Apple’s theatrical movie strategy may soon start to shift, says report

In the last year, Apple has significantly ramped up its movie offerings with a string of high-budget, big-name films receiving wide theatrical releases and long exclusivity windows before hitting Apple TV+.

While the earlier days of Apple-funded movies focused on smaller-budget indie films, like the Oscar-winning CODA, over the past half a year or so, Apple has turbocharged its offerings.

The company recently debuted massive projects like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, and most recently, Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. All three films came not only with prestigious directors behind them, but also massive financial backing to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now, according to a new report, it sounds like Apple’s leadership is reassessing its ambitions for film, including the role of theatrical releases as part of its strategy.

Learning from theatrical under performers

Matt Belloni at Puck has shared what he’s heard regarding a meeting at Apple last month that involved TV+ heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht along with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and Services head Eddy Cue. The meeting was a chance to check in on Apple’s movie strategy and consider a shift.

Cook and Cue didn’t demand a massive strategic alteration, but they did press for some change in the near future.

From Belloni at Puck:

I’m told the Apple leaders did prod Zack and Jamie to explain how the company can become smarter in its theatrical endeavors—which, at least by traditional metrics, haven’t gone great.

Belloni highlights that this meeting came not only after Apple’s recent trio of big-budget theatrical offerings, but also ahead of several key theatrical releases that are in the pipeline. One such film is the Brad Pitt-starring Formula One title that reportedly carries a $300-million plus price tag. Continued struggles at theatrical could be extremely costly for the company.

9to5Mac’s Take

Apple has a lot of money to throw around, a fact that’s been clear since TV+ first debuted in 2019. This gives it a competitive advantage over legacy Hollywood studios who have much different financial realities to contend with.

However, this meeting—and especially Tim Cook’s presence at it—indicates there still comes a point when Apple’s purse strings are tightened.

I hope the company is patient enough and Apple’s film team creative enough to find out how to achieve success with theatrical releases. But if the next few big-budget projects underperform, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a major shift taking place.