Apple Finally Signs A Big Deal With a Hollywood Movie Studio (washingtonpost.com) 62
"And the winner of the 2021 Academy Award for best picture is .â.â. Apple?" jokes the Washington Post, noting that Apple has just signed a new multi-year movie deal with film production company A24, "and while that seems like a comparatively minor announcement, it could change the game in some significant ways."
It's sneakily consequential. A24, if you're not familiar, is the boutique New York outfit that has been responsible for a slew of hipster-approved, Academy Award-recognized films including "Lady Bird," "Moonlight" and "Room." Since its founding six years ago by a trio that includes the former partner of late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, it has located commercial success and downtown cool. Its movies are handmade hipster-fests that also often manage to please audiences: In addition to its big three, they include "Hereditary," "Eighth Grade," "A Ghost Story" and "Ex Machina". Welcome to the party, Tim Cook....
For Apple, cachet is everything. And it needs that now. A company that has prided itself on cool has reason to be worried about sustaining that on the entertainment side, with Netflix swiping its video lunch and Spotify some of its music swagger.
That with major competitors like Amazon already producing its own films, Apple, "had to do something..." They add the Apple's announcement "contained about as many details as the iPhone 7 has headphone jacks."
But "Even without those specifics, the significance was clear. Apple is installing itself as a producer of some of the most-acclaimed films around, all without needing to take a single meeting or read one script off the slush pile first...."
For Apple, cachet is everything. And it needs that now. A company that has prided itself on cool has reason to be worried about sustaining that on the entertainment side, with Netflix swiping its video lunch and Spotify some of its music swagger.
That with major competitors like Amazon already producing its own films, Apple, "had to do something..." They add the Apple's announcement "contained about as many details as the iPhone 7 has headphone jacks."
But "Even without those specifics, the significance was clear. Apple is installing itself as a producer of some of the most-acclaimed films around, all without needing to take a single meeting or read one script off the slush pile first...."
Re: Expensive But Shit (Score:3, Insightful)
I dont see apple being creative enough to produce movies. It will be boring since it cannot offend, push boundaries or stir emotions.
Finally? (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean, with damned near every computer in every movie I've seen over the last 10 - 15 years having an apple logo on it, you mean that "just happened" and wasn't the result of some big product placement contract?
Re:Finally? (Score:5, Informative)
Apple also offers its products for free for use in movies. They take em back after, but it helps if your production's prop budget is limited.
If you walk into any other business, 99% of their computers run Windows. That said, OS X has managed to claw above 10% market share in recent years.
* This is also why Macs got high-PPI "retina" screens first. Page layout artists also predominantly use Macs. Subpixel rendering [grc.com], which basically triples the horizontal resolution without requiring new hardware, was introduced with Windows XP (ClearType [wikipedia.org]). So Windows didn't need high-PPI to produce high-quality fonts. But subpixel rendering requires you to align the fonts to the subpixel grid. That's unacceptable for page layout work, where having the font appear where it'll actually appear when printed is more important than how sharp it looks on the screen. Consequently, OS X didn't use subpixel rendering (If you plugged a 1024x768 or 1280x800 monitor into a Windows PC, then a Mac, the Windows PC was noticeably sharper). OS X fonts are blurrier, but they're placed more accurately for page layout artists. The only recourse Apple had was to sharpen fonts was to switch to high-PPI displays.
Re: (Score:2)
OK I will tell you that wasn't paid for by Apple. Fun fact, paid product placement in a TV show is considered an ad and not allowed by the FCC. Paid placement in movies is quite common (looking at you Michael Bay). I don't know for sure that Apple doesn't pay for movie placement, but I remember a few years back reading about how they didn't have to because people used their products in films anyway.
Acclaimed is not equal to good for movies (Score:2)
Just because the critics love a movie, doesn't mean anyone want's to see it.
For the most part Academy Award winning films are something I avoid.
If I want hard-hitting depressing reality, I'll go hang out at the bus terminal.
Re:Cant wait (Score:4, Funny)
But you won't be able to read them, because it'll mangle the punctuation & accented characters.
"Finally" (Score:1)
Firs two thoughts:
a) That "finally" in the title...is that supposed to infer somebody was *waiting* for this? I can't imagine who.
b) Product placement's about to get even worse.
Wtf slashdot (Score:2)
If they're located in New York... (Score:3)
...then, ipso facto, they're not a "Hollywood studio," are they?
