It's good that Apple has found something to do with all of that money. Well, aside from making a range of new, wildly successful devices. It certainly helps the company land some of the biggest movie deals in today's ridiculously competitive market.
Some partnerships take time before the fruits of the effort come to life. In this case, it's the multi-year partnership between Apple and Skydance Animation. The two companies announced the deal back in February of this year, and it wasn't until April that we saw the first look at an upcoming short film called Blush.
Some of the projects coming to Apple TV+ have a quick turnaround time from initial announcement to release date. For example, it was only in May of this year when we first heard about the upcoming sci-fi drama Finch, set to star Tom Hanks (Castaway, Greyhound). By the time August rolled around we even knew when we'd get to watch it via Apple's original streaming service. And now we have the first official trailer.
Back in February of last year, Apple officially announced it had secured the streaming rights to a futuristic drama starring Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and directed by Benjamin Cleary (Stutterer). It was described as a "genre-bending drama" at the time, but, unfortunately, there wasn't much else to go on. Certainly not a release date. But that's changing today.
Back in June of last year, we heard that Julianne Moore (Lisey's Story) had joined the cast of a film called Sharper, a co-production from Apple Original Films and A24. It's been relatively quiet on that front ever since, aside from casting news in August of this year. And now it's more of the same before production on the film officially starts.
There are some who believe Apple TV+ is just a service that exists to get people to sign up for other Apple products, or get Apple hardware. Basically, a service that simply only exists to get people in the Apple-branded seats. But it turns out Apple has bigger plans than that.
One of the things Apple TV+ needs is a library of content, which will help keep people subscribed to the service when they run out of new Ted Lasso episodes to watch. Which is why, normally, you won't see any of the films or TV series get a physical release. But it looks like On the Rocks, which stars Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, is going that route anyway.
For fans of James Bond, especially the character as played by Daniel Craig, then the good news is that the latest feature film installment is still scheduled to release in theaters later this year after a lengthy delay. And it turns out Apple wants to get in on the fun, too. The company has partnered up with MGM to bring a retrospective, looking back at Craig's stint as the titular spy, exclusively to the Apple TV app.
It feels like it's only a matter of time before all the creatives in Hollywood (and outside of it) find a project to work with for Apple Studios and Apple TV+. Ewan McGregor is actually not new to the experience, having launched Long Way Up late last year. And now he's back, teaming up with Ethan Hawke (Sinister, Boyhood) for a new drama feature film.
The Velvet Underground is considered one of the most revered rock 'n' roll bands to ever do it. And now it's getting the feature documentary treatment, which is coming soon to Apple's original video streaming service, Apple TV+. This one has been a longtime coming, with news first breaking on the documentary back in October of last year.
In May of this year, it was confirmed that Apple TV+ had secured the premiere for the upcoming drama The Drama of Macbeth from director and writer Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men, Hail, Caesar!), based on the original play written by William Shakespeare. At the time, Apple confirmed that it was once again tapping into its partnership with production outfit A24 to bring the film to not only the small screen via Apple TV+, but also some big screens, too.
CODA is the newest film for Apple TV+. Apple acquired it straight out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won a variety of different awards and plenty of critical acclaim. It's one of the more interesting film releases for the streaming platform to date. Which is why it's a little frustrating to see it arrive on the streaming service without much fanfare at all.