Brad Pitt, George Clooney’s ‘Wolfs’ director cancels sequel because he ‘no longer trusted’ streaming service
Despite being a reported hit, Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s recent onscreen teamup, "Wolfs," will not be getting a sequel.
According to Deadline, "Wolfs" was the most viewed feature film on Apple TV+, and the outlet had previously confirmed a sequel was on the horizon.
However, the film’s director, Jon Watts, pulled the plug after a disagreement with the streaming service.
"I showed Apple my final cut of ‘Wolfs’ early this year," Watts told Deadline. "They were extremely enthusiastic about it and immediately commissioned me to start writing a sequel. But their last-minute shift from a promised wide theatrical release to a streaming release was a total surprise and made without any explanation or discussion. I wasn’t even told about it until less than a week before they announced it to the world."
The decision not to do a full theatrical release left Watts "completely shocked" and he asked the streaming service to "please not include the news that I was writing a sequel."
"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," he continued. " I didn’t want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn’t want to generate any unnecessary negative press."
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Watts added, "I loved working with Brad and George (and Amy [Ryan] and Austin [Abrams] and Poorna [Jagannathan] and Zlatko [Buric]) and would happily do it again."
"But the truth is that Apple didn’t cancel the ‘Wolfs’ sequel, I did, because I no longer trusted them as a creative partner."
Representatives for Watts, Pitt, Clooney, and Apple TV+ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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"Wolfs" had a premiere in September at the Venice Film Festival, where Clooney cleared up rumors about his and Pitt’s paychecks for the film and the release plans during a press conference for the film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clooney and Pitt gave portions of their salaries back after a deal for a theatrical release for "Wolfs" fell through, meaning it would get a limited release.
"Yes, we wanted it to be released [in theaters]. We’ve had some bumps along the way, that happens. When I did [Clooney-directed biographical sports drama] ‘The Boys in the Boat,’ we did it for MGM, and then it ended up being for Amazon, and we didn’t get a foreign release at all, which was a surprise. There are elements of this that we are figuring out," he said per the outlet.
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"You guys are all in this, too," he added. "We’re all in this industry, and we’re trying to find our way post-COVID and everything else, and so there’s some bumps along the way. It is a bummer, of course, but on the other hand, a lot of people are going to see the film, and we are getting a release in a few hundred theaters, so we’re getting a release. But yeah, it would’ve been nice if we [were] to have a wide release."
In 2023, Clooney also told Deadline that he and Pitt had returned some of their salaries to ensure a theatrical release, saying, "Brad and I made the deal to do that movie where we gave money back to make sure that we had a theatrical release. At the time, that wasn’t as popular an opinion as it has become in the last year and a half now."
In Venice, Clooney also addressed a report from The New York Times that the "Ocean’s 11" stars had been paid over $35 million each to star in the film.
"[It was] an interesting article, and whatever her source was for our salary, it is millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported. And I am only saying that because I think it’s bad for our industry if that’s what people think is the standard-bearer for salaries," Clooney said, per People. "I think that’s terrible, it’ll make it impossible to make films."