The best film of 2024 costs 1000 times less than Wicked

By Drew Dietsch
| Updated 3 hours ago

2024 is coming to an end and it’s time for everyone to start making their “Best Of” lists. After the resounding success of Wickedmany critics and movie fans predict that it could be a legitimate contender for the Best Picture Oscars. The $150 million production is the usual mainstream offering that's billed as the best movie people have seen in a year. That's thanks to the fact that it's one of the few mega-studio blockbusters hogging the multiplex that features more original, independent films. If audiences were more aware and open-minded about the best films of 2024, they would discover that the best film of the year costs 1/1000 of the price. WickedThe gargantuan budget is now the norm in the industry.

The best film of 2024

Hundreds of beavers is an independent comedy film that cost $150,000 to produce. Drawing inspiration from silent comedies, educational black and white cartoons and even video games, Hundreds of beavers tells the deceptively simple story of a down-on-his-luck guy named Jean Kayak who ends up having to survive in the winter wilderness by becoming a fur trapper. This culminates in some incredibly designed madness as Jean finds herself at war with nature and its inhabitants (mostly beavers, but the title ruined that). Trying to dictate all the gags and air jokes here would be doing them a disservice. Hundreds of beavers you really have to see it to believe it.

What I can tell you here is Hundreds of beavers is not only the best film of the year because it is a hilarious and expert display of artistry on many levels, but because it stands in stark contrast to the studio system and shows that true Creativity is often the domain of independent creators.

Originality from inspiration

While not a measure of the quality of any particular film, the overwhelming predominance of non-original films has become a serious problem in my enjoyment of popular cinema. I should define “unoriginal” in this context. Let's take a look at the current top 20 box office winners in 2024 and see if we can come up with a definition:

Among them, sixteen are suites. Of these sixteen, ten of them are not direct sequels, meaning they are the third or more entry in their franchise. Regarding the four non-sequences, one of them is Wickeda first part with a sequel on the way. And only one of these four non-sequels is an original screenplay that was not adapted from a previous work. Yes, when it comes to an entirely original film that does well at the box office, IF is number one.

So what does this have to do with Hundreds of beavers? One of the reasons this is the best movie of 2024 is the way it's able to take inspiration from popular media and present it in a truly fresh way. Instead of “referencing” to create his art, he mixes everything he loves into a new dish. You won't see any symbols of the Triforce in the film as an advertising tie-in (hell, entire movies are just commercials for video games at this point), but you'll exploit the film's use of video game visual language, like menu selections and world maps. Felix the Cat doesn't appear so someone can collect a few rights royalties and not be recognized by any modern viewer, but the era of silent cartoons and anarchic possibilities says a lot about what makes Hundreds of beavers a riot of laughter.

But why bring up the comparison with Wickedthe budget? Because it's not just Hundreds of beavers be original, which makes it the best film of 2024. There are plenty of original films this year that are excellent! It's what Hundreds of beavers succeeds with a relatively modest amount of funds which propels him to first place.

Creativity despite the cost

I didn't see Wicked so I'm not going to criticize anything about this film other than what I saw in the trailers and other promotional materials. Specifically, WickedThe approach to cinematography resembles most of the high-end commercial and advertising films you see around the biggest advertising campaigns. That's not to say it “looks bad,” but it seems irrelevant in the broader landscape of cinema. Part of the reason for this is the backing of a huge studio and studios have become increasingly reluctant to take risks when it comes to making more striking and stylistic films.

Compare this with Hundreds of beavers being independently financed and what it is able to do using cinema with a lot relatively less. I'm not trying to belittle the work (I'm sure) of the VFX artists and other craftsmen behind Wickedbut looking Hundreds of beavers showing such inventiveness with 1/1000 of this film's budget is more energizing for the future of cinema than another successful blockbuster.

Don't take this piece as a “Wicked it sucks!” screed. I haven't seen it so I don't know if it sucks or not! But when we start all these boring awards rumors, remember that the best movie of 2024 is a small work of art made for a thousandth of a dollar. Wicked.