Following the shift of Wolfs to a limited theatrical release, Apple is rumoured to be backing away from big cinema releases for its films.
Here’s a sad story, should it prove to be true. Reporter Jeff Sneider is claiming that following the release of Apple’s hugely expensive F1 next year, the company is doing the studio equivalent of taking its ball and going home.
Over the last couple of years, Apple has been experimenting with wide theatrical releases for its films. It means that moviegoers have gotten the opportunity to see films like Napoleon, Killers Of The Flower Moon and Argylle on huge screens, while Apple TV+ subscribers have then been able to view them at home.
However, if Sneider’s claim is accurate then that experiment could be over and you likely won’t like the results. Apparently, Apple has decided to cease with wide theatrical releases, not because some of the aforementioned projects didn’t make enough money (because this is Apple and money is one thing it has plenty of) but because it isn’t keen on the ‘bad PR’ that comes along with releasing box office disappointments into the world.
The report yesterday that Wolfs – the upcoming ‘fixer thriller’ featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt – was shifting from a wide theatrical release to a limited one, was apparently the first step in this new strategy. The old strategy, which basically boiled down to Apple using theatrical releases as a way to market the visibility of high-profile titles on its streaming platform – is (according to Sneider) now being viewed as a failure.
Of course, the obvious strategy (to us at least) is to learn from the mistakes of the past and simply make better films that perform to a greater degree in cinemas. However, that seems to be too novel a concept for the studio who are – again, if this report is accurate – going to instead simply going to stop theatrical releases.
It’s disappointing on a number of levels, not least because it takes more films away from cinemas. Most galling is the reason that Sneider offers. ‘Bad PR’ is a troubling reason to make such a decision. Basing your distribution strategy upon reactionary thinking rather than sound planning and building for a future that includes better films seems a bit silly to us. But who are we to argue with the company that can persuade people to wear a VR headset with unsettling digital eyes, pay through the nose for it while arguing that they’re bringing the world closer together?
This is a story that we’ll be keeping an eye on and we’ll let you know how Apple’s future releases are set to be distributed as we hear more.
