The director confirms that the second part will not be made and gives his explanations: “I loved working with Brad and George. But the truth is that Apple did not cancel the Wolfs sequel, it's me, because I no longer trusted them…”
Lapel for George Clooney And Brad Pitt. Wolfs 2 has lead in his wing. Three months after Apple signed a deal with the director Jon Watts to develop a sequel, the streaming platform has decided to put a stop to the project, Variety announcement.
Nothing is official yet, but already, in Collider, the filmmaker explained while promoting his new series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew : “I don't know what I'm going to direct next, and I don't think there will be a sequel to Wolfs“. Variety was able to confirm immediately that the idea of a Wolfs 2 was thus abandoned.
Surprising since according to the latest news, Wolfs had become Apple's biggest success for a film. But the cost of $200 million in production is perhaps difficult to justify today. Last August, while the first feedback was far from enthusiastic, Apple decided to reconsider the theatrical release of the film in the United States, while the streamer had joined forces with Sony as distributor. Instead, Wolfs only had a very limited release a few days before the worldwide streaming release on Apple TV+ on September 27.
And maybe that’s where the problem actually lies. Jon Watts explains today to Deadline that it was he who decided not to do Wolfs 2ultimately, disappointed by its association with Apple.
The director of the last trilogy Spider-Man delivers his version and admits to having “showed Apple my final cut of Wolfs at the beginning of this year. They were extremely excited about it and immediately asked me to start writing a sequel. But their last-minute change from the promised theatrical release to a streaming release came as a complete surprise. Without any explanation or discussion. I didn't even find out about it until less than a week before they announced it to the world.” Jon Watts goes further and admits that Apple's communications plan disgusted him:
“I was completely shocked and asked them not to float the idea that I was going to make a sequel. They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, apparently to create a positive spin to their shift in focus to streaming so I quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel. I didn't want to talk about it because I was proud of the film and didn't want to. generating unnecessary negative press I loved working with Brad and George. (and Amy, Austin, Poorna and Zlatko) and I would happily do it again But the truth is that Apple didn't cancel the Wolfs sequel, it did me, because I didn't trust them anymore. as a creative partner.”