Wednesday, August 7, 2024


Apple had intended Wolfs to be a direct to Apple+ film. Brad and Clooney took pay cuts to ensure a wide theatrical run. The sequel announcement may be compensation for the change.

The question is: Why go back on the agreement, and why now a few weeks from release?

"Apple’s all about good PR, and they don’t need the bad PR from all these movies not doing well" would not apply if Wolfs is “actually pretty good, [and] would’ve done fine."

If "Apple is looking to rein in costs," the remaining P&A budget (Print and Advertising, aka publicity) for Wolfs would not offer much in savings.  Wolf's box office would have helped it recoup its investment.

The explanations don't hold up.  There are other factors in play and PR may still be part of it.



Deadline, 2022

“It was an exciting time because it got to be one of those weird bidding wars which happen every once in a while, and it ended up being pretty extreme, and Apple came in with a really big number for Brad and I, and we said we’d like to take less as long as we can guarantee that we can have a theatrical release, and they said great. So, I do think that there’s a way that we can all co-exist."



The main questions that should be asked here are 1) why would Apple cancel almost all theatrical plans for a movie starring A-listers George Clooney and Brad Pitt? 2) Is there a lack of confidence in “Wolfs” performing well? If that was even the case, then why greenlight another expensive sequel?

Well, a source reached out to Jeff Sneider, who is reporting that “Apple is done with wide theatrical releases for all of its movies.” This would also explain why they gave Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” a heavily Oscar-buzzed title, a tepid one-week theatrical run in November.
Apple’s all about good PR, and they don’t need the bad PR from all these movies not doing well, is how the individual explained it to me, though they noted that the decision wasn’t a reflection on Wolfs, which was “actually pretty good, [and] would’ve done fine.
Sneider’s source adds that there will be one last exception, and that’s Apple’s Brad Pitt movie “F1”, set for release next summer, and being distributed by Warner Bros. After that, Apple is taking the Netflix route and shunning the theatrical experience for good.

This is no doubt a decision made in response to Apple’s recent expensively produced box office disappointments, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Argylle,” and “Fly Me to the Moon”. This “pivot” is, more or less, an admission from Apple that their wide-release strategy isn’t working out, or at least, isn’t worth the bad PR that comes with failing to meet certain expectations.





Apple has pivoted on the Jon Watts-directed George Clooney & Brad Pitt starrer Wolfs, which makes its world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival. Apple Original Films has made a deal with Watts to write, direct and produce a sequel vehicle for Clooney and Pitt.

At the same time, Apple has changed its plan for Wolfs to have a wide theatrical release before it lands on Apple TV+. It instead will receive a limited theatrical release September 20, and then debut globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 27.

Apple confirmed the release pivot, but sources said it does not signal a change in its hybrid strategy of a streaming service release preceded by a wide theatrical with P&A that was undertaken with Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. Apple will stick to the wide theatrical release on its other film starring Pitt, the Formula One drama F1, which is directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The Instigators, the Doug Liman-directed heist caper film that stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, is in limited release this week before premiering Friday on Apple TV+.

Apple will make decisions based on the marketplace; its recent release, Fly Me to the Moon, did not fare well theatrically despite having Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in the starring roles. That film was released by Sony, which is also handling distribution on Wolfs.

Apple’s next big feature after that, the Steve McQueen-directed WWII drama Blitz, will get a limited theatrical release November 1. Sources said Wolfs is a crowd pleaser that has tested strongly, but this was felt the best strategy to ensure the biggest audience for a star driven film on the Apple TV+ streaming site.


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