Variety gives Apple a grade of "D" in the feature film department this year, after several missteps, including "Argylle," "Fly Me to the Moon," and a "Wolfs" sequel that sounds like it'll never be.

Rebecca Rubin and Brent Lang For Variety:

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Takeaways: Apple is very good at making phones and computers. Movies? Not so much.

The tech giant spent lavishly on starry projects like "Argylle" (featuring Henry Cavill, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena and a lot of A-listers looking to have their backend bought out) and "Fly Me to the Moon" (where Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum met cute at NASA but would have fared better attracting audiences on Mars). But it had little to show after signing those big checks.

Then there was "Wolfs," which the studio abruptly shifted to streaming after initially planning to give it a robust theatrical run. The suspicion was that Apple made the move after looking at some scary tracking. But instead of saving face, the studio announced that it was planning to make a sequel without getting buy-in from writer and director Jon Watts. When he broke his silence about the aborted follow-up and shared his anger over the streaming pivot, it set off a fresh wave of bad headlines. It's all contributed to an image of a studio that is stumbling around, vainly searching for a winning strategy.

Next year brings Brad Pitt in "F1," a racing drama that is directed by "Top Gun: Maverick's" Joseph Kosinski, which could turn around Apple's box office fortunes. If not, tough questions will be asked about what exactly Apple has to show for its costly Hollywood experiment.

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MacDailyNews Take: Sure, this year wasn't the greatest, but it's only been two years since Apple became the first streaming service to win the Oscar for Best Picture in 2022 for "CODA." Here's to a rebound in 2025!

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