Apple's $700 million investment,

Three Apple bets—’The Moonstruck,’ ‘Napoleon’ and ‘Argylle’—failed.

The Oscars left some certainties: Nolan has received the industry recognition he has been seeking for years (and a box office hit), Messi the dog is the star of the year, Miyazaki and his life philosophy inspire us, and streaming is no longer the industry darling. The Apple case is particularly bleeding.

Decline of streaming. Netflix’s short film ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’ won one of 32 nominations. This is a big drop after ‘CODA’ two seasons ago and ‘Roma’, which won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography and turned heads to platforms.

Case of ‘CODA’. Nobody remembers it much anymore, since its career peak was at the Oscars, where it won a strange list of awards (Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay), which were its only nominations. Apple paid a record $25 million for its exclusive distribution on Apple TV+ at the festival. Never before had a festival film won the Oscar. It changed Apple’s film investments.

Making millions. The Wall Street Journal, which covered the Oscars competition between Apple and Netflix, estimated that Apple had spent $10 million promoting ‘CODA’ among academics. Equal to or greater than the film’s budget. It was a big bet for a company that had previously considered cinema a side business. Bets have multiplied since 2023.

Seven hundred now. Variety estimated in March that Apple spent $700 million on its three 2023 releases. Scorsese’s ‘Killer Moon’ cost $215 million (40 of which were anti-COVID). Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ and Matthew Vaughn’s hugely unsuccessful ‘Argylle’ joined it, raising $700 million.

Only’Napoleon’ had discreetly recovered its budget with $221 million worldwide, followed by ‘Killers’ with $157 million and ‘Argylle’ with $88 million. The investment was $700 compared to $466 million (not all to Apple).

Streaming goal. According to Variety, these figures may not be a disaster given that Apple wants to fill its streaming platform with exclusive content, and while there are no specific figures, both ‘Napoleon’ and ‘The Assassins of the Moon’ have topped Apple TV +’s most viewed lists. The company does not follow Netflix’s unstoppable strategy of releasing films and series. Apple likes to portray its exclusive releases as rare but high-quality.

The Oscar flop. This year’s Oscars were a failure for streaming platforms. Apple bet the most on this horse and had the worst result: ten nominations for ‘The Moonlight Assassins’ and no awards. The film ‘Napoleon’ was clearly designed to win the main categories, but it only received three technical nominations and failed to win.

Will Apple’s future change? A well-planned 2024 and beyond future can’t be defined by one mistake. Apple will likely continue to provide Apple TV+ with high-quality exclusives. It may even go beyond independent production for third-party distribution (Sony helped in 2023). Variety quoted Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives: “Apple is under pressure to buy a major studio. I still believe they’ll get one in 12–18 months better than 50%.” The race has just begun.

Apple’s $700 million investment,

Three Apple bets—’The Moonstruck,’ ‘Napoleon’ and ‘Argylle’—failed.

By b0oua

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