Report: Apple TV+ Pivoting Movie Strategy Amid Disappointing Performance

Apple is retreating from its ambitious plans for wide theatrical movie releases after several of its high-budget films failed to meet box office expectations, Bloomberg reports.

Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Dark Teal
Apple is believed to have initially set aside $1 billion annually to produce big-budget films for cinemas, aiming to compete with traditional Hollywood studios. The company's goal was ostensibly to release a series of blockbuster movies that could drive ticket sales, win prestigious awards, and elevate its profile in the film industry.

Films such as Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott's Napoleon, and Matthew Vaughn's Argylle were expected to perform strongly at the box office, but each delivered disappointing results. As a result, Apple is now said to be scaling back these plans with a growing emphasis on using limited theatrical windows to qualify for awards while primarily marketing its films as streaming titles.

One of the biggest signs of this shift was the cancellation of the wide global release of Wolfs, an action comedy starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The film had originally been slated for a broad theatrical debut in thousands of cinemas around the world. Instead, it was released in a limited number of theaters before becoming available for streaming on Apple TV+ on September 27.

Apple's leadership has reportedly been seeking to rein in costs across its entertainment division. While the company is said to remain committed to its $1 billion annual film budget, it will now focus on producing fewer high-budget films, reducing the number of theatrical releases, and scaling down the average production cost of its movies. According to sources familiar with the company's plans, Apple will continue to produce about a dozen films per year, most with budgets under $100 million.

Only one or two major titles each year will be given larger budgets and wide theatrical releases, such as the upcoming film F1, starring Brad Pitt, which is set for a global release in June 2025. F1 is expected to be Apple's most expensive movie to date, with a reported production budget of over $300 million.

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Top Rated Comments

JippaLippa Avatar
7 months ago
They should concentrate on making thought provoking serieses, such as Severance.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brofkand Avatar
7 months ago
People are sick of the billionaire class preaching to us via TV and movies. Apple TV+ is doomed for that reason alone.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
7 months ago

People are sick of the billionaire class preaching to us via TV and movies. Apple TV+ is doomed for that reason alone.
Apple is probably too political to be in the entrainment business. They should get out and make good products instead.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orangeadrenaline Avatar
7 months ago
I watched Wolfs and it wasn’t very good. It’s just 2 guys bantering back and forth the whole time. Boring
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
7 months ago
Get out of the TV Show and movie business and have the numerous other companies who have streaming apps do that. Refocus on hardware. If they want to do content they should do AAA games, make a first party game controller and upgrade Apple TV to be a living room device capable of handling those games, and have games from this focus work also with Mac. Otherwise do cloud software, AI, operating systems and hardware and quitting messing around with the distraction that is Hollywood.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
stocklen Avatar
7 months ago
This seems a ridiculously naive expectation.

Personally, I would never pay for a cinema ticket for an Apple movie because I know that its coming to AppleTV+ very soon.
Argyll we had to wait quite a few weeks for but it was coming so why go and pay cinema prices when its coming as part of the AppleTV+ subscription you already pay.

That's why they haven't done well in cinemas - sure some of them have been less than stellar movies but hey.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)