Signs of further cash-driven turmoil in the streaming industry. Having saturated their own market, destroyed brand value by overloading us with content, and then basically re-invented linear cable TV complete with ads, the market is clearly feeling the pressure. Apple TV+ now looks as if they are backing away from theatrical releases.
Yesterday the wide theatrical release for Wolfs was canned. That is an action comedy directed by the man behind the latest Spider-Man trilogy and starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
If they can’t see a way to the box office for a movie like that, then things are worse than we thought. The test screenings have been massively positive, with audiences really digging the R-rated Oceans Eleven vibes.
It will now go direct to streaming on September 27th with only a limited theatrical release.
This comes hot on the heels of Doug Liman’s The Instigators, starring Matt Damon, looking likely to add to Apple’s litany of financial failure in cinemas. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, and Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon have all underperformed despite huge budgets.
Now, scooper Jeff Sneider reports that his spies tell him that Apple is done with wide theatrical releases.
The way forward is to be a one-week limited strategy for awards consideration and contractual reasons, followed by streaming releases. This will not include Joseph Kosinski’s upcoming F1 movie. Sneider says:
“Apple’s all about good PR, and they don’t need the bad PR from all these movies not doing well, is how the individual explained it to me, though they noted that the decision wasn’t a reflection on Wolfs, which was ‘actually pretty good, [and] would’ve done fine.’”
Across streaming town, Netflix is also making some changes. We know their new leadership was focussing on value. After the massive budget Rebel Moon movies were savaged by critics and audiences, Zack Snyder is likely to not be getting the big budgets the streamer has previously lavished upon him.
Snyder himself was already making noises about wanting to go smaller. This may be because somebody at Netflix had already had “the chat” with him.
Plans for further Rebel Moon spin-offs seem to have been quietly shelved. Meanwhile, The Wrap is reporting that the Army Of The Dead animated series has been canned, as have plans for any further movies in that franchise.
Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon both have director’s cuts available now on Amazon.