“I quietly returned the money…”: There will be no sequel to this movie with Brad Pitt and George Clooney

It’s a release we rarely see, and clearly marks the growing tension with studios deciding to release their films on streaming. We learn this way term that Jon Watts — the director who broke away from the Spider-Man franchise with Tom Holland and Zendaya to write and direct Wolfs with Brad Pitt and George Clooney for Apple — has hinted there won’t be a sequel. And this, even if Wolfs became the most watched feature film on the Apple TV+ platform.

Deadline already revealed plans for a sequel at the same time that it announced at the same time that Apple was abandoning its theatrical release strategy in favor of a limited release broadcast on its streaming platform. The move follows the failure of Moon – also by Apple – to live up to its box office promises upon its theatrical release.

And although the team of wolves attended the screening in Venice, everyone involved was very disappointed with this decision.

vs. movie streaming

And this strategy has recently been implemented by studios who produce and who have a streaming platform, leading to cancellations of sequels. We were able to observe the same thing when Doug Liman argued with Amazon, who decided to move the remake of Road House with Jake Gyllenhaal directly to Prime Video, despite his agreement for a theatrical release and excellent test results.

Even if the film made it to Premier Video, Liman was reluctant to return for a sequel. This highlights the ongoing dilemma between streaming and theatrical releases, which are synonymous with significant promotion and operating costs. Apple is currently shooting Joseph Kosinski’s F1 movie with Brad Pitt, which will eventually be distributed theatrically by Warner Bros. before airing on Apple TV+.

John Watts Cash

Jon Watts gave Deadline his take on what happened, and it’s safe to say the director isn’t mincing his words:

“I showed Apple a final piece of Wolfs earlier this year. They were very excited and immediately asked me to start the sequel. But their last-minute switch from a theatrical release to a streaming release was completely unexpected and happened without any explanation or discussion.

I only found out about a week before they announced it to the world. I was completely shocked and asked them not to announce that I was writing a sequel. They ignored my request and announced it anyway in their press release, apparently positive about the streaming change.

So I quietly returned the money they gave me for the extension.

I didn’t want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn’t want to generate too much negative press. I loved working with Brad and George (and Amy, Austin, Purna and Zlatko) and would do it again. But the truth is, Apple didn’t cancel the Wolfs sequel, I canceled it because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner.“

According to Deadline, no one has yet commented, but sources close to Apple say the film is a success and is still open.