Apple Movies Won’t Be Coming To Theaters Anytime Soon (original) (raw)

In the Culver City neighborhood of Los Angeles, just a few blocks from the Sony Pictures studio lot, Apple Inc. is breaking ground on a sprawling, 536,000-square-foot office building that will serve as its headquarters in the region. The tech giant plans to double its workforce to more than 3,000 employees by 2026. But actors, writers and producers in Hollywood who assume Apple’s growing presence in the city will herald a spending surge in its film division may be disappointed.

Apple is rethinking its movie strategy after the disappointing box office performance of several big-budget films, including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Argylle and Fly Me to the Moon. Apple canceled plans to release Wolfs—an action comedy starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt—in thousands of theaters globally. Instead, the picture made its debut in a limited number of venues before it became available on the Apple TV+ streaming service on Sept. 27. Apple plans to use a similar approach with the next few titles on its calendar, including the World War II drama Blitz. Apple, which previously had intended to spend about $1 billion annually on blockbusters for cinemas, won’t return to the big screen with a wide, global theatrical release until June with F1—a film starring Pitt as a former Formula One driver who returns to racing to mentor a rising star.