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Wolfs<\/em> director Jon Watts told Collider<\/em><\/a> <\/em>on Friday that he didn\u2019t think a sequel to the George Clooney and Brad Pitt movie, which Apple had already greenlit, would be happening. Yesterday, he revealed to Deadline<\/em><\/a> that he had backed out of the project because he \u201cno longer trusted [Apple] as a creative partner\u201d after the company made a u-turn on its wide theatrical release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> in August that Apple pulled the theatrical run for Wolfs <\/em>because it was concerned it was spending too much on films after suffering multiple high-profile box office disappointments. At the same time, its limited-run approach worked out for Doug Liman\u2019s The Instigators<\/em>, which analysts cited by the Times <\/em>said was the most-watched streaming movie in its first week and drove around 50,000 signups to Apple TV Plus. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Similarly, Wolfs<\/em> became \u201cby far the most viewed feature film ever released\u201d on Apple TV Plus, as Deadline <\/em>writes. But Watts was unhappy with the experience, telling the outlet he \u201cwas completely shocked\u201d by Apple\u2019s \u201clast minute shift from a wide theatrical release,\u201d and asked the company not to announce he was writing a sequel. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, seemingly to create a positive spin to their streaming pivot. And so I quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel. I didn\u2019t want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn\u2019t 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\u2019t cancel the\u00a0Wolfs<\/em>\u00a0sequel, I did, because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Liman described a similar experience making Road House<\/em> for Amazon in a July interview with IndieWire<\/em><\/a>. (He praised Apple, however, saying it was \u201cabove board\u201d about The Instigators<\/em> being made for streaming.) And director Steve McQueen recently told the outlet in his own interview<\/a> that he \u201ccannot say I\u2019m not sad\u201d about Apple only giving his WWII film Blitz<\/em> a limited release.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By all accounts and in spite of some directors\u2019 unhappiness, Apple seems set on being cautious with its theatrical risks from now on. As Bloomberg<\/em> reported<\/a> in September, the company\u2019s shifting plans mean spending less money per movie, with \u201cone or two big theatrical swings a year\u201d with movies like the upcoming F1. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n