Apple’s Come-to-Jesus Moment for Movies

The tech powerhouse’s film efforts aren’t profitable in theaters, nor are they finding much of an audience on streaming. But Tim Cook and Eddy Cue aren’t pulling the plug on theaters yet—at least, that’s what Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are telling people.

What is the strategy? is a phrase you hear a lot when talking about Apple TV+, particularly its movie initiative. Killers of the Flower Moon and Argylle have both popped up on the ratings charts of original movies, thanks to all that marketing and press. Photo: Courtesy of Apple

Matthew Belloni

May 7, 2024

Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, the stewards of Apple’s 5-year-old foray into Hollywood, were summoned to Cupertino last month for a curious sit-down. Tim Cook was there, I’m told, as was services V.P. Eddy Cue, the overseer of the content initiative and the Apple TV+ streaming platform. Budgets were on the agenda, of course, as was the breakdown in content spend between series and films. And notably, Cook and Cue are said to have asked some very tough questions about the company’s recent experiment with movie theaters.