Apple Reportedly Wants To Release At Least 6 Oscar Contenders A Year For Its Streaming Service

Steven Spielberg might want to talk to his new buddy, Apple. After leading the charge to eliminate streaming films from Oscar consideration, the legendary director has signed on to produce TV content for the tech company. However, it appears that his new partner is interested in making Oscar-worthy films, as well.

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According to the NY Post, Apple is looking to position itself as a major awards contender. The report says that the massive company is planning on “financing six small-budget movies a year with an eye toward stories that could win Academy Awards.” And to get the ball rolling on this very ambitious plan, the tech company has reportedly approached “elevated” directors and other talent to make the Oscar dreams a reality.

It is being reported that Apple will be very strategic with its spending on these Oscar-bait projects. Each is supposedly going to be budgeted within $5 million and $30 million, with studios like Netflix and Focus Features providing inspiration. Netflix, of course, struck Oscar gold last year with “Roma,” which earned a slew of nominations, including Best Picture. Focus Features, most recently, released films like “The Dead Don’t Die,” “Everybody Knows,” “Greta,” and “The Mustang.”

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The problem is that we still don’t know much of anything about how the tech company plans on releasing its slate of films. Presumably, many of the films will be shown exclusively on their Apple TV+ streaming service, which will have a monthly fee. However, as we are well aware, thanks to the recent controversies, to win an Oscar, your film has to have a theatrical release. So, will Apple go the route of Netflix, keeping the films in limited release for a couple of weeks? Or perhaps, the tech company will follow Amazon’s lead and release the high-profile films in a regular theatrical run, with streaming to follow?

We’ll have to wait until the end of 2019 to probably learn more, as Apple is still readying its streaming service for launch.