Apple TV+ has announced that its holiday musical comedy ‘Spirited’ has become the most popular Apple Original Films title on the streaming service ever, via Deadline. Apple does not release specific viewership numbers, other than to suggest that the Ryan Reynolds—Will Ferrell movie broke records for the service.
Apple’s original film efforts were validated this year when Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to win the coveted Best Picture Oscar, for ‘CODA‘. That being said, exactly how many people are watching Apple’s films is still murky.
A month after release, ‘Spirited’ continues to rank highly on the Apple TV+ Most Popular Now chart and will likely pick up even more steam over the Christmas period.
The just-released slave drama ‘Emancipation‘, starring Will Smith, is also reportedly performing well, bringing 27% new viewers to Apple TV+. The Selena Gomez documentary feature has also become Apple TV+’s most popular title for young adults.
Whilst it is currently looking unlikely that Apple will clinch a Best Picture nomination for the 2022 Oscar season, its slate of upcoming film projects sets it up well for 2023.
Next year, Apple will release several major movie projects including ‘Argylle’ (starring an ensemble cast including Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dua Lipa and more), ‘Tetris’ (starring Taron Egerton), ‘Napoleon’ (starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Ridley Scott), and ‘Ghosted’ (starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas).
The >$200m budget Martin Scorsese epic ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is also expected to premiere sometime in 2023, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and will likely be a leading contender for the 2023 Oscars race.
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