Apple seals movie deal with media mogul Peter Chernin

Apple Inc. has signed a deal to release new movies from North Road, the entertainment studio led by media mogul Peter Chernin, indicating the technology giant’s growing ambitions in Hollywood.

The agreement will give Apple first crack at new projects being developed by Chernin, whose company has been aligned with Netflix Inc. for the last five years. North Road’s Chernin Entertainment can still produce films it’s already developing for other studios and has two movies that will soon come out on Netflix: “Apex,” an action thriller starring Charlize Theron, and “11817,” a horror project starring Wagner Moura and Greta Lee.

“We’ve had a great experience working with Apple on the series side, where they’ve been smart, daring, and always supportive — we’re excited to build on that success by making movies together,” said Chernin, who has already produced TV shows “See” and “Truth Be Told” for Apple. Their next collaboration, the TV series “Chief of War” starring Jason Momoa, debuts in August.

Apple, a relative newcomer in Hollywood, has been building out its film business to bolster its Apple TV+ streaming service. While the tech giant has released a handful of hit original TV shows, including “Ted Lasso” and “Severance,” it has yet to replicate that success on the feature film side. It will release one of its most ambitious films yet, “F1” starring Brad Pitt, on Friday.

Chernin is one of the most respected figures in the media world as an investor and producer. He spent years as an executive working with Rupert Murdoch at News Corp. and Fox before setting up his own company.

His investment firm the Chernin Group has taken stakes in companies such as Barstool Sports and the anime streaming service Crunchyroll, while his entertainment company produces films and TV shows. Chernin folded all his entertainment assets, including the production outfit behind the hit reality TV shows “Love Is Blind” and “The Ultimatum,” into North Road. The company is producing several dozen projects this year — a mix of documentaries, feature films, reality shows and scripted series.

Chernin started off producing many films and TV shows for Fox, including “Ford v. Ferrari,” recent installments of the “Planet of the Apes” franchise and the sitcom “New Girl.” In 2020, Chernin signed a deal to make movies for Netflix Inc., producing the “Fear Street” franchise as well as “Back in Action,” a comedy starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. Yet as that agreement came to a close, Chernin shopped for a new home.

Netflix has scaled back the number of movies it plans to make — though it still churns out more than almost anyone in Hollywood — while Apple is ramping up. The iPhone maker has released a few features this year, including an action movie called “The Gorge” and the heist film “Fountain of Youth.” Those titles were released directly onto the streaming service Apple TV+ while the Formula 1 movie will be released in movie theaters worldwide before appearing online.

Shaw writes for Bloomberg.