By Apple TV+ released a new poster this morning for their George Clooney/Brad Pitt-led action-dark comedy “Wolfs”.
What’s interesting enough to make news about said poster is that it only reveals the film’s September 27th premiere date on Apple TV+ – no mention is made of its theatrical release.
The film was famously going to hit cinemas with a wide release on September 20th before Apple opted for a limited release via Sony on the 20th and an Apple TV+ release on the 27th.
Now though, not only has the poster omitted the theatrical date and any credit for Sony entirely, but fans have noticed that advance ticket sales for the film are no longer available on Fandango.
Articles at Forbes and The New York Times have gone into what is happening, indicating that Apple cancelled a national ad campaign for the film planned by partner Sony during the Olympics.
Without that ad push, even reps for the stars are reportedly okay with the theatrical release being limited and essentially unmarketed as poor box-office could reflect badly on their clients.
Instead, the film is following the path of the Matt Damon-led “The Instigators” the other month with a tiny one-week theatrical run in the U.S. only (no international) followed by a worldwide launch of the film the following week with the latter getting the promotional push.
As previously reported, Apple is now following the other streamers in terms of frugality – cutting back on big feature project spending and releases as cinemas remain well below pre-pandemic levels even with recent success stories like “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2”.
The new report says most new TV+ feature projects are seeing their budgets capped at $80 million, with only a very small handful of higher budget ‘big-swing’ releases each year that will get theatrical runs – such as the Pitt-led “F1” next year.
The reasoning comes down to the question of what value a wide theatrical campaign can bring if the main audience is online anyway. Theatrical releases require costly promotional budgets so are only pursued if “it can materially boost the project’s viewership, or with a prestige project, its awards chances.”
All involved, including Watts, have cited they made this as a theatrical experience and want it to be seen in cinemas. The film will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Monday which is now expected to be its only non-U.S. cinema screening for the public.
Wolf (n) – A lone person who fixes things, typically of a sensitive nature. Plural: none.#WolfsMovie — Streaming September 27 on Apple TV+ pic.twitter.com/RbVOCiFK7a
— Apple Original Films (@AppleFilms) August 28, 2024
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