A pair of replica hot dog finger gloves sells for US$36 on A24’s website. Photo: Handout
Independent film studio A24 raised more than $500,000 in an online charity auction on Wednesday featuring dozens of props, costumes and other memorabilia from the critically acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All At Once. A stuffed raccoon, named Raccacoonie (a play on the name of Walt Disney Co.’s Ratatouille), generated the highest bid - US$90,000 (RM403,000).
The genre-bending film follows a Chinese-American immigrant and laundromat owner, played by Michelle Yeoh, who is swept into an absurdist adventure to prevent the destruction of the multiverse. The movie is leading this year’s Oscar race with 11 nominations, including for best picture.
The 43 items sold in the auction include an anthropomorphic rock with googly eyes that went for US$13,200, and the "hot dog hands” that Yeoh’s character endures in the film, which sold for US$55,000.
Everything Everywhere All At Once has a fiercely devoted fanbase. Stuart Patterson, an Uber driver in Liverpool, England, said he "completely geeked out” over the film and recently bought a pair of replica hot dog finger gloves from A24’s website for US$36. He said that the movie’s original items selling at auction were, regrettably, out of his price range.
A24 hosted two previous online auctions, which raised charity funds using costumes and props from a handful of movies and TV series, including Uncut Gems and Euphoria. But the Everything Everywhere auction was its most successful yet.
With global ticket sales topping US$100mil, Everything Everywhere All At Once is the highest-grossing movie to date for the New York-based indie studio.
"This film covers so much that is wondrous about our world and our capacity for imagination without straying too far from themes about our families and our traumas,” said Madeline Carpou, a writer for the pop culture site The Mary Sue.
A24 is donating all proceeds to three charities - the Laundry Workers Center, the Transgender Law Center and the Asian Mental Health Project - selected by the film’s directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think a stuffed raccoon would fund this nonprofit,” said Carrie Zhang, founder and executive director of the Asian Mental Health Project. – Bloomberg
