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Apple is ramping up its efforts to produce feature films, according to a new report from The Information. Apple has a limited number of high profile films already, including "Palmer," "Cherry," and "Greyhound," and sees it as a way to draw more people into Apple TV+.

Apple-TV-Ray-Light-Teal-Film.jpg

Apple has been telling studio executives that it is aiming to do more than 10 to 12 original movies per year for Apple TV+, which would let it better compete with other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max.

To facilitate its push into feature films, Apple has hired Jessie Henderson, who was previously the executive vice president of feature films for the HBO Max streaming service. She will join the Apple TV+ team run by Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, reporting to Matt Dentler, an Apple TV+ executive who handles original films.

Compared to other streaming services, Apple TV+ is still in its infancy and Apple is working hard on content to bolster the service and make it more attractive to subscribers. Apple is still giving people who buy a new device a free year of service, and those who originally redeemed that free year when Apple TV+ launched in November 19 continue to have access at no cost as Apple continues to extend the trial period.

Apple has continued its free trial periods to give people more time to get hooked on the original content available on Apple TV+ before having to pay for a subscription. At this time, Apple is also reimbursing those who pay for Apple TV+, so the service is making little to no money at this time.

Article Link: Apple Wants to Draw Subscribers to Apple TV+ With More Feature Films
 
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michaelprescott

Suspended
Aug 5, 2010
116
167
I absolutely love Apple TV (the hardware) and how fluidly it integrates with all other Apple's devices. Being able to tell Siri to turn on all of our equipment, play songs, movies, shows and more, is awesome and convenient. Even their software, interfacing and searching for content is light years ahead of other apps and services in it's simplicity and quality.

Where they've fallen short (and it's not even entirely their fault) is they caved to the demands of production companies, and allowed them to pollute Apple TV content with a plethora of crap apps, alternative streaming services. Each one pleading for another $5, $8, even more dollars per month. No one wants that. No one wants to subscribe to yet another platform just so they can find maybe one nugget of a show or movie that's exclusively on that "app", and then be stuck paying throughout the remainder of the year, hoping, waiting, for maybe another quality show to be released. We're bled dry from it, and it's just too much to even try to keep track of, so we just don't even bother.

But, this is how Apple is going to win. Producing and owning truly high quality content. Focusing on quality vs. quantity, and then maintaining a curated, high quality, simple (to use and pay for) platform. Once their library is well populated, people won't even glance at the dozens of other streaming services.
 

jimbobb24

macrumors 68040
Jun 6, 2005
3,337
5,355
Greyhound was great. That and Ted Lasso were not enough to get me to renew.

HBO Max doesn’t have many good features films either. They have new WB release because of CV19 but that’s about it. I sure hope I can see Dune in theaters though. That would be a shame to see only on the small screen.
 

Sethal

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2014
130
502
Honestly there’s so much great content to watch now a days that’s it’s almost too much to take in. A service that had great one off movies would be welcoming. It’s difficult to invest in season after season of a show when there’s so much offered. Some great 2 hour and done offerings would be welcome for a change.
 

justiny

Contributor
Jul 28, 2008
737
2,230
Bubbletucky
Before everyone starts in on the ”tv+ is a failed experiment” because Apple has extended the free trial a few times (aka the classic “Apple is doomed” meme), it’s reasonable to believe Apple is taking a hit right now on tv+ to benefit the platform down the road. It’s no different then grocery stores losing money by offering sales on packs of soft drinks or Costco offering gas at $0.20 less per gallon than the corner gas station. This is done to get people *into* the store and buy stuff they never would have considered; tv+ is yet another gate into the walled garden.

I also believe the tv+ catalog has improved dramatically since its launch (Ted Lasso is a must see).
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 603
May 30, 2018
6,437
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there
i have an Animated Series that needs to be pitched to , how do istart?
the minus is the script has original jokes and real punchlines, something most streaming services are not used to publishing nowadays.
 
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SirAnthonyHopkins

macrumors 6502a
Sep 29, 2020
942
1,885
Before everyone starts in on the ”tv+ is a failed experiment” because Apple has extended the free trial a few times (aka the classic “Apple is doomed” meme), it’s reasonable to believe Apple is taking a hit right now on tv+ to benefit the platform down the road. It’s no different then grocery stores losing money by offering sales on packs of soft drinks or Costco offering gas at $0.20 less per gallon than the corner gas station. This is done to get people *into* the store and buy stuff they never would have considered; tv+ is yet another gate into the walled garden.

I also believe the tv+ catalog has improved dramatically since its launch (Ted Lasso is a must see).

It's obviously a loss leader for now yes, but it's quite a lot different from Costco selling cheap gas. That has an obvious model towards profitability for Costco, because people *need* gas.

No one needs another movie starring Tom Holland, much as I like him. No one is coming to Apple explicitly for the Apple TV+ content, whereas they are going to Costco because they know they can make savings on an essential, and then load up on a car full of Doritos and Coke, which is where Costco makes money. What is the essential item, and what is the Doritos, for Apple? People need a new series of Ted Lasso so badly that they subscribe to Apple TV and subsequently go all-in with Apple One? I don't see it.

The content has to be ridiculously good for a consistent period in order for Apple TV+ to turn from a nice add-on to have when you buy Apple products or an Apple One sub, to something that people actually want to pay for and are coming to Apple for, to then eventually becoming a source of profit for Apple. I just don't see what the plan for that evolution is without Apple spending an absolute tonne of cash, and also investing in some proper legacy content which they have seemed reluctant to do so far. Having something like Seinfeld or Friends streaming exclusively on Apple would immediately make a huge difference, but they don't seem to want to follow that model. They're far more likely to pay the writers of Friends millions of dollars to make a new series about a young woman in the big city who owns a cat that doesn't like her, or something.
 

