One of the most bankable and likable stars in Hollywood has seen his reputation shattered in the time it took Will Smith to rise out of his seat at the Academy Awards and slap Chris Rock in the face. Everyone knows the story now and since film and television aren’t part of our beat, there is no sense in taking a deep dive and analyzing the whole affair. However, Apple is on our beat and there is part of this story that has an impact on the tech titan.
Smith was scheduled to star in a original Apple TV+ film called “Emancipation.”
Think about how strange this all sounds. We should point out that Smith was scheduled to star in a new original film for Apple TV+ called “Emancipation.” Production had been halted on the set because of Covid and it isn’t clear what the film’s status is at this time.
Apple TV+ is the home of the very popular Ted Lasso show
After the slap, the awards show continued and Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his part in “King Richard,” a film about Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. In winning that award, he beat out Denzel Washington who was nominated for starring as Macbeth in the Apple TV+ movie “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”
With its CODA named Best Picture, Apple makes movie history as subscription numbers rise
Winning “Best Picture” has helped Apple TV+ subscriptions soar 25% in the aftermath of the televised awards show. At the same time, the number of Apple TV+ subscribers viewing CODA soared 300% week-over-week. The film was also the first with a mostly all-deaf cast to pick up the hardware for “Best Picture” at the event. Apple has never released subscription numbers for Apple TV+, but by one estimate it is believed to have 40 million accounts with 20 million paying customers.
Apple secured the rights to the movie by paying a Sundance Film Festival record of $25 million. While it would seem that Apple made a smart investment in purchasing the movie rights, it isn’t clear whether many new subscribers were taking advantage of the seven-day free trial of the service that Apple offers just so they could view CODA and see what all of the excitement was about.
