Apple has gone back to the drawing board, after its plans to spend US$1 billion (A$1.44 billion) a year on a handful of blockbusters to be released into cinemas failed to meet expectations.
It comes “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”, Bloomberg reported.
Apple recently cancelled its plans to release the action comedy Wolfs – starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt – in thousands of theatres globally. The film screened in a small number of venues before it became available on Friday via the Apple TV+ streaming service.
“Apple plans to use a similar approach with the next few titles on its calendar, including the World War II drama Blitz,” Bloomberg said.
“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.”
Apple Studios’ production, per IMDB.
The three-hour, 26-minute Killers of the Flower Moon – starring Robert De Niro (pictured at top), Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and John Lithgow – cost an estimated US$200 million (A$280 million) to make.
According to IMDB it grossed US$68 million (A$98 million) in the US and Canada, and US$159 million (A$230 million) worldwide.
Once cinemas took their cut on each ticket sold (roughly half), Apple Studios would have been left bleeding barrels of red ink.
Apple Studios in based in Culver City, Los Angeles. It’s facing financial pressures from Apple’s Silicon Valley HQ in Cupertino, about 600km north.
Apple Studios will now focus “on making about a dozen movies a year, most of them produced for less than $100 million, according to people familiar with the company’s plans …” per Bloomberg. “That means Apple’s commitment to spend (US)$1 billion annually on films won’t change, but the makeup of the company’s movie slate and release strategies will.”
