Apple Pulls the Plug on Wolfs Sequel: What Happened to Brad Pitt's Film?

Michael Gordon
2026-02-02 22:00:00

Both Brad Pitt and George Clooney are household names in Hollywood. Both as individual actors and as an onscreen duo, the actors have made countless beloved films. It made perfect sense then when the movie Wolfs was announced with Jon Watts, coming off his Spider-Man success, and the pair as the stars. Yet, the movie flew under the radar, and behind-the-scenes drama killed what could have been a stunning sequel.

You see, after the stratospheric success of No Way Home, Watts realized the time was right to go back to his roots, so he wrote an original screenplay about two rival crime scene fixers forced to work together when they’re hired for the same mysterious job. The project quickly attracted two of the biggest stars in Hollywood, Pitt and George Clooney, and everything seemed set for another stellar box office run. However, only six weeks before it was scheduled to hit theaters, Apple TV made a move that angered Watts, Pitt, and Clooney. Amid the acrimony, plans for a sequel — which had already been announced publicly — were scrapped entirely.

Wolfs Was a Throwback to Another Era of Moviemaking

Image via Apple TV+

It sounds strange to say that an action-comedy starring Pitt and Clooney was viewed as something of a calculated gamble by Watts, but in the modern cinematic landscape, that truly was the case. Over the last decade, mid-budget theatrical releases aimed squarely at adults have become a vanishing breed in Hollywood, and it sometimes feels like we’re currently in the dying days of the era.

These days, the films released in theaters tend to fall into two categories: mega-budget blockbusters based on existing IP that audiences already have a relationship with, and low-budget arthouse fare that doesn’t need to make hundreds of millions at the box office to turn a profit. As it became harder and harder to get audiences to leave their houses for anything but the surest things, though, that middle ground — which traditionally entailed star-driven thrillers, romances, comedies, and action flicks — has shifted almost exclusively to streaming.

Watts was fully aware of this tough market for original material when he wrote Wolfs. But, he also knew that he could stack the deck in his favor by convincing Pitt and Clooney, so beloved by audiences for their chemistry in the Ocean’s Eleven films, to take the lead roles. Clooney was easy to bring onboard, with Watts admitting he simply told the star, “It’s like two Michael Claytons,” referencing the actor’s Oscar-nominated 2007 role as a prestigious law firm’s fixer.

Clooney warned him it would be more difficult to sell Pitt on the project, though, and this gave the director a sleepless night as he prepared to speak to the Fight Club star over Zoom. However, when Pitt immediately grinned, “Two fixers. Same job. I get it, man,” Watts realized Clooney had been pulling his leg. In fact, he’d already told Pitt the pitch, and the actor concurred, “It’ll be fun. Let’s do it.”

Apple TV Promised a Wide Theatrical Release for Wolfs

Suddenly, with the participation of Pitt and Clooney, Wolfs became a hot property in Hollywood, and a bidding war for the project erupted between several traditional studios (Sony, Warner Bros, Universal Pictures) and streamers (Netflix, Amazon MGM Studios). Watts and company eventually opted to go with Apple TV’s bid, though, because the streaming giant promised a robust theatrical release before the film began exclusively streaming on its platform.

To demonstrate how much everyone involved cared that the film would be shown on the big screen, Pitt and Clooney reportedly gave back a portion of their salary to ensure this release happened, and Watts told Vanity Fair, “I always thought of this as a theatrical movie. We made it to be seen in theaters, and I think that’s the best way to see it.”

To Watts and his stars’ chagrin, though, only six weeks before the movie was due to debut, Apple TV released a stunning statement. Contrary to what had been promised, Wolfs wouldn’t be getting that wide theatrical release after all. Instead, it would receive a token theatrical engagement for one week before hitting the streaming service on September 27th, 2024.

It was theorized that Apple had been scared by the theatrical underperformances of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, and Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, all of which failed to recoup their budgets at the box office. Then, when Fly Me To The Moon outright flopped in July 2024 despite starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, the panicked streamer got cold feet about Wolfs‘ box office potential.

No one was more shocked by this development than Watts, because he later claimed Apple was so happy with his first cut of the film that it commissioned him to write a sequel. So, when the streamer informed him of its broken theatrical promise less than a week before the official announcement, he pleaded with the executives not to mention in the press release that he was penning a second installment.

To his frustration, though, Apple announced the sequel at the very same time it told the world the first movie was bypassing theaters. To many, this was a simultaneous vote of confidence and an acknowledgment of a lack of faith in Wolfs‘ commercial prospects. To make matters even more confusing, though, Wolfs raced to the top of Apple’s charts upon release, becoming its most-watched original film to date — but then, at the height of this success, the sequel was canceled seemingly out of nowhere.

Watts Was Furious That Apple Broke Its Promises, and it Left the Wolfs Sequel in Limbo

Brad Pitt and George Clooney wearing black leather jackets and holding guns in the movie Wolfs

In truth, despite some lukewarm reviews, audiences lapped up Pitt and Clooney’s slick, funny, stylish tale of aging, too-cool-for-school fixers doing what they do best. The film was everything some sections of the moviegoing audience had been craving for years: an entertaining mid-budget picture that had genuine star power, top-notch directing, and a snappy script. If it had come out in the ’90s, it would have been one of the biggest hits of the year, but even two decades later, it still got the job done. If ever there was going to be a sequel, this was the time to strike while the iron was hot, but then Watts dropped an astonishing tell-all interview with Deadline to explain why this sequel wouldn’t come to pass.

“I loved working with Brad and George,” Watts insisted in November 2024, “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.” This was an incendiary thing for a director to say about the studio behind his latest film, but Watts’ brutal honesty didn’t stop there. “I quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel,” the director added. “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.” Needless to say, a director forgoing their fee and backing out of an already greenlit film is exceedingly rare in Hollywood, but Watts was clearly incensed by Apple’s conduct and wanted nothing further to do with the streamer.

At the end of the day, the Wolfs debacle was a case of art smashing up against the cold, hard wall of commerce. Even with two bona fide A-list stars and a director whose movies have earned billions, it still wasn’t viewed as a viable theatrical proposition by Apple. Its decision to renege on promises made to Watts, Pitt, and Clooney may be retroactively looked upon as the streamer shooting itself in the foot, though, as Wolfs undeniably performed like gangbusters on the platform Apple always wanted it to conquer.

In truth, as of right now, the sequel is in limbo. It’s highly unlikely Watts will ever return to the Apple fold to make it, but then again, it’s also doubtful that a traditional studio will finance a theatrical sequel in the current market. Unfortunately, Wolfs seems destined to be remembered as little more than another high-profile victim of modern Hollywood’s theatrical vs. streaming battle, and that sucks.