We’ve seen the last of George Clooney and Brad Pitt‘s professional fixers.
Jon Watts, who wrote and directed Wolfs, has revealed that the previously announced sequel to the 2024 action comedy movie has been shelved. However, this wasn’t Apple‘s doing, as the filmmaker shared that he himself pulled the plug on the follow-up.
“I showed Apple my final cut of Wolfs early this year,” Watts told Deadline. “They were extremely enthusiastic about it and immediately commissioned me to start writing a sequel. But their last minute shift from a promised wide theatrical release to a streaming release was a total surprise and made without any explanation or discussion. I wasn’t even told about it until less than a week before they announced it to the world. I was completely shocked and asked them to please not include the news that I was writing a sequel. They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, seemingly to create a positive spin to their streaming pivot.”
The filmmaker continued, “And so I quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel. I didn’t want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn’t want to generate any unnecessary negative press. I loved working with Brad and George (and Amy and Austin and Poorna and Zlatko) and would happily do it again. But the truth is that Apple didn’t cancel the Wolfs sequel, I did, because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner.”
Apple definitely screwed up. Wolfs was reportedly the most-viewed feature film ever released on Apple TV+, so pissing off Watts was likely not the best move. It’s also been shared that Clooney and Pitt took pay cuts so that Wolfs would receive a wide theatrical release. Needless to say, it doesn’t look like those three will be working with Apple again anytime soon.
Have you seen Wolfs? Is this the beginning of the end of streaming’s reign across Hollywood? Share your thoughts using your Disqus account in the comments below!
