When it was first announced, there was a lot of hype for “Wolfs.” The film features two of the biggest movie stars in the business—George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Not only that, but it comes from a director who is coming off of three huge ‘Spider-Man’ movies. But the film barely made a blip on the radar when it was released, primarily because Apple only put it in select theaters for one week before sending it to streaming. And that decision may have cost Apple a potential franchise.
READ MORE: ‘Wolfs’ Review: Brad Pitt & George Clooney Are In Top Form In Jon Watts’ Entertaining Action Comedy [Venice]
Speaking to Deadline, Jon Watts, the writer and director of “Wolfs,” explained why there won’t be a sequel to his recent film. You may remember, when Apple decided to pivot away from a full theatrical release for the film, it was also announced that Watts was hard at work on a sequel. Well, that decision led to Watts doing something unheard of in Hollywood—he walked away from the film and will no longer work with Apple.
“I showed Apple my final cut of ‘Wolfs’ early this year,” Watts explained. “They were extremely enthusiastic about it and immediately commissioned me to start writing a sequel. But their last minute shift from a promised wide theatrical release to a streaming release was a total surprise and made without any explanation or discussion. I wasn’t even told about it until less than a week before they announced it to the world. I was completely shocked and asked them to please not include the news that I was writing a sequel.”
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He continued, “They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, seemingly to create a positive spin to their streaming pivot. And so I quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel. I didn’t want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn’t want to generate any unnecessary negative press. I loved working with Brad and George (and Amy and Austin and Poorna and Zlatko) and would happily do it again. But the truth is that Apple didn’t cancel the ‘Wolfs’ sequel, I did, because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner.”
Ouch.
You can definitely understand why Watts did what he had to do. The decision to make “Wolfs” a streaming film instead of a full wide release feature was reportedly made for reasons that don’t even include the Clooney and Pitt film. According to various reports, Apple is now in the business of making relatively smaller films ($80 million budget and below) and not big budget releases. This comes after a string of poor box office performances, including “Napoleon” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” So, the decision to change “Wolfs” from a theatrical release to a streaming one must have shocked Watts and Co. Thus the cancellation of the sequel.
All’s well that ends well, however. Watts has signed a deal with Disney to work on films for that studio, and Apple will live to fight another day. It is the biggest company in the world, after all. But perhaps the very public statement by Watts will change how Apple does business with filmmakers. We’ll have to wait and see.