One of the funniest entertainment stories of this past summer was what happened to Wolfs, the reunion project for Brad Pitt & George Clooney. The original idea was that Apple produced this buddy-action-comedy at great cost, with generous salaries for both Pitt and Clooney. Then Apple would spend lavishly to promote the film ahead of its wide theatrical release. Suddenly, in August, Apple pulled their big ad buy during the Olympics and around the same time, quietly pulled back from their plan to give Wolfs a wide theatrical release. Basically, as soon as Apple executives saw Wolfs, they realized that it was going to be a huge bomb, so they gave it a small limited release and then shuffled it off to streaming. The face-saving measure for Apple and CAA (the agency which represents Clooney & Pitt) was that everyone really believed in Wolfs, so much so that they were totally planning on making a sequel. They announced the sequel alongside their plan to throw Wolfs on streaming. Well, guess what? LOL.
Three months after Apple inked a deal with director Jon Watts to develop a follow-up to his crime caper “Wolfs,” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, plans for the sequel have now been halted, Variety has learned.
The confirmation comes after Collider published an interview with Watts Friday morning. Promoting his new Disney+ “Star Wars” series “Skeleton Crew,” the filmmaker was asked about his coming plans, responding “I don’t know what I’m directing next, and I don’t think there’s going to be a ‘Wolfs’ sequel.” Variety has since confirmed with sources that plans have been scrapped. Apple TV+ did not immediately respond for comment.
Back in August, Apple gave a rose-and-thorn update to its rollout of “Wolfs.” The tech giant confirmed that it was pulling the wide theatrical release of the film, which it had partnered with Sony on as a distributor. Instead, “Wolfs” moved to a one-week limited theatrical engagement on Sept. 20, with its debut on the streamer Apple TV+ coming a week after on Sept. 27.
Hint: it’s not that the sequel plans have been scrapped, it’s that there were no plans to begin with. Announcing the sequel was always meant as a hacky face-saving move because Apple hated the film but didn’t want to alienate Pitt and Clooney. I still wonder when Apple realized they had a problem. Was it when Brad and George did that horrible joint-interview with GQ and it was clear that the purpose was not actually about promoting the movie, but rather rehabilitating a domestic abuser? Notice I’m not suggesting that Apple had some kind of come-to-Jesus moment where they realized it actually looked bad to do the film with Brad Pitt in the first place.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- George Clooney und Brad Pitt beim Photocall zum Kinofilm Wolfs auf der Biennale di Venezia 2024 / 81. Internationale Filmfestspiele von Venedig im Palazzo del Casino. Venedig, 01.09.2024 *** George Clooney and Brad Pitt at the photocall for the movie Wolfs at the Biennale di Venezia 2024 81 Venice International Film Festival at the Palazzo del Casino Venice, 01 09 2024 Foto:xD.xBedrosianx/xFuturexImagex wolfs_4858,Image: 903790419, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Dave Bedrosian / Avalon
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- News – Wolfs – Photocall – The 81st Venice International Film Festival George Clooney and Brad Pitt attend the Wolfs photocall during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at Palazzo del Casino on September 01, 2024 in Venice, Italy.,Image: 903803689, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Cinzia Camela / LiveMedia / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Brad Pitt and George Clooney attend the premiere of the Los Angeles Premiere of the Apple Original Film “Wolfs” at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 18, 2024 in Hollywood, California.,Image: 909712095, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 18: George Clooney attends the premiere of the Los Angeles Premiere of the Apple Original Film “Wolfs” at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 18, 2024 in Hollywood, California.,Image: 909712602, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: George Clooney, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 18: George Clooney attends the premiere of the Los Angeles Premiere of the Apple Original Film “Wolfs” at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 18, 2024 in Hollywood, California.,Image: 909712612, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: George Clooney, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- Wolfs Los Angeles Premiere at the TCL Chinese Theater IMAX on September 18, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA,Image: 909713116, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt,George Clooney, Credit line: Nicky Nelson / Wenn / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 18: (L-R) Brad Pitt and George Clooney attend the premiere of the Los Angeles Premiere of the Apple Original Film “Wolfs” at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 18, 2024 in Hollywood, California.,Image: 909713513, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – SEPTEMBER 18: George Clooney arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Apple TV+’s ‘Wolfs’ held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on September 18, 2024 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 909733377, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: George Clooney, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Los Angeles Premiere Of The Apple Original Film ‘Wolfs’ Featuring: Brad Pitt, George Clooney Where: Hollywood, California, United States When: 18 Sep 2024 Credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images
I started watching this on apple tv yesterday. I had to fast forward through certain sections which were endless. And I abandoned it when I realized it was just 6-7 horrible pointless scenes with terrible dialogue and unsympathetic characters. This wasn’t funny bad, this was ALL bad and never ever should have seen the light of day. Hollywood SHOULD be worried about AI written movies because ANYTHING that has been spat out by ChatGPT would have been an improvement on this flop.
