Apple is getting ready to launch a TV and movie streaming service, and that means putting together an expansive catalog of original content. The company is widely expected to unveil its offering at an event on March 25th, and it could give us a first look at some of the original programming that’s in the works.
The market for streaming services is already crowded: Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have all been steadily releasing their own original programming to varying levels of acclaim for years. Disney is expected to unveil its streaming service, Disney+, next month, and NBCUniversal is planning to release a streaming service in 2020. Both companies will be able to rely on deep back catalogs of beloved movies and shows, making an entrance even harder for a newcomer like Apple.
To break into that crowded market, Apple is paying a lot for its original programming — reportedly upward of $1 billion. What does it get for that amount of money? Quite a few shows.
Even though the service has yet to be announced, movie acquisitions, rights deals, and orders for new TV series all get reported months before they debut. So we know a good deal about what Apple has in store for its upcoming service.
If you’re expecting the next gritty Game of Thrones-style series, you probably won’t find it coming from Apple. The company is reportedly sticking to a “family-friendly” approach when it comes to content — no nudity or swearing — and it has used a heavy hand when it comes to the development of said content. Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that one show, Vital Signs, based on the life of Dr. Dre, was “too violent,” and it was subsequently canceled, while Carpool Karaoke was abruptly delayed because of language.
Children’s shows
Apple has picked up a handful of animated and children-oriented projects. There’s Central Park, an animated series from Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, about a family of caretakers in New York’s Central Park. Apple also acquired an animated film called Wolfwalkers, directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, about a girl who decides to save Ireland’s wolves, which are being hunted to extinction.
In addition to those projects, Apple signed a deal with the production company behind Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, and it plans to release a series of STEM-related shorts about Astronaut Snoopy, which will be followed by a variety of shows, specials, and shorts, according to The Wrap. Apple also ordered two Sesame Street shows, one animated, one live-action.
Comedy
There are several comedy shows as well. The first is Dickinson, a half-hour comedy show about poet Emily Dickinson, which is set to star Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bumblebee), and it’s described as “audaciously exploring the constraints of society, gender, and family.” The series will also feature Jane Krakowski (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) as Dickinson’s mother.
Also on the list is a yet-to-be-titled series from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creators Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day. Not much is known about the show, other than it will “explore the intricacies of the human condition through hilarious and innovative ways.” Given Apple’s emphasis on PG content, it’s likely not going to be anything like Always Sunny. There’s also You Think It, I’ll Say It, a half-hour comedy series based on a just-released collection of short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld. Kristen Wiig was set to star in the series, but she has since dropped out, and the project is reportedly on hold.
Drama
The company has several dramas and thrillers lined up for the service. The biggest (and the first show ordered for the service) is a series called The Morning Show, starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell. It’s loosely based off of a book by CNN reporter Brian Stelter called Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV. Apple has ordered two 10-episode seasons for the show, and Variety says that Carell will play a “morning show anchor who is struggling to maintain relevance.”
Other dramas include Little Voice, from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, which is described as a half-hour dramedy that’s about lost 20-somethings that’ll be a “love letter to the diverse musicality of New York”; Little America, an anthology series from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick) about immigration in America; Swagger, a series based on basketball player Kevin Durant; and My Glory Was I Had Such Friends, a miniseries based on a memoir by Amy Silverstein about a supportive group of friends who helped her while she waited for a second heart transplant. That project will reunite Alias duo J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Garner, who is set to star in the series.
Apple has also given orders to some unnamed dramas. One comes from La La Land and First Man director Damien Chazelle, and the company is also reported to be closing in on a deal to adapt an Israeli series called Neverlot, with Richard Gere attached.
There are a couple of other projects that are currently in development, including Pachinko, an “international drama” based on the novel by Korean author Min Jin Lee, about four generations of an immigrant family, and Shantaram, about an escaped Australian prisoner who ends up making a new life for himself in Bombay.
Science fiction
Apple is also prepping several science fiction shows, and it has brought in some heavy-hitters to run them. The first is a reboot of the classic science fiction anthology series Amazing Stories. The show started off with Pushing Daisies, Star Trek Discovery, and American Gods showrunner Bryan Fuller, but he’s since left, seemingly because of the company’s restrictions. Once Upon a Time co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis have replaced him.
