Apple is set to drop a billion on theatrical features

The Future. Apple wants to become a much bigger player in the theatrical business, putting a billion aside to make movies that will play exclusively in theaters before heading to AppleTV+. Considering Amazon’s similar move and Netflix’s experimentation, putting a movie in theaters may be the best way to market a streaming service, attract top talent, and actually make some money back on blockbusters.

First seeds
Apple now wants its biggest movies on the biggest screen possible.

• The tech giant will reportedly spend $1 billion a year to produce and distribute theatrical movies, with the possibility of partnering with rival studios to enter the space.
• The company plans to put the movies on thousands of screens for at least a month — as opposed to the smaller theatrical runs of movies like CODA and Cherry.

What Apple titles can you expect to see in cinemas? Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is already a lock for next year. Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, and Joseph Kosinki’s in-the-works Formula 1 movie are also good bets.

Big screen dreams
The hope is that by eventizing original movies with a theatrical release, it’ll drive more people to sign up for Apple TV+, which has fallen behind in the streaming wars with an estimated 20-40 million subscribers. It’s a similar move to Amazon, which has also said it would spend a billion on theatrical movies — reportedly 12 to 15 a year. That starts with next month’s Air.We’ll see if the gambit works, but it’s safe to say that theater chains are already very happy.