Apple picks up a new UFO project from director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. More on the project here.
This June will see the release of F1 (pictured), where director Joseph Koskinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer will attempt to recreate the alchemy that made 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick such an incredible success. Fighter jets will be substituted for racing cars, Tom Cruise swapped out for Brad Pitt, but the focus on high-grade blockbuster entertainment will form the backbone of the film’s appeal.
Whether audiences will return in the same kind of numbers that saw Top Gun: Maverick become such a resounding commercial success remains to be seen, but Apple Original Films certainly seem keen to stay in the Kosinski/Bruckheimer business. Back in February we covered a story which claimed the duo were working on some kind of a UFO movie for their next project, with several interested parties keen to secure the project.
It was claimed at the time that at least ‘nine studios are all bidding to secure the duo’s next project, a UFO conspiracy thriller that won’t be a million miles away from the 1990s TV phenomenon, The X Files.'
Ultimately though, it looks like Apple’s deep pockets have won out, with Deadline reporting that the project will be set up there.
This does raise a couple of interesting questions about Apple’s strange strategy in the world of streaming. An expensive deal like this one seemingly commits it to another wide theatrical release, prolonging a strategy which recently looked to be moving away from such releases. Does this mean Apple has reversed course once again and will be looking to place key films in cinemas after all? What if F1 doesn’t do the business, commercially or critically?
The company’s image is built upon style and quality and it didn’t seem to enjoy being connected to the critical drubbing that Argylle got when it landed in cinemas at the beginning of last year. Since then, Apple’s strategy of supporting theatrical releases has looked a little wobbly, so we’re not quite sure bow this latest piece of news fits into the increasingly hard to predict jigsaw puzzle that the company is piecing together.
We’ll bring you more on this project as we hear it.
