Apple hasn’t formally greenlit a sequel to final 12 months’s blockbuster “F1: The Movie,” however Eddy Cue — who oversees the tech big’s leisure companies — mentioned one will “hopefully” be coming, in partnership as soon as once more with Jerry Bruckheimer.
Cue, senior vp of companies and well being at Apple, took the principle stage on the Cannes Palais conference middle Monday on the Cannes Lions competition with Bruckheimer, the longtime Hollywood producer who teamed with Apple for final 12 months’s hit “F1: The Movie” for Apple Unique Movies. Cue’s look was queued up for his recognition as Cannes Lions’ Entertainment Person of the Year, with the competition citing his management of the tech big’s leisure and companies companies, together with Apple Music and the Apple TV streaming service.
“I can’t even say this is a dream come true, because I couldn’t even dream that way,” Cue instructed Bruckheimer concerning the award. “I have an amazing team of folks I get to work with every day that have made this all possible. The great thing is we’re just getting started, so there’s a lot more to do.”
Bruckheimer kicked off the dialog by praising Cue and the Apple staff. “I’m actually excited as a result of we’re going to come back again and hopefully make one other ‘F1,’” he said. Bruckheimer also has another movie project in the works with Apple about UFOs alongside producer Joseph Kosinski that he described as “kind of ‘All the President’s Males’ about what the federal government’s been hiding about UAPs [unidentified anomalous phenomena] all these years.” Stated Bruckheimer: “It’s going to be a true story, and it’s going to be, I mean, mind-boggling.”
About working with Apple, Bruckheimer mentioned, “When you have the team that Eddy put together, along with all the previous inventions that they had, it makes it so easy to work at a place like that.”
Starring Brad Pitt as a race automotive driver who comes out of retirement to make a run on the Method 1 circuit, “F1: The Movie” took in $634 million on the worldwide field workplace — making it Pitt’s largest film of all time, Cue famous. “One of the things that I loved about it is you felt great when you walked out,” he mentioned, including: “You loved it when you were walking out of [a movie theater] or watching it alone.”
In response to Cue, the best way Apple operates at the moment remains to be based mostly on “the foundation beliefs” of Steve Jobs. “There’s no doubt, I think, that he’d be incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done in this area,” Cue mentioned.
Cue recalled that early in his profession, earlier than Apple was even excited about constructing its personal leisure studio, he as soon as requested Steve Jobs — who was the CEO of Apple and Pixar on the identical time — “Why is it that Pixar can always create one hit after another, and that doesn’t happen everywhere else?” Jobs’ remark was it’s “always about the story,” Cue mentioned. “It begins and ends with the story. If you don’t have a story, you can’t have a great show, and that always resonated with me about the things that we’re trying to do.”
Cue recalled that when Apple was gearing up forward of the 2019 launch of Apple TV+, “at the time there was certainly lots of other companies out there doing it. We didn’t have any knowledge [of the streaming business], but we had this belief that everyone was chasing a lot of quantity and not quality, and we’ve always been about trying to be the best, not the most, and so we wanted to build television and movies a place where the best storytellers, the best creators, the best writers, the best directors would want to come work there and do their best work.”
Apple determined from the get-go that it wouldn’t license content material for the streaming service, Cue mentioned.
“We did something that I believe that most people told me you couldn’t do, and they were probably right, which is you can’t start a movie or TV [streaming service] without licensing content and getting some of the old content that’s out there,” he instructed Bruckheimer. “But we’ve always felt like if we were putting our name on it, it was kind of weird we were going to put our name on something we didn’t help create, so we said we’re going to start with nothing, we’re going to start with something that all shows that we create, which meant we had, you know, five or six shows when we launched the service.”
Cue mentioned it took him two years to search out the correct execs to go Apple’s unique leisure division, finally hiring former Sony Photos Tv execs Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg in 2017. “The most important thing was the people that we were going to hire and the people that we were going to work with,” he mentioned.
Cue gave a shout-out to Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston because the “first people to believe in us” once they had been pitching “The Morning Show” round city.
“I thought the show was amazing,” Cue mentioned. “But we had to go and convince them, and obviously others wanted the show as well… and I came down to the realization that we weren’t going to get it, because somebody would always offer more, or whatever, but I thought we were special, and so I asked for a meeting with both of them.” Cue requested Witherspoon and Aniston “whether they thought they were going to make one of the best shows ever in television. They said yes, and I said, ‘So do I. I think it’s going to be one of the best. That means you need to do it with us, and the reason you have to do it with us is because we don’t have any other shows! So we believe 100% in what you’re doing, and we’re going to launch our service on that.”
Cue proudly famous that Apple TV is now an EGOT winner, after the Broadway musical adaptation of unique collection “Schmigadoon!” gained a Tony award. Apple earned the Oscar for finest image for its uplifting 2021 drama “CODA,” whereas it took house a Grammy for Chris Stapleton’s “Bad as I Used to Be” from “F1: The Movie.” The corporate has gained a number of Emmys, with Apple TV’s Hollywood satire “The Studio” final 12 months taking house 13 trophies, a document for a comedy collection in a single 12 months in addition to for a first-year collection.
“So we’ve had a lot of success with people recognizing the work,” Cue mentioned, “but it comes down to the people you hire and the people that surround you.”
In the meantime, Bruckheimer admitted that he by no means actually is aware of if a film he’s making will turn out to be successful. “You think you know it’s going to be a hit, but nobody knows,” he mentioned. “And I’ve been in Hollywood long enough where I’ve seen movies that test it through the roof, and nobody showed up.”
Cue is an Apple lifer, having joined the corporate in 1989. After steering the launch of iTunes (2003) and the App Retailer (2008), he has led Apple’s growth into TV and films with the Apple TV streaming service.
In his closing remarks on the Palais, Cue once more expressed gratitude that he and Apple have been acknowledged with the Cannes Lions award. “I was a computer science major, engineering major, and for me to be here and what we’ve accomplished in this area, I could have never imagined,” mentioned Cue. He added to Bruckheimer, “You’re a true legend, but the best part about it is you’re a true legend still creating incredible things.”