Ron Moore, the creator of Syfy’s Battlestar Galactica reboot is behind a space-based series called For All Mankind about an alternate world in which the Cold War-era space race never ended. At New York Comic Con last year, Moore spoke about his fascination with the Apollo missions and said that he’s “dangerously optimistic about it.”
Apple snagged an adaptation of one of the best-known science fiction novels, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, which has long eluded film. The 10-episode series comes from David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Man of Steel) and Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). It takes place in the distant future as an interstellar empire begins to collapse. Marvel comic writer and fantasy author Saladin Ahmed has said that he’s one of the writers on the project.
Apple also greenlit a series starring Jason Momoa, which is described as “an epic, world-building drama.” It’s called See, and it comes from Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, and Francis Lawrence, the director of Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Momoa will play a warrior and leader named Baba Voss.
Finally, word broke in January that Apple is working on a deal with Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) and David Weil (Amazon’s The Hunt) for a “large-budget, ambitious, character-driven genre show.” Another project in development is an adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s film Time Bandits, with Thor: Ragnarok writer and director Taika Waititi set to write and direct. Unlike most of the other projects, those two shows haven’t been greenlit just yet.
Thriller and action
Apple seems to be putting most of its efforts into thriller and action shows, lining up projects like Are You Sleeping, a series based on a novel about a true crime podcast starring Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures); Defending Jacob, an eight-episode series that stars Chris Evans (Avengers: Infinity War) about a father whose 14-year old son is accused of murder; a 10-episode psychological thriller series from M. Night Shyamalan (which will star Planet of the Apes’ Toby Kebbell); and Magic Hour, a 10-episode mystery series about a girl who travels to her father’s hometown and uncovers a cold case. The series is inspired by Hilde Lysiak, a girl who founded a newspaper called Orange Street News in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, when she was nine years old.
Most recently, word broke that Apple has picked up a CIA drama that will star Captain Marvel’s Brie Larson. It’s based on an upcoming memoir from former CIA operative Amaryllis Fox called Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA.
Documentaries and films
When it comes to film and documentaries, Apple only has a couple of projects lined up. There’s Home, a 10-episode documentary series about “the world’s most extraordinary homes,” and Elephant Queen, a documentary film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall about a female elephant that must lead her herd away from their home to find food and water. It’s also developing a project called Losing Earth, based on last year’s New York Times article about climate change by Nathaniel Rich.
Finally, Apple has two films that it’s picked up. The first is Hala, a film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, about a Muslim teenager who has to navigate cultural challenges at home and at school, and On The Rocks, a film by Sofia Coppola starring Bill Murray, about a woman “who reconnects with her larger than life playboy father on an adventure through New York.”
A couple of things jump out while looking at that long lineup of TV and film projects. The first is that most of these have been ordered to series. Unlike Netflix or Hulu, Apple doesn’t have a long track record of producing its own original content, and it’s playing catch-up to try and build a catalog of programming to entice people to check out the service — programming that will likely only live within Apple’s platform. Apple also has one advantage that Netflix and Hulu don’t: a massive infrastructure of devices where it can promote its service.
Despite that advantage, Apple will still have to compete with the existing video streaming services, pulling viewers away from popular competitors. Apple has brought on a lot of talent and ordered high-profile projects that are sure to bring in some attention. There are well-known actors such as Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Brie Larson, Hailee Steinfeld, and Reese Witherspoon as well as creators like J.J. Abrams, Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, and Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon on board to produce series for Apple.
Apple also appears to be taking a page from Amazon’s playbook: this slate of projects has a wide appeal internationally, with what looks like a blend of feel-good and inspirational dramas, but there’s also a range of genres to attract fans of all stripes.
What we’ll find out soon is whether Apple can produce high-quality content to stand up to the more established players in the streaming world, or if it’ll be an expensive learning curve.
Comments
So the title say "Huge Library of shows". Compared to ..? Seems like a couple dozen efforts.
Maybe 100? What am I mssing. This seems like a very, very small library of shows. What is this being defined against?
Also :
Oy vey. It’s like they are begging to be relegated to one of those "and then there’s also Apple’s service, which .." choices.
By dsignori on 03.20.19 1:11pm
To be clear, if they have tons of other "Non-Apple" content to go along with this, it makes the service look better. And if we are speaking solely of Original content, then this is definitely a decent start (though I still wouldn’t call it huge). I should have said, it seems like a very, very small library of shows if this is all they are offering . I guess we will know soon enough.
