It was almost 4 years in the past once we first heard news that Apple was teaming up with the legendary Martin Scorsese to provide one of many first blockbuster Hollywood pics on its roster, Killers of the Flower Moon.
Like most large productions, it took a few years earlier than the movie was within the can, nevertheless it additionally turned out to be one of many firm’s key theatrical releases, marking a brand new period for Apple’s silver display ambitions.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon relies on a bestseller by David Grann of the identical identify, which tells the story of a sequence of murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in Nineteen Twenties Oklahoma — a string of crimes that got here to be often called the Reign of Terror.
The movie was launched in theatres on October 20, 2023, and began racking up accolades very quickly in any respect, together with 12 Critics Alternative Award nominations, 7 Golden Globe Award nominations, and a spot on the American Movie Institute’s checklist of Movement Photos of the Yr. It’s additionally been honored because the Finest Movie of the Yr by the Nationwide Board of Evaluation and is on the shortlist for a number of Academy Awards.
Whereas final fall’s launch of Killers of the Flower Moon wasn’t the primary time Apple has put a movie on the massive display, it’s the primary {that a} theatrical debut of one among Apple’s movies hasn’t been joined by an Apple TV+ premiere across the similar time.
In actual fact, Apple TV+ appears to be the final in line this time round. Killers of the Flower Moon went on sale through Paramount Home Entertainment on December 5 as a digital launch, out there for buy or lease on a number of companies, together with iTunes.
Nonetheless, regardless of being completely bankrolled by Apple, the movie has remained conspicuously absent from Apple TV+ — and Apple was silent about once we may anticipate it to look.
Fortunately, we lastly have a launch date. As we speak, Apple announced that Killers of the Flower Moon will premiere globally on Apple TV+ subsequent Friday, January 12, 2024.
The timing most likely isn’t completely coincidental, both. In response to Apple’s announcement, the movie shall be honored tonight by receiving the Vanguard Award on the Palm Springs Worldwide Movie Competition Awards gala.
There’s an excellent likelihood this would be the starting of a pattern for a lot of extra of Apple’s authentic movies, which have garnered quite a lot of cachet since Apple became the first streaming service to walk away with an Oscar for Best Picture with its 2021 release of CODA. Apple not solely made historical past by selecting up the coveted Academy Award that Netflix has been vying to get its fingers on for years, nevertheless it additionally marked the primary time a Deaf male actor had ever obtained an Oscar.
Killers of the Flower Moon is way from a one-off. Apple has had ambitions of winning Oscars since Apple TV+ was in its infancy, and final spring, sources revealed the company is committed to spending $1 billion per year on theatrical releases — not movies primarily for streaming on Apple TV+, however these supposed to debut nearly completely on the massive display.
That is probably a part of Apple’s technique to ensure its movies are being taken severely. Lots of the movers and shakers in Hollywood have been fairly vocal of their opposition to streaming motion pictures qualifying for Academy Awards. Way back to 2019, legendary director Steven Spielberg, who sits on the Academy’s Board of Governors, spoke out against “token” theatrical releases by streaming giants like Netflix.
In response to current Academy Awards rules, a movie could be proven in solely a single industrial theatre for seven consecutive days to qualify for an Oscar — even for Finest Image. This theatrical launch should be in one among six US metro areas, together with Los Angeles County, the Metropolis of New York, the San Francisco Bay Space, Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta; nevertheless, the movie can seem in just one theater in a single city, and it’s good to go so long as it runs for seven consecutive days and has at the least three showings per day.
There are additionally no restrictions in any respect on when a streaming model could be launched — it will possibly even be the exact same day of a movie’s theatrical qualifying run.
Whereas these guidelines stay in place for this yr’s 96th Academy Awards, the Academy has been considering stricter rules for films to qualify. Final yr, Academy CEO Invoice Kramer proposed a change to the Academy’s Board of Governors that may have required movies to play in theatres in 15 to twenty of the highest markets within the US to be eligible.
Such a change understandably couldn’t be carried out half means by way of an awards season, however new rules will be in place for the 97th Academy Awards for movies launched in 2024. Whereas not as extreme as Kramer’s authentic proposal, studios shall be required to conduct an “expanded theatrical run” of seven extra days in 10 of the highest 50 US markets no later than 45 days after a movie’s preliminary launch earlier than it will likely be thought of eligible to be nominated for an Oscar for Finest Image, though this requirement gained’t apply to another awards classes.
Whereas the Academy hasn’t modified the requirements to rule out same-day streaming releases, Apple and different streaming giants nonetheless should cope with the unwritten guidelines of Hollywood — a spot the place many Academy members could also be reluctant to take a film severely if it seems on-line too quickly. The street that Killers of the Flower Moon has adopted from the massive display to your set-top field feels about proper — and can most likely be the sample for a lot of extra of Apple’s movies going ahead.