Apple is in the works scaling its movie business on its Apple TV+ service. Its deal with Paramount Pictures partner Skydance Media has been the buzz around Hollywood as of late.
Reported by Variety, this agreement closely resembles a “put deal”. What’s “put deal”? Well, it’s a rare Hollywood arrangement where a distributor is obligated to release the movies its partner chooses. Through this pact, Skydance will produce at least two films each year with a $125 million budget. In addition, it may earn up to $25 million per picture.
The movies Skydance releases, however, might not be theatrical releases.
Apple’s Head of Features, Matt Dentler, along with the leads from Skydance, are working together to identify the films that will qualify under the two-film minimum. Skydance gets a sweet deal as it will retain the copyright to all the intellectual property it produces through Apple. Both companies will share downstream revenue and there is a possibility for Apple to obtain additional profit.
This reporting comes after Apple and Skydance Animation announced their partnership in 2021 to work on a series of animated films together. The Cupertino company beat competitors Netflix and Amazon Studios for this deal. Beating Amazon especially came as a surprise since Skydance released “The Tomorrow War” on its service, being the biggest streaming movie on the platform.
This deal proves just how serious Apple is about its movie strategy. Apple TV+ has been on the market for three years now and has become a staunch player. Apple has six nominations for its films at the Oscars next month.
Just how far will the Apple TV+ movie business go? Sky[dance]’s the limit.
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