We lasted about five minutes before turning Wolfs off. It was boring and pointless.
Me too! I could not watch more than five minutes! It was drivel.
Someone stuck in the past greenlighted this because they thought they’d get Oceans 11 at the time it was released. Brad Pitt’s personal life might have influenced the “sequel” being scrapped, but only if it was how he behaved on set combined with thr lack of on-screen chemistry with George Clooney. My guess is someone younger essentially told the original greenlighter, “No.”
I guess I’m the only one but I really liked that movie.
It was laid back, funny scenes and Clooney was perfect.
Jon Watts was the one who cancelled on the sequal cause Apple double crossed him.
https://x.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1860402817929740650
https://deadline.com/2024/11/wolfs-sequel-demise-jon-watts-george-clooney-brad-pitt-no-longer-trusted-apple-1236186227/
He returned the cash to Apple and pulled back on their previous arrangement.👍👍👍
Watts has directed 2 billion dollar franchises so he already has 4Q money.
Greta Gerwig had this same issue with Netflix.
Doug Liman had it with Amazon.
I think this is going to be a huge industry problem of directors vs streamers, going forward.
I no longer watch whatever these two do.
Why is Clooney so orange?
Why is Clooney so orange?
Really? He looks gray to me, and he has for a while. I know what you’re saying — the orange make-up — but look how gray his lips are in the second photo. He looks like a corpse. I think the mean-ness is catching up with him.
The only person I feel bad about is Austin Abrams.
who? he wasn’t supposed to be the star of this movie anyway. notice how the movie brad is making with hamilton is being promoted. from everything that goes to the press it’s hard to tell if anyone else is acting in it besides brad. and at the beginning, when they started making it, they still mentioned a certain black actor who plays someone for whom the 60 year old retired f1 driver returns to the track. in the meantime they must have forgotten about him somehow and now they’re only promoting brad. that’s life. when you play with such “stars” as brad and george, you get “overshadowed”.
That’s a lot of text, Anon.
in short: austin is unimportant. pitt and cloowney are important. but maybe thanks to that no one will associate him with this flopp.
I won’t watch anything Pitt is in anymore. And this is great karma for Clooney too. I wish he was more like Seth Rogan (who dumped what’s his name when he learned of the sexual manipulation stuff) and less like Ashton and Mila. I used to like Clooney – but not after all of this.
Let’s not forget that there is still a lot of anger at Clooney for that Op-Ed in the NYT where he trashed President Biden and tried to push VP Harris out of the race as well. He the gave her a half-hearted endorsement.
He and Amal need to go away QUIETLY.
This was one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year. Clooney & Pitt are has beens.
It was fine but definitely doesn’t need a sequel. There were some really funny moments but they added in stuff to make it seem like complex storytelling (it wasn’t). It would’ve been better if they’d more heavily leaned into the comedy.
I mean if it was a good film that a lot of people watched then there could be a sequel. It seems like the movie just wasn’t that good.
I suspect the decision that there would be no sequel was made at the same time Apple TV decided to reduce the cinema release to a week.
According to the director he decided not to work with Apple on a sequel not the other way around because he couldn’t trust them after they said it would have a wide release and they reneged. Clooney had said when it was still set to have a theatrical release they (he and Brad) didn’t take their usual fees to be able to get it into theaters. Of course that could be the director saving face but the cost of putting most films into theaters isn’t worth it to the film company. I can’t say I hate the fact most movies don’t have a theatrical release and go to streaming. It has saved the midbudget film which was poised to be extinct during the Marvel super hero era.