Napoleon Crossed A Major Box Office Milestone, But Will Apple Do This Again?
Apple got into the Hollywood game in a big way last year with a couple of expensive films from beloved filmmakers: Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" and Ridley Scott's "Napoleon." Apple TV+ has already been going for a few years, but this was the tech giant meaningfully getting into the theatrical space with two different $200 million movies. As 2023 came to a close, "Napoleon" crossed a significant milestone at the box office, which leads us to wonder whether or not Apple is going to consider this experiment a success or not.
Scott's historical epic (which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French military genius) quietly crossed the $200 million mark at the global box office during the New Year's holiday weekend. The film has now earned $60.6 million domestically to go with a solid $146.2 million internationally for a grand total of $206.8 million worldwide, per The Numbers. Sony Pictures is handling distribution for Apple. The film will eventually make its way to Apple TV+, with a much longer director's cut set to debut on the streamer.
The film is winding down at the box office so it probably won't make a whole lot more than this before all's said and done. So we can, more or less, begin to discuss the complicated math here. Under normal circumstances, a movie with a $200 million budget (not accounting for marketing) making just over $200 million at the box office would not be considered a success by any means as theaters keep about half of the money from ticket sales. Plus, Apple is paying Sony a distribution fee. But the circumstances here are anything but normal as we're potentially approaching a new normal for these major streaming services, particularly the ones owned by much larger tech companies.
Typical box office math does not apply
A studio like Warner Bros., for example, is very much banking on a movie to make money during its theatrical run. Or, at the very least, hoping it does well enough that the movie can eventually turn a profit through other revenue streams. Apple, Amazon, and other companies, meanwhile, are currently upending the way we look at "hit" or "flop" in this context. It's murky at best as to what is considered a success in this emerging method of distribution.
Apple never expected this movie to turn a profit in theaters. Rather, they felt getting some of the investment back through ticket sales was wiser than dumping a very expensive movie directly to streaming, which is what Netflix typically does. It's a way to offset costs and bring more attention to the movie before it arrives on Apple TV+. Movies that are released in theaters pretty much always do better on streaming, and that's something the industry at large is currently reckoning with.
Aside from that, the wide theatrical release is also probably going to help a movie like "Napoleon" when the awards season conversation comes about. The same goes for the three-and-a-half-hour epic "Killers of the Flower Moon." Martin Scorsese's latest has currently earned $156 million worldwide, it's worth noting. In both cases, Apple is banking on some Oscar nominations — if not wins — in major categories to further justify the cost of these productions.
To that end, a big part of the investment comes down to optics. Letting heralded filmmakers make these movies the way they want to make them simply looks good. Directors are still very much attracted to the allure of a wide theatrical release. Apple can provide that as well as a sizable budget for the right project.
For the right company and the right movie
Another thing that helps Apple's financial case is that they aren't just bringing these movies to Apple TV+ in a hurry. Not only did they give these titles a very fair shake in theaters, but they are also giving them VOD releases, which adds another revenue stream to further offset costs. Could Blu-ray/4K releases also be on deck at some point in the future? Physical media lovers such as myself dare not dream too big on that front. After all, "CODA" won Best Picture for Apple and it still doesn't have a Blu-ray release, but I digress. The larger point remains that Apple is wisely capitalizing in every way that it can with these movies.
Now for the big question: Is Apple going to continue doing this in the future? When everything is tallied up will they be satisfied with the results? The company is unquestionably going to continue to make big movies. They have a racing movie with Brad Pitt in the works as we speak, among several others. It seems like the plan is to give most of the movies a theatrical release before they arrive on streaming. But the more specific question is whether or not Apple will invest this kind of money in films that are less commercially sound. Are they going to give more auteur filmmakers a blank check to make dream projects come true? Or will they seek out projects with more potential upside from a financial standpoint?
It's a question that only the bean counters at one of the world's largest companies know the answer to. That said, the optics of moves like this are good enough, and the offsetting of the costs seems substantial enough, to justify more projects like this in the future. At the very least, it makes a heck of a lot more sense than releasing a movie as expensive as "The Irishman" straight to Netflix with a bare minimum theatrical release purely to qualify for awards.
"Napoleon" is in theaters now.