Sony Wins Global Theatrical Distribution Deal For Apple’s George Clooney & Brad Pitt Pic ‘Wolfs’ & Scarlett Johansson & Channing Tatum’s ‘Project Artemis’

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Entertainment in a competitive situation has won the theatrical distribution deals for two mega Apple Original Films movies –the George Clooney and Brad Pitt feature Wolfs and the Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum title Project Artemis.

The news comes on the heels of Apple Original Films’ Ridley Scott-directed Napoleon rolling toward $200M worldwide via its distribution pact with Sony.

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Both movies, developed and produced by Apple Original Films, will receive a global theatrical window before streaming worldwide on AppleTV+. Napoleon opened on Nov. 22 and has a 45-day theatrical window. While no theatrical release date has been set for Wolfs and Project Artemis, it would not be shocking if both land 2024 spots in an exhibition marketplace that’s starving for project.

The deal also returns Spider-Man franchise filmmaker Jon Watts, who is the director of Wolfs, to the Sony Culver City studio which saw his Spider-Man: No Way Home become the seventh highest movie of all-time with $1.92 billion worldwide. Watts also wrote and produced Wolfs which follows two lone-wolf fixers assigned to the same job. The star-studded cast also includes Academy Award-nominee and SAG Award-winner Amy Ryan. Clooney and Pitt are also producers. Clooney and Pitt are also producers. Clooney produces with Grant Heslov through Smokehouse Pictures. Pitt produces alongside Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for Plan B Entertainment. Dianne McGunigle also produces.

Project Artemis, directed by 2x Primetime Emmy nominee Greg Berlanti and written by Rose Gilroy, is set against the 1960s space race. Johansson and Tatum star alongside an ensemble cast that includes Jim Rash, Emmy Award-winner Ray Romano, newcomer Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Colin Woodell, Nick Dillenburg and Christian Zuber and Woody Harrelson. In addition to starring, Johansson serves as producer under her These Pictures banner. Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn produce alongside Johansson for These Pictures. Sarah Schechter produces. Robert Dohrmann executive produces, and Apple Studios serves as the studio.

Project Artemis and Wolfs join an expanding slate of Apple Original Films hailing from Apple Studios including Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, was recently named the Best Film of the Year from the National Board of Review, one of the top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute, and the No. 1 Best Film of 2023 by The New York Times, The New Yorker and The New York Film Critics Circle. The movie opened on Oct. 20 and has grossed over $155M WW. The movie landed on PVOD and digital purchase on Dec. 5.

Apple Original Films made Oscar history as the first streaming service to land the Academy Award for Best Picture with CODA. The Apple Original Film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse also earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Highly anticipated Apple Original Films include the star-studded spy thriller Argylle from Matthew Vaughn, which stars Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose and Samuel L. Jackson. That movie is getting a theatrical release via Universal on Feb. 2, 2024. There’s also The Instigators an upcoming feature starring Academy Award-winners Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, directed by Doug Liman, and produced by Damon & Ben Affleck, Jeff Robinov and John Graham and Kevin Walsh; Blitz, from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen; and, an untitled Formula 1 feature film starring Brad Pitt from director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and more.

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