Report: Apple is “Done" With Wide Theatrical Releases

Yesterday it was announced that Apple nixed the Sept. 20 wide release date for Jon Watts’ “Wolfs,” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The film will now open only in select theaters before streaming on Apple TV+ the following week on Sept. 27.

Weirdly enough, Apple also announced that Watts would return to write, direct, and produce a sequel that would bring Clooney and Pitt’s “fixers” back for more hijinks.

The main questions that should be asked here are 1) why would Apple cancel almost all theatrical plans for a movie starring A-listers George Clooney and Brad Pitt? 2) Is there a lack of confidence in “Wolfs” performing well? If that was even the case, then why greenlight another expensive sequel?

Well, a source reached out to Jeff Sneider, who is reporting that “Apple is done with wide theatrical releases for all of its movies.” This would also explain why they gave Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” a heavily Oscar-buzzed title, a tepid one-week theatrical run in November.

Sneider’s source adds that there will be one last exception, and that’s Apple’s Brad Pitt movie “F1”, set for release next summer, and being distributed by Warner Bros. After that, Apple is taking the Netflix route and shunning the theatrical experience for good.

Here’s Sneider’s source explaining Apple’s current mindset:

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.

This is no doubt a decision made in response to Apple’s recent expensively produced box office disappointments, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Argylle,” and “Fly Me to the Moon”. This “pivot” is, more or less, an admission from Apple that their wide-release strategy isn’t working out, or at least, isn’t worth the bad PR that comes with failing to meet certain expectations.