Plans for a sequel to AppleTV+’s Wolfs seem to have been canceled, according to the film’s director. The 2024 crime comedy directed by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts reteamed Ocean’s Eleven stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt as two professional fixers who, despite their dislike for one another, are forced to work together. Apple was originally very bullish on the movie and announced plans for a sequel a month before Wolfs was released.
Now, those plans have seemingly been canceled. While speaking with Collider regarding the upcoming release of Skeleton Crew, director Jon Watts detailed what the future holds for him and seemed to rule out the possibility of Wolfs 2. Watts said, “I don’t know what I’m directing next, and I don’t think there’s going to be a Wolfs sequel.” Apple has not officially released a statement regarding the status of the previously announced Wolfs 2, but this does seem to be a good confirmation that the plans for a sequel are dead.
Wolfs was initially supposed to be released theatrically in wide release on Sept. 20, 2024, before debuting exclusively on streaming on AppleTV+. However, just six months before the movie opened in theaters, Apple decided to change the release plan to a limited release on the same release date, with the movie debuting on AppleTV one week later. Wolfs earned a mixed-to-positive reaction from critics, with a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes. MovieWeb’s Mark Keizer gave the film a 2.5 out of 5 rating, calling it a “Tired Crime Thriller Throwback.”
Apple’s Recent Movie Struggles
Despite Wolfs being Apple TV+’s most watched original film, Apple’s decision to cancel plans for Wolfs 2 is not surprising, given the studio’s recent struggles with original films. Before Wolfs, the studio’s four live-action feature films, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Argylle, and Fly Me to the Moon, had big budgets and big stars, but all of them were disappointments at the box office. While Killers of the Flower Moon had awards buzz and Napoleon was the best performing out of the bunch, the nearly $200 million budgets on most of them and the complete box office flops of Argylle and Fly Me to the Moon seem to have shifted Apple’s plans for movies in the future.
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The other big tech company turned movie studio, Amazon, is also struggling with a big-budget star-powered movie with Red One. Like Wolfs, Red One was greenlit in 2021 with big-name stars headlining an original movie, with the intention that these would build into franchises. Now that both films have arrived, plans for Red Two or Wolfs 2 seem to be out the door as the studios grapple with spending large amounts of money on movies that are not turning a profit. While the conventional wisdom has been that tech giants like Amazon and Apple can afford to lose money on these movies since they have other revenue streams, they are now tightening those wallets.
Release Date September 20, 2024
Runtime 108 Minutes
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