A few months back, I reported how Apple had already greenlit a sequel to Jon Watts’ “Wolfs,” starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney. It’s now been made official.
Deadline is reporting Watts is set to write, direct and produce the sequel (which, I had heard, might be called “Wolves”). Clooney and Pitt will come back in their respective roles.
In addition, “Wolfs” was supposed to be wide released in September, those plans have been nixed by Apple. Instead, the streamer has decided to give it a very limited theatrical bow on September 20, and a week later, make it available on their streaming service Apple TV+.
Apple hasn’t had much luck with theatrical releases. Last year, it was “Napoleon” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” This year, they had Matthew Vaughn’s “Argyle” bombing hard at the box-office, and most recently, the $100M costing “Fly Me To The Moon” did not fare well theatrically despite having Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in the starring roles.
It’s come to the point where Apple’s next big film after “Wolfs”, the Steve McQueen-directed WWII drama “Blitz,” will only be getting a limited theatrical run on November 22 and then be made available to stream on Apple TV+ the following week, on November 29.
Pitt and Clooney star in “Wolfs” as “lone wolf fixers” assigned to the same gig. The film is set to have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival during the first week of September. No other fall fests have been booked for the film.
Following his Sundance breakout debut, “Cop Car,” Watts has been mostly dabbling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So far, he’s directed “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” He recently mentioned having no desire to return to the Spidey-verse.