Apple's Wolfs: Controversial Release and Surprising Success

1 week ago 11

Image via Apple TV

Published Feb 1, 2026, 1:00 PM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

What went down behind the scenes before and after the release of Wolfs in 2024 remains one of the most high-profile Hollywood scandals of the last decade. Despite being headlined by A-listers Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and directed by the man behind the $4 billion-grossing Spider-Man reboot trilogy, the movie was denied a theatrical release at the last moment by Apple. A sequel was announced preemptively, and the confusion eventually led to director Jon Watts publicly voicing his displeasure at the studio's tactics. He declared in an interview that he wouldn't return to direct the sequel because he no longer trusted Apple as a creative partner. Despite the controversies surrounding the movie, which wasn't all that well-received anyway, Wolfs has emerged as a major win for the streamer.

According to FlixPatrol, it has now spent 400 days on Apple's domestic charts, despite fierce competition in the months since its release. Wolfs was released in December 2024, following an Oscar-qualifying one-week theatrical run, and a premiere at the Venice International Film Festival that was met with indifference. Apple had originally announced that Wolfs would be given a wide theatrical release by Sony, but the back-to-back box office failure of Apple's past titles — Napoleon, Killers of the Flower Moon, Fly Me to the Moon, and Argylle — convinced the studio to pivot. Wolfs emerged as the streamer's most successful original release, despite mixed reviews. It's now sitting at a 66% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "George Clooney and Brad Pitt's professional star power gives Wolfs zip even when it cycles through clichés of the fixer genre, making for a pleasing and slick throwback."

Apple's Box Office Woes Ended in 2025

Clooney and Pitt had previously worked together on the Ocean's trilogy, and are said to be reuniting for a fourth installment. Pitt helped turn Apple's box office flop streak around last year with the sports drama F1. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film outgrossed major 2025 titles such as Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps; earlier this week, it scored a Best Picture nod at the Oscars. Meanwhile, there has been no update about Wolfs 2, which the first film set up in no uncertain terms in its climactic final scenes. Also starring Amy Ryan, Zlatko Buric, and Austin Abrams, Wolfs is available to watch on Apple TV.