Report: Apple TV+ Pivoting Movie Strategy Amid Disappointing Performance

[MacRumors]

Apple is retreating from its ambitious plans for wide theatrical movie releases after several of its high-budget films failed to meet box office expectations, Bloomberg reports.

Apple is believed to have initially set aside $1 billion annually to produce big-budget films for cinemas, aiming to compete with traditional Hollywood studios. The company's goal was ostensibly to release a series of blockbuster movies that could drive ticket sales, win prestigious awards, and elevate its profile in the film industry.

Films such as Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott's Napoleon, and Matthew Vaughn's Argylle were expected to perform strongly at the box office, but each delivered disappointing results. As a result, Apple is now said to be scaling back these plans with a growing emphasis on using limited theatrical windows to qualify for awards while primarily marketing its films as streaming titles.

One of the biggest signs of this shift was the cancellation of the wide global release of Wolfs, an action comedy starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The film had originally been slated for a broad theatrical debut in thousands of cinemas around the world. Instead, it was released in a limited number of theaters before becoming available for streaming on Apple TV+ on September 27.

Apple's leadership has reportedly been seeking to rein in costs across its entertainment division. While the company is said to remain committed to its $1 billion annual film budget, it will now focus on producing fewer high-budget films, reducing the number of theatrical releases, and scaling down the average production cost of its movies. According to sources familiar with the company's plans, Apple will continue to produce about a dozen films per year, most with budgets under $100 million.

Only one or two major titles each year will be given larger budgets and wide theatrical releases, such as the upcoming film F1, starring Brad Pitt, which is set for a global release in June 2025. F1 is expected to be Apple's most expensive movie to date, with a reported production budget of over $300 million.

Article Link: Report: Apple TV+ Pivoting Movie Strategy Amid Disappointing Performance

 

[Apples Apples Everywhere]

To quote Jay Sherman, “It stinks!”

 

[orangeadrenaline]

I watched Wolfs and it wasn’t very good. It’s just 2 guys bantering back and forth the whole time. Boring

 

[stocklen]

This seems a ridiculously naive expectation.

Personally, I would never pay for a cinema ticket for an Apple movie because I know that its coming to AppleTV+ very soon.
Argyll we had to wait quite a few weeks for but it was coming so why go and pay cinema prices when its coming as part of the AppleTV+ subscription you already pay.

That's why they haven't done well in cinemas - sure some of them have been less than stellar movies but hey.

 

[JippaLippa]

They should concentrate on making thought provoking serieses, such as Severance.

 

[Abadgermac]

Against my better judgement, I watched Wolfs.
It was truly awful. Clooney and Pitt should hang their heads in shame.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Get out of the TV Show and movie business and have the numerous other companies who have streaming apps do that. Refocus on hardware. If they want to do content they should do AAA games, make a first party game controller and upgrade Apple TV to be a living room device capable of handling those games, and have games from this focus work also with Mac. Otherwise do cloud software, AI, operating systems and hardware and quitting messing around with the distraction that is Hollywood.

 

[matthewcc]

I know the movie business is in a weird place right now but its not so weird and unpredictable that "Brad Pitt $300m F1 movie" isn't an obvious bomb. Who the hell is the audience for this?

Ridley Scott is infamously hit-or-miss with more misses than hits as he's gotten older. Funding that Napoleon project was ridiculously irresponsible.

The people green lighting these movies must just be Gen-X types excited to work with the auteurs and stars of their youth and they should just not be allowed to make these decisions.

 

[L92]

It's a good sign. Hopefully they will try to make something interesting instead of dropping A-list stars in a subpar script and call it a day. HBO and Netflix are able to make hit after hit without major movie stars and their app is not pre-installed on 1.5billion phones.
There are good shows on Apple TV, but at least 1/3 of it is a stinker, and 1/3 is a beautifully produced nothing.

 

[Kay_Ess]

300 million for a darn movie… My god, 300.000.000 bucks for a movie. How do you even manage to spend numbers like that… On a movie..!

****ing hell.

 

[Someyoungguy]

They just always seem to be missing something that I can’t quite put my finger on. My overall impression is that maybe the scripts are only 85% done(??). With Wolfs, there is no real ending and the relationships causing the…circumstances…became muddled. Otherwise it looks great and the two main actors don’t disappoint, but I’m glad I didn’t pay $15 to see it in a theater.

 

[lyngo]

Napoleon I thought could have been so much more.

 

[CraigsDog]

Invest in good projects, not just projects with "big names" in them

 

[brofkand]

People are sick of the billionaire class preaching to us via TV and movies. Apple TV+ is doomed for that reason alone.

 

[nt5672]

Most of Hollywood these days are focused on making what people with money want made, which turns out to be mostly bad. They have gotten completely away from making what people want to watch.

 

[MacAttack2024]

This drive into movie and tv shows seems less about good content as time goes on and more about just trying to snag awards and elevate their ranking in the production industry. They should scale back on focus on limited, great content, creating a streaming package the benefits their user instead of desperately trying to make more subscription cash flow for their investor reports.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

People are sick of the billionaire class preaching to us via TV and movies. Apple TV+ is doomed for that reason alone.

Apple is probably too political to be in the entrainment business. They should get out and make good products instead.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

This drive into movie and tv shows seems less about good content as time goes on and more about just trying to snag awards and elevate their ranking in the production industry. They should scale back on focus on limited, great content, creating a streaming package the benefits their user instead of desperately trying to make more subscription cash flow for their investor reports.

They should get out.

 

[jblank]

Just my opinion but none of their films seem very interesting. I love historical films but Napoleon just didn't grab me. The best thing they've done, in my opinion, was the Tom Hanks WWII naval film. I don't know what it is but they just haven't made anything that has made me excited to see it.

 

[jblank]

Most of Hollywood these days are focused on making what people with money want made, which turns out to be mostly bad. They have gotten completely away from making what people want to watch.

I think you've nailed it!

 

[Osxguy]

Maybe we don't like going to the movies. Especially long movies. How I sat though Oppenheimer is beyond me that three hours was excruciatingly exhausting... Let me play it at home at my own time at my own pace and pause to go to the bathroom. Also to agree with the people here. This is starting to look a lot like the mid 90's trying to a do a bit of everything mediocre instead of doing a few things beautifully.

 

[Orange Bat]

Apple TV+ is so promising yet so disappointing at the same time. They have some great stuff on there, but so much of it is ALMOST good to great. Their biggest problem is that Apple LOVES LOVES LOVES their celebrities. They think it’s 1996 and you can plug a big name star in a project for instant success. But those days are long over (remember when Steve Jobs made a BIG DEAL about The Beatles on Apple Music and nobody really cared?). Make stuff that people want to see. Get down in the muck a little bit with horror or some gross-out comedy. Make some action movies and silly sci-fi. Not everything needs to be an Oscar contender and artsy-fartsy.

 

[AndiG]

No one wants Apple-ified movies. Simple fact.

 

[bmark]

Getting in the streaming game was dumb for Apple! Maybe they get back to basics such as actually fixing bugs and doing real beta testing in iOS.

 

[michaelant]

I feel if they finally made a Tim Cook biographical drama they'd have a hit right there. Who else is going to make it?