MisterK

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2006
578
468
Ottawa, Canada
AppleMusicTV just launched today. It's a livestream of music videos (like MTV was). Apple also has live radio stations AppleMusic1, AppleMusicHits, and AppleMusicCountry, all curated and hosted by famous DJs. I'd love to see more of this live and curated ethos on the AppleTV+ side. A network cable station. You just put on the channel and watch when you don't want to choose yet another series. I think it would be a brilliant differentiator, when everyone else is doing their best Netflix impression.

Don't get me wrong; keep the on-demand movies and shows we're used to, but there is definitely a "just want some great shows now" hole left as I've cut cable. Apple could buy up events and do appointment TV. Award shows, breaking news, sporting events, Apple events, concerts, etc.

It could just be my age, but my favourite part of Amazon Prime on my AppleTV is my StackTV channel add-on. We often watch HGTV, Food Network, History Channel or one of the other live channels.
 

hagar

macrumors 68000
Jan 19, 2008
1,927
4,699
I have found Apple TV+ to be a tad too political for my liking and really not in my demographic.
Are they though? They do focus on US societal issues, but does it have a strong political underpinning? I’m not seeing it.

But, this is how Apple is going to win. Producing and owning truly high quality content. Focusing on quality vs. quantity, and then maintaining a curated, high quality, simple (to use and pay for) platform. Once their library is well populated, people won't even glance at the dozens of other streaming services.
I find the TV app to be a failure. I would have loved a single place to watch all my content but it turned out to be a strange mix of the iTunes Store (only Movies though in my country), ATV+ content and third party services (that are largely missing in my country, we only have 2 channels). Seems no other services can be bothered to integrate. I guess the market is far too small as the hardware can’t be considered a success with 2% market share.

I do like the ATV+ content but the half baked TV app is not doing it any favours here. Most people I know dont even know the service exists or think they need the ATV hardware to watch it.
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 603
May 30, 2018
6,437
5,920
there
to this day i am still amazed that last year 2020,
amazon firestick was offering Steve Jobs movies for FREE while there was nothing from TV on the inventor.
 
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smaffei

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2003
594
1,899
Greyhound was great. That and Ted Lasso were not enough to get me to renew.

HBO Max doesn’t have many good features films either. They have new WB release because of CV19 but that’s about it. I sure hope I can see Dune in theaters though. That would be a shame to see only on the small screen.
HBO Max's "Harley Quinn" is probably the funniest show I've seen in years. Laugh out loud. And, their "Raised By Wolves" series was probably the best pure Sci-Fi show that I've seen in a good while.
 

Jumpinbeans

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2012
73
64
Tried it and hated it. Its tried to be like a slicker better looking of amazon prime video but fails and is just as pad. You are prompted to link this app and that service when it isn't needed. Trying to find out what is included in the subscription and isn't isn't that clear. I personally hate mixing paid and included items in a service. Keep them seperate.

I personally wish apple built an environment like another netflix......or fell went and bought netflix although that would be a monstrous monstrously large takeover.
 

smaffei

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2003
594
1,899
I still dont quite understand why Apple decided to have Apple TV+ making original content and competing directly against Netflix, Disney, Amazon and many others. Other than purely a play to boost Services Revenue with Apple One+.
I think you have that backwards. Apple One came into existence because Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade are not strong enough to survive on their own. They are latching onto the success of Apple Music to survive.
 

Phoenixdk1984

macrumors newbie
Apr 9, 2021
2
2
Denmark
Well, some people might like it. I have a free subscription until september, but I do not see myself continuing after that. I find it boring and I am not a big movie watcher anyway and when I do they are rarely the kind fo family friendly and boring as Apple wants them to be. Apple has to be careful and political correct not to scare anyone away and bit like Disney (Who produced Love, Victor, yet aired it om HULU). I do not see Apple ever making anything like The Mandalorian, Stranger Things or any of the popular crime shows. It also does not help that Sony made a deal with Netflix and all the other studious have made their own streaming services.
 

Cosmosent

macrumors 68020
Apr 20, 2016
2,315
2,693
La Jolla, CA
Stupid idea !

They should focus on Live Sports, first at the local level !

E.g., Little League Baseball & Softball !

Tim Cook is either NOT a very smart man, OR simply has NO smart men OR women around him !

Why would AAPL want to compete Head On with others who are already entrenched in a certain market, & Apple is way behind with little to NO chance to even catch up ?

The ONLY reason I can think of is they want to continue to get the stock price expansion of Netflix without actually having to deliver !

It's called "string them along" ... OR more precisely, Smoke & Mirrors & a Dog & Pony Show, Tim's specialty :)
 

Phoenixdk1984

macrumors newbie
Apr 9, 2021
2
2
Denmark
Stupid idea !

They should focus on Live Sports, first at the local level !

E.g., Little League Baseball & Softball !

Tim Cook is either NOT a very smart man, OR simply has NO smart men OR women around him !

Why would AAPL want to compete Head On with others who are already entrenched in a certain market, & Apple is way behind with little to NO chance to even catch up ?

The ONLY reason I can think of is they want to continue to get the stock price expansion of Netflix without actually having to deliver !

It's called "string them along" ... OR more precisely, Smoke & Mirrors & a Dog & Pony Show, Tim's specialty :)
Maybe in the US and countries that cares about those sports
 

qoop

macrumors 6502
Feb 4, 2021
440
424
THE UNITED KINGDOM
"The Copland* Story" — might be worth a look…

*an old operating system that never saw the light of day.
 
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