Re: (Score:2)
Apple is installing itself as a producer of some of the most-acclaimed films around, all without needing to take a single meeting or read one script off the slush pile first....
Then they're not a Producer.
It's sneakily consequential. A24, if you're not familiar, is the boutique New York outfit that has been responsible for a slew of hipster-approved, Academy Award-recognized films including...
This is just PR drivel. And no, it's not consequential.
Call me when Apple secures another 6 months of streaming exclusivity for "Game of Thrones".
Now, that will be consequential.
Re: (Score:2)
In The Industry, a producer [wikipedia.org] oversees the production of a film, often including finding projects. An Executive Producer [wikipedia.org] is only involved in top level management and usually provides at least part of the funding. That's why you sometimes see films with several Executive Producers listed; everybody who chipped in to get the project filmed expects screen credit. I predict that Apple plans to be an Executive Producer, funding projects that they like, or fit into their current ag
They will be ... (Score:3)
Creative freedom? (Score:1)
I hope A24 maintains creative control. I recall reading that Apple wanted "family-friendly" television shows on their new streaming service.
How is Amazon a competitor? How is this new? (Score:2)
Amazon is only a competitor in terms of video because Apple has decided to enter the video space. They otherwise were not much of a competitor at all (except via Alexa).
But really calling this any kind of new or turning point seems nuts, with both Netflix and Amazon producing high quality movies now with major starts regularly.
Apple does not need "cachet" to succeed in video, they need CONTENT PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH. That is it. It is the secret to Netflix's success, and the reason why Amazon has had a har
Re: (Score:2)
People will buy any old shit with an Apple logo on it, so they'll probably watch any old shit too.
Re: (Score:1)
Gadgets with an Apple logo on them are very different from content that happens to have an Apple logo that streams by in the credits.
Re: (Score:1)
they need CONTENT PEOPLE WANT TO WATCH.
exclusive content.
That's what this is really about. Netflix, Amazon, CBS All Access, and now Apple - they're the new premium "cable" networks. Except now, you've got competing incompatible hardware platforms and separate bills for streaming all this shit. It might almost make you miss the days when you had a single cable bill and could watch everything you paid for from a single cable box.
Vastly better (Score:2)
I should have spelled it out but I figured it was implied this was all exclusive stuff since Apple was inking the deal...
It might almost make you miss the days when you had a single cable bill and could watch everything you paid for from a single cable box.
Not even close to missing that - because I can watch all of this from a single box (AppleTV can play HBO, Amazon Video, Netflix and Apple content) and I can easily break away from stations I do not need for a while. I subscribe to HBO maybe half a year f
Re: (Score:1)
Not even close to missing that - because I can watch all of this from a single box (AppleTV
AppleTV can't directly buy/rent content from Vudu or Amazon. It might be the ideal solution for your use, but there still is no one-size-fits-all streaming box. And yeah, you're probably saving money but someone who wants sports channels, and Netflix & Amazon's exclusive content, and HBO, and CBS All Access, and Hulu without the commercials, etc... is probably spending more now than in the glory days of cable/DirecTV/Dish - and has more than one "box".
Still Vastly Better (Score:2)
AppleTV can't directly buy/rent content from Vudu or Amazon.
So you have to go to Vudo or Amazon on a phone (which you'd have with you anyway), who cares? I had to activate CBS on Amazon once to watch a show, it took a minute.
The important thing is that I can SEE the content via the AppleTV.
And yeah, you're probably saving money but someone who wants sports channels,
At this point any sport you would care to watch is also on AppleTV via apps, often with a fuller range of games you can watch than you could wi
Apple only distribution? I won't see it. (Score:2)
Apple needs to be cool (Score:2)
Not sure if this'll work for them. It's hard to manufacture cool and when it fails it fails spectacularly. But that's what they're doing if anyone's wondering.
About time! (Score:2, Insightful)
That with major competitors like Amazon already producing its own films, Apple, "had to do something..."
No they really fucking didn't. This stupid me-tooism in tech is a cancer. I wish companies would stop adopting every shitty idea from their competitors and remember what they hell they are doing in the first place. I mean these guys are run by MBAs right? Did they fail their course? [wikipedia.org]
.Ã.Ã. Apple?" (Score:2)
FTFY.
And the award for worst Unicode support goes to... (Score:4, Informative)
.â.â.
How many years is it now?
Dead Steve Jobs weighs in (Score:2)
Dead Steve Jobs to Tim Cook: "Do something!"
Great (Score:1)