How “Wolfs” embodies the very worst of the streaming era

(Image credit: Apple)

Sun 15 September 2024 22:30, United Kingdom

Aside from the latest chapter in a proven franchise, there aren’t many films that are guaranteed hits. But based on the talent involved, Wolves markets itself to the widest possible audience and has all the prerequisites to make a decent profit on the big screen.

The film is more of a self-promoting one. It's an action comedy starring two of the biggest stars in the business, written and directed by a filmmaker whose three previous films have grossed billions. If there were still voice actors in trailers, they would have a blast narrating the commercials.

Finally, Wolves is a black comedy starring Oscar winner George Clooney and Brad Pitt with Jon Watts, director of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider Man Trilogy with Tom Holland – at the helm. It is a self-running business, but those in power have decided that they do not want to share it with the world.

If you break it down even further, it is an indication of the dangers of streaming, which Wolves is withheld from wide publication. Pitt and Clooney have been superstars for decades; they have won four Oscars between them for 15 nominations, and the last time they starred together on screen, they were characters operating on the wrong side of the law, Steven Soderbergh’s ocean The trilogy grossed one billion at the box office.

Watts, on the other hand, was most recently behind the camera of the third highest-grossing film ever released in the US and the seventh highest-grossing film in history. Every major studio and streaming service in the industry participated in the feverish bidding war for the rights to the project, and the fact that Apple would emerge victorious was a problem from the start.

According to recent estimates, AppleTV+ has around 44 million subscribers worldwide. That's not a drop in the ocean, but it's tiny compared to Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. The streaming service has produced some phenomenal films and widely acclaimed TV shows, but aside from Ted Lasso, it hasn't produced anything that has captured the zeitgeist, established itself as a must-see, or led to a major surge in subscriber numbers.

Denzel Washington's The Tragedy of MacbethTom Hanks' Greyhound And finchJennifer Lawrence's damand Taron Egerton's Tetris all received much praise, but were quickly forgotten in the fast-moving world of cinema, while Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon bucked the trend with a long theatrical run, but flopped. That's not even counting episodic titles like Silo, Severance, Dark Matter, Slow Horses, and Bad Sisters; all great shows, but not many people watch or talk about them compared to the hottest streaming hits.

Wolves was originally intended for a wide theatrical release, part of the deals between Clooney and Pitt when they teamed up with Apple. However, nine months after the tech giant reached an agreement with Sony for distribution in the United States, it was announced that the high-profile potential hit would instead play in theaters for just one week before becoming permanently available on streaming.

Internationally, it is not even that well known, Clooney admitted: “Of course it’s rubbish” that Wolves was essentially a streaming exclusive, acknowledging that “a wide release would have been nicer.” Ultimately, it's the money that counts, but Apple's decision that the risk wasn't worth the potential reward points to a larger problem with theatrical release.

For one thing, original films continue to struggle. The box office has recovered to some extent, but the 14 biggest hits of 2024 so far are all sequels, reboots or adaptations. John Krasinski's IF is the highest-grossing film based on a completely original idea, and even then the profit margins were razor-thin, if they existed at all.

The shortened time windows between theatrical and on-demand viewing have made the cinema experience less important than ever, but Pitt and Clooney in a high-profile coup directed by Spider Man This guy checks a lot of demographic boxes. Instead, Wolves will land on AppleTV+ with a whimperand within a few weeks it will drift into the cultural ether and never be mentioned again.