By dsignori on 03.20.19 1:16pm
They don’t need to beat Netflix, or any of the ‘big network’ services for this is work out fine.
There were similar discussions around Apple Music competing in a Spotify free-tier world. Worked out fine. Maybe it simply exists to compliment their hardware and break even.
By DJFM on 03.20.19 1:35pm
personally I would prefer a service similar to PlayStation Vue. but I think this article is vague because they just don’t have the info.
By JesseDegenerate on 03.20.19 3:01pm
This is what I was thinking about – what if it’s a value add for Apple hardware, like the ATV compared to the price of other streamers. And then for non-Apple hardware have a paid system.
By tipoo on 03.20.19 3:44pm
They are reportedly doing some partnerships with HBO / Starz, so I’m guessing that these shows will come in alongside that. But here’s the thing: the original stuff is really what’s going to entice people. They can already go to other places for HBO and Starz and whatnot, so these programs are going to be what ultimately convinces people.
By Andrew Liptak on 03.20.19 2:08pm
game of thrones without hbo sub would be a pretty instant buy for me if there was basically any other good content.
that may be the angle.
By JesseDegenerate on 03.20.19 3:02pm
With respect to the HBO stuff, it’s a BIT odd if the price for the Apple sub Includes HBO, because on the one hand that sort of negates their "no R-rated stuff" but on the other hand it also sort of alleviates Apple from needing to produce it, if they can still provide a service that comes with it from a 3rd party.
(Just seems loop-holey to claim they don’t offer it if indeed you get it with your subscription.)
By brian.eric.ford on 03.20.19 3:50pm
I suspect it’s about needing to produce it. Since nothing is official yet it’s all speculation anyway.
By Lomifeh on 03.20.19 3:58pm
My assumption here is that it’ll be an add-on. I mean, Apple already sells episodes of Game of Thrones. They’re happy to let other people produce it.
By Andrew Liptak on 03.20.19 5:56pm
At best, they can end up with something like This Is Us, which is a pretty family friendly drama that touches enough into emotion and some darker aspects of mental health to keep the show interesting. At worst, they can end up with more Beats 1, which I’ve found perennially disappointing. Like it’s this close to being good but then it gets handcuffed by Apple’s censorship. I hoped that Queen Radio would change that about Beats 1 and Apple as a whole, but alas, no dice.
By ddhboy on 03.20.19 1:21pm
At best, they can end up with a Parks and Recreation, a Good Place, a Lost, a Battlestar Gallactica, a Firefly, a Brooklyn 99, a Dragon Prince — I could go on and probably think of 100+ other really great examples, but my point is clear:
Suggesting that Apple needs a "Game of Thrones" rape and murder-fest to provide a large library of high quality, original content feels like the comment of someone who watches a lot of TV that is only on HBO.
(Who, while I’m on the subject, also doesn’t put out all that much original content.)
By brian.eric.ford on 03.20.19 2:57pm
Exactly. People are acting like Apple is some anomaly that doesn’t stand a chance because they don’t want to go hard core adult oriented, when history has proven that there is a gigantic market for great content no matter how racy it isn’t.
By JediTed on 03.20.19 3:02pm
I don’t think anyone is saying this. Folks are saying that it seems awfully risky to EXCLUDE anything with nudity or swearing, and I agree. It limits things somewhat and might ultimately reduce their audience.
Apple has such a large core audience of folks who will buy anything that says "Apple" , so their streaming service will do well – no matter what they announce, I would bet. That doesn’t mean they made all good decisions up to now.
By dsignori on 03.20.19 7:55pm
By my count, there’s something like 30 shows that have been greenlit or is otherwise in development. That’s a lot, even compared to Netflix’s constant churn of stuff. Netflix is spending something like $12 billion on original content, so to see Apple put up this much is pretty notable.
By Andrew Liptak on 03.20.19 2:07pm
I mean, if this is all the original content they are kicking off with day 1, then that would be pretty impressive, when you compare it to day 1 of DC Universe or day 1 of whatever the Star Trek Discovery service is called (I don’t know, we don’t get that service in Oz)
By aelfin on 03.20.19 8:15pm
OK, they are free to do it, but it seems that the iPhone would remain mediocre – lack of focus/shift of priorities is clear
By Michelle Beltran on 03.21.19 7:09am
Here’s the problem, this list just sounds like the mishmash of stuff Netflix and Amazon are churning out at great volume, so why would I bother with Apple’s mishmash?
What I’d rather to do is sign up for at least a free trial of CBS All Access and keep up with Star Trek – the second season of Disco and the new Picard show. Then I’m likely to sample Disney to see Mandalorian and the show with Winter Solider. I’ll probably check out Warners to see if the HBO brand is still delivering quality goods under the new leadership. If I were a GoT fan, then I’d sign up for that.
Notice a trend? Everything I’m talking about is related to a big brand. That’s what you need if you want to rise above the general mishmash. Apple just needs to go on a big spending spree. First up, they should buy CBS or maybe CBS/Viacom.
By nerdrage on 03.20.19 1:22pm
That’s the question! My guess is that they’re hoping that ease-to-access will be a big thing, and I would be very interested in seeing if having a good library of video to watch will translate into people buying things like iPads.
Ultimately, what’s going to sell this is quality shows. If they’re turning out stuff that’s comparable to Netflix (which can be great, but it’s usually hit-or-miss), they will have an issue. If everything they turn out is really good, that’ll likely help them in the long run.
By Andrew Liptak on 03.20.19 1:37pm
I’m cynical enough to think this has little to do with quality, not when Netflix can produce some silly nonsense movie like Bird Box and hit big. Netflix and Amazon have captured a lot of the potential audience for streaming between them simply by throwing an amazing amount of stuff at us (and in Amazon’s case, it’s probably the free shipping that really attracts subscribers).
Now competitors’ job is simply to get attention away from Netflix and Amazon, so that they can get sampling that might lead to subscription. And that means having something Netflix and Amazon don’t, at least not yet, namely big brands. Disney and AT&T have those brands but Apple doesn’t.
Look at CBS All Access, they’re surviving okay with just one big brand in Star Trek. I don’t think that’s nearly enough in the long run but I give them credit for having the right idea. An Apple or Amazon just needs to buy them and add Star Trek and Twilight Zone (and all that Showtime and CW stuff) to their own library. Then maybe it’ll add up to something.
By nerdrage on 03.20.19 2:40pm
People already writing this off need to step back and realise they only need one or two hits within a year – defined by an organic buzz about a Season 2 announcement.
For all Netflix ace shows, I only watch 3 religiously, and I would say I mostly watch Netflix when I watch any TV at all.
Remember when Apple targeted 1% of the phone market with iPhone? Seemed paltry, but it was all they really achieved in the short term. Worked out fine.
This is a value-add for iPhone/Apple eco-system users. My family got really into This is Us on Amazon Prime. We watch nothing else on the platform, but it’s a pretty cool bonus for heavily using Prime’s free next day delivery service.
TLDR: Anyone but Apple crowd will find every small thing wrong, some already subscribed to Apple Music / or another bundled service (remember, they have LOADS) will find something that sticks.
By DJFM on 03.20.19 1:33pm
However it is yet unproven. Netflix originally reeled people in with content they knew already. It was about accessing a range of TV shows and movies that had aired or been shown fairly recently, as well as older content.
Then now they have the subscriber based they’ve pivoted toward the original content being the draw. And as the base is there they have enough people to spread word-of-mouth on that content.
That doesn’t mean it won’t ever be successful, it would just have a slower path to success.
By bobfisher on 03.20.19 2:30pm
Netflix had a huge huge huge advantage of having years to themselves to build up an audience. If Netflix was starting now, vs a few incumbent competitors, they would have no flipping hope. There is no room for a new Netflix. There’s room for a new Disney or two – a company with the biggest brands in the world. Beyond that, man I wouldn’t want the job of breaking into this tough business.
By nerdrage on 03.20.19 2:47pm
If I made a device that millions of people use every day I’d probably feel pretty confident, though.
By brian.eric.ford on 03.20.19 3:05pm
One or two hits a year won’t be nearly enough, not with Netflix and arguably also Amazon producing enough content so that if you’re like me and only like maybe 5% of what they have, that’s 5% of such a large library that it actually fills your free entertainment time pretty well. I keep meaning to sample CBS AA or Hulu but I keep finding new stuff on Netflix and Amazon to watch instead.
That’s the name of the game, somehow pry people away from the incumbents and get them to even check you out. That’s a tall order now – Disney can do it by throwing Marvel and Star Wars at us, AT&T has HBO and GoT but what does Apple have that will be a crowbar of comparable strength?
By nerdrage on 03.20.19 2:44pm