Director Jon Watts reveals that Wolfs 2 was abandoned due to him not trusting Apple anymore ‘as a creative partner’. More here.
Directed by Jon Watts, who has three successful Spider-Man movies under his belt, the star power of George Clooney and Brad Pitt was presumably a major factor in comedy thriller Wolfs getting a release in cinemas. Made with Apple TV+ money, the movie had a ton of advertising, and Wolfs was all set for a wide release (even though reviews were hardly gushing).
Well, until Apple got cold feet. When expensive films such as Argylle and Fly Me To The Moon spluttered at the box office, Apple did an about turn, pulling back the budgets on future movies and cutting the theatrical release in most cases.
Wolfs was the first in the crossfire, and Jon Watts wasn’t happy. Just as the film was being released, there’d been talk of Wolfs 2. It’s no longer happening.
As Watts told Deadline, “their last minute shift from a promised wide theatrical release to a streaming release was a total surprise and made without any explanation or discussion. I wasn’t even told about it until less than a week before they announced it to the world.”
Read more: Wolfs review | Two Hollywood stars, one two-star thriller
Watts said that he asked Apple not to announce the sequel news, but out went the press release anyway. Watts responded by “quietly” returning the money Apple had paid him to pen Wolfs 2 and said that “Apple didn’t cancel the Wolfs sequel, I did, because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner.”
Ouch.
It comes as more and more filmmakers are veering towards deals that get them a theatrical release for their films, and Netflix for one is feeling the pressure there.
As for Apple, it’s committed to give its hugely expensive F1 a theatrical outing next year. Beyond that? Well, Wolfs 2 is no longer on the slate.
Wolfs, incidentally, comes up in this episode of our film show…
