Though Apple Original Films has already announced a sequel to “Wolfs,” which the company says is its most-viewed film in Apple TV+ history, director Jon Watts is throwing cold water on the possibility.
Speaking to Collider while promoting the “Star Wars” series “Skeleton Crew,” Watts said, “I don’t know what I’m directing next, and I don’t think there’s going to be a ‘Wolfs‘ sequel.”
It’s unclear if that means a “Wolfs” sequel will continue without Watts, without Clooney and Pitt, or if the project is dead altogether.
Reps for Apple did not return a request for comment.
“Wolfs” is a crime thriller starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as two “fixers” who are forced to team up after a job involving cleaning up the mess of a dead body goes wrong.
In August, Apple announced that instead of a wide theatrical release, “Wolfs” would have a limited theatrical release and then debut on Apple TV+ just one week later. Concurrent with that announcement, Apple revealed that a sequel was already in the works. Watts was announced to be writing the script at that time, though it wasn’t explicitly announced whether Clooney and Pitt would be returning to star and produce or if Watts was still meant to direct.
The move to pull it from a wide theatrical release was a response to a string of costly box office bombs for Apple this year when partnering with other distributors, including “Argylle” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” The studio is still releasing “F1” starring Pitt into theaters widely, but “Wolfs” cut that theatrical run short, even following a premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Clooney reacted to the film not getting a longer theatrical run by saying he was “happy it’s getting released at all.“
And yet Apple boasted after its debut in September that the film was the #1 most-viewed movie in Apple Tv+ history, beating out the Matt Damon-Casey Affleck film “The Instigators” from earlier in the year. Apple claimed that the film was a global hit and saw increased viewerships in numerous countries including the U.S., and that viewership went up nearly 30 percent week over week on the service.
Apple also announced today that “Fly Me to the Moon” would debut on Apple TV+ on December 6 following its box office run this summer that brought in only $42 million worldwide.