turns feral. Sean's Amy-Adams-vs-Mikey-Madison Oscar bet.
04

The Order 2024

No.3 Chris Ryan

$320
Justin Kurzel; Jude Law as an FBI agent chasing Nicholas Hoult's white-supremacist group in Idaho. Marc Maron co-stars.
05

Heretic 2024

No.3 Chris Ryan

$300
Scott Beck and Bryan Woods; Hugh Grant traps two Mormon missionaries. A24.
06

Queer 2024

No.2 Amanda Dobbins

$225
Luca Guadagnino adapts William S. Burroughs; Daniel Craig. Rumored to open Venice. Taken from Sean, who nominated it.
07

Conclave 2024

No.2 Amanda Dobbins

$205
Edward Berger's follow-up to All Quiet on the Western Front; Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini. A papal-election thriller Amanda called a Big Picture uniter.
08

Wolfs 2024

No.2 Amanda Dobbins

$200
Jon Watts; George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers. Apple. An 'I want to believe more than I believe' pick.
09

A Real Pain 2024

No.3 Chris Ryan

$200
Jesse Eisenberg writes and directs; he and Kieran Culkin as cousins touring Poland. Sean's favorite of the year so far, so off-limits to him.
10

Emilia Pérez 2024

No.1 Sean Fennessey

$150
Jacques Audiard; Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez. A cartel-boss musical. Netflix's Oscar play.
11

The Instigators 2024

No.3 Chris Ryan

$130
Doug Liman's Boston crime comedy; Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau. Apple. Chris's first-round buy.
12

The Wild Robot 2024

No.1 Sean Fennessey

$118
Chris Sanders' DreamWorks animation; Lupita Nyong'o voices the robot. Sean's call for Best Animated Feature.
13

Blink Twice 2024

No.3 Chris Ryan

$50
Zoë Kravitz's directorial debut (once titled Pussy Island); Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie. Bought cheap after everyone else passed.
14

Babygirl 2024

No.2 Amanda Dobbins

$5
Halina Reijn; Nicole Kidman as a CEO in an affair with her much-younger intern, opposite Harris Dickinson. A $5 leftover buy.
15

Moana 2 2024

No.1 Sean Fennessey

$1
Sean's one allowed sequel, grabbed for a dollar as pure box office.