Why Can’t Apple Figure Out Movies?

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss Apple’s puzzling film strategy after the company's latest announcement that ‘Wolfs,' an action comedy starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, will no longer get a wide theatrical release. Matt and Lucas wonder how interested Apple is in putting movies in theaters, how new pressure to cut spending is affecting its film strategy, and how much creators like working with the tech giant (02:57). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about Peacock’s subscriber growth after the Olympics (26:15). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ click here. Email us your thoughts! [email protected] Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone, it's Matt here. Before you skip ahead, I wanted to remind you that if you like this
0:04.5	podcast, you'll probably love Puck, where I write a newsletter twice a week called What I'm Hearing.
0:09.8	It's got tons of inside analysis, tidbits about what's really going on in Hollywood. It's where I
0:14.6	break news and I go deeper on the biggest topics, exclusive stuff that we don't get into on the town.
0:19.8	It's all part of Puck, which is like a
0:21.5	digital magazine for plugged-in people. It's got about a dozen real insiders doing exclusive
0:26.7	reporting and entertainment, media, sports, fashion, politics, and finance. If you're
0:32.0	interested, listeners of the town get a discount, actually. Just go to the description page of this
0:37.0	episode, or you can go to puck.
0:38.4	com. News slash the town to join Puck or start a free trial.
0:43.4	Now, let's get on to the show.
0:46.7	It is Monday, August 12th.
0:49.2	In the nearly five years since Apple launched its streaming service, Apple TV Plus,
0:54.2	it has released more than 30 original feature films.
0:57.5	That's not including documentaries.
0:59.5	Some of them Apple made, like last weekend's The Instigators or Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.
1:04.1	Some they acquired like Sundance Pickups, like the Oscar winner, Coda.
1:08.6	And starting last fall with Killers of the Flower Moon,
1:11.1	some of these movies have been getting wide theatrical releases
1:14.0	with a meaningful window of exclusivity before they drop on the service.
1:18.4	The problem for Apple is that these movies haven't been doing that well in theaters.
1:22.7	Killers did about 150 worldwide, way less than the movie costs.
	...

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