Wolfs (film)

Wolfs (film)
Directed by	Jon Watts
Written by	Jon Watts
Produced by	George Clooney Grant Heslov Brad Pitt Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner Dianne McGunigle Jon Watts
Starring	George Clooney Brad Pitt Amy Ryan Austin Abrams Poorna Jagannathan
Cinematography	Larkin Seiple
Edited by	Andrew Weisblum
Music by	Theodore Shapiro
Production company	Apple Studios Plan B Entertainment Smokehouse Pictures
Distributed by	Apple TV+
Release date	September 1, 2024 (2024-09-01) (Venice) September 20, 2024 (2024-09-20) (United States)
Running time	108 minutes
Language	English
Country	United States

Wolfs is a 2024 American action comedy film written and directed by Jon Watts. It reunites actors George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who star as professional fixers forced to work together on a job despite their preference to operate as lone wolves. The film also stars Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan. It premiered out of competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, on September 1, 2024, and is scheduled to receive a limited theatrical release in the United States by Columbia Pictures (through Sony Pictures Releasing) on September 20, before streaming on Apple TV+ on September 27.

Plot

Margaret, an older woman running for District Attorney, falls into a panic after a young man in her hotel room winds up dead. Distressed, she goes through her phone contacts wondering who to call for discreet help. She ends up calling an unknown number given to her by a trusted man, the number belonging to Jack, an older professional fixer. Once Margaret tells Jack how she got his number, Jack arrives at the apartment with his gear. He begins to dispose of the body after learning that Margaret picked up a younger man, simply known as the Kid, earlier that day at the hotel bar to fool around with until he accidentally fell onto a glass table after carelessly jumping on the bed. A sudden knock at the hotel room door interrupts Jack's disposal process. In walks Nick, a middle-aged professional fixer. Jack and Margaret learn that Nick works for the hotel's mysterious owner, Pam, who encourages the two fixers to work together, much to their chagrin, in order to ensure the mess is cleaned up thoroughly.

Jack and Nick send Margaret out after giving her an alibi and a change of clothes prior to getting to work, but discover a hidden bag of drugs within the hotel room that confounds them. The bag, along with a hidden camera that the hotel owner had installed in the room, leads Jack to wonder if this was all a setup to incriminate him by leaving drugs at the scene with the dead body. In between arguments, Jack and Nick proceed to move out the body before, to their shock, the Kid suddenly comes back to life with a gasp for air.

Keeping him knocked out in the trunk of their car, Jack and Nick bring the Kid to June, a medical specialist who they later realize has worked with both of them before. While June is checking his body to understand what happened to him, the Kid comes to again and escapes. After a high-speed chase around the city, Jack and Nick eventually catch the Kid and bring him back, though an irritated June quickly sends them away. Jack and Nick take the Kid to a dingy hotel and interrogate him despite that fact that their methods differ greatly. They find out the Kid was moving the drugs for drug kingpin Lagrange, but the location of the drop can only be discovered through a pager left at a club by the Kid's bartender friend Diego. Outside the club, Jack and Nick catch sight of "The Croatian", a shady figure they've encountered amidst previous jobs, which makes the two increasingly suspicious of a larger plot potentially at play. They accompany the Kid into the club, but are soon caught by The Croatian, whose real name is Dimitri. Jack and Nick smooth-talk Dimitri into letting them go and settle down at a diner where they formally agree to help each other, especially after realizing how much they have in common, from their clothes and gun preference to their bad backs and farsightedness.

Jack and Nick watch the Kid enter a warehouse to make the drop, but are soon ambushed by "The Albanians", an armed force led by an apparent accomplice of Dimitri. The two engage in a shoot-out and make their way inside the drop-off spot where they find multiple dead men and the Kid, who hid inside a car trunk during the firefight. Not knowing what just happened or what even led to this drug deal fiasco in the first place, a frustrated and suspicious Jack and Nick consider killing the Kid to tie up at least one loose end. At the last second, they have a change of heart and drive the Kid home.

The next morning, Jack and Nick have breakfast together at a diner and mutually give up on solving the convoluted nature of the job given just how many elaborate elements there are (Lagrange, Dimitri, Pam, Diego, etc.). As they part ways, Nick happens to quote Margaret's trusted man who gave her Jack's number in the first place. Jack stops in his tracks and puts together that their employment likely goes all the way back to the same source. The two go back to mulling over the convoluted plot and come to the conclusion that this may have all been a criminal scheme to "clean" the both of them. They look outside the diner window to find multiple armed men closing in on them, seemingly confirming their theory. Realizing that they don't even know each other's names, they agree to tell them to each other if they survive. On the count of three, the two rise up and open fire at the oncoming assailants.

Cast

• George Clooney as Jack
• Brad Pitt as Nick
• Amy Ryan as Margaret
• Austin Abrams as Kid
• Poorna Jagