Better than 50% chance that Apple will acquire a major movie studio – analyst

“There’s a lot of pressure for Apple to acquire a major studio,” Wedbush Securities Daniel Ives tells Variety. “I still think that it’s more than a 50% chance that they acquire one over the next 12 to 18 months.”
Tatiana Siegel for Variety:
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When it comes to Apple’s Hollywood ambitions, it’s all about spending big to win big.
On March 10, the tech giant has 13 shots to take home an Oscar via two historical epics, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Napoleon,” which nabbed 10 and three nominations, respectively. That’s given Apple the second-biggest haul among the major studios and streamers, just behind Netflix’s 18 nods and tied with Universal and Searchlight.
But at what price? Sources say the Martin Scorsese-helmed “Killers” cost an eye-popping $215 million (that includes about $40 million in Covid-related costs). In fact, Apple spent at least $700 million to make and market just three films: “Killers,” Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” and Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle.” The trio have earned a combined $466 million worldwide at the box office, with “Napoleon” leading the pack at $221 million, followed by “Killers” ($157 million) and “Argylle” ($88 million).
“The quality of the films has been extremely impressive and has attracted significant demand for the Apple TV+ service,” says Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives. “But the Achilles’ heel is not the quality. They just don’t have enough [product]. I think that’s been the tug of war with Apple: They’ve achieved high quality and won Oscars, yet they lack the library in this content arms race.”

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MacDailyNews Take: Shortly before the various and sundry ridiculous COVID overreactions threw several tons of monkey wrenches into, basically, everything, wasting years of everyone’s time:

A little birdie tells us that "a major Apple acquisition looms," but that "it's not yet a done deal." If it goes through, however, "people will be shocked." https://t.co/BvG5yA69Oa #AppleAcquisitions #Apple #Mergers #Acquisitions #AAPL
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) April 4, 2019

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