Big Apple movies —

Apple inks deal with Ex Machina-maker A24 studio to create original films

Apple's TV streaming service is rumored to debut in the first half of 2019.

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Apple has lined up another partnership to boost its video-content offerings. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple signed a deal with A24 studio, a New York-based production company responsible for movies, including the 2017 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Moonlight.

Details of forthcoming projects haven't been disclosed, but Apple reportedly signed a "multi-year partnership" to make "independent, feature-length films" with A24. Apple has numerous production partnerships and deals in the works already, but most are for serialized shows and other video content.

For the past year, Apple has focused on gleaning talent for its original content offerings. It began with the Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps series, both of which are exclusively available on Apple Music.

After Apple pledged to spend $1 billion on original content this year alone, it began striking deals with celebrities, filmmakers, producers, and other experts in the entertainment world. Under the leadership of former Sony execs Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, Apple has struck deals for a morning-show series starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Anniston, a revival of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, a Friday Night Lights-esque show about basketball player Kevin Durant, and others. Apple even signed Oprah Winfrey to a nebulous, multi-year partnership in which the talk-show host and philanthropist will produce movies, TV shows, books, applications, and other content.

But A24's recent popular films—including but not limited to Moonlight, Lady Bird, Hereditary, Ex Machina, and The Disaster Artist, don't seem to fit in with Apple's current content visions. Reports suggest that the iPhone maker wants to avoid content with "gratuitous sex, profanity, or violence," all of which are elements explored in many of today's award-winning and popular films.

How and where Apple will distribute this original content is still unknown. Most of its exclusives live on Apple Music right now, so it could dump everything into its music subscription service or on iTunes. However, reports suggest Apple's rumored TV streaming service—which will be in direct competition with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu—will launch in early 2019.

Ars has reached out to Apple and A24 for further comment.

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Channel Ars Technica