This "bomb" analysis of Killers of the Flower Moon seems to be missing an element that I can only address on the basis of the "Netflix" movies -- like Scorsese's own "The Irishman" -- which Apple seems to be trying to emulate here(by bankrolling the movie made by the famous guy who made "The Irishman," natch.)
Bear with me on this idea, but it goes like this, and I'll use Netflix as the more relevant player:
Netflix released "The Irishman" to theaters for about 2 weeks before bringing it to Netflix. Two reasons: (1) to qualify the movie for Oscars and (2) at Scorsese's personal request -- he wanted at least SOME audiences to see "The Irishman" on the big screen theatrical experience.
But here's the thing: even with the theatrical release Netflix officials DID NOT WANT The Irishman to make ANY money at theaters.
Because the deal was originally: Netflix wanted people to have access to "The Irishman" ONLY on Netflix. They wanted viewers to SUBSCRIBE to Netflix so as to see "The Irishman" there. They didn't want viewers to go pay at the theater.
Indeed, as I recall, Scorsese rather "double crossed on his original deal" with Netflix in convincing them to let The Irishman play in more theaters (not just Oscar towns LA and NYC) and for a longer week or so.
So now Scorsese cuts a similar deal with Apple but -- supposedly the "wider and longer release" of Killers of the Flower Moon WAS meant in some way to bring some more money in -- once it was clear that Leo was playing a bad guy and the story was pretty depressing.
I'm not sure how to take this but the bottom line is that the "streaming movie model" has broken down a bit. Again: profits at the theaters doesn't help Apple(or Netflix) make money with "exclusive content" as contracted for by their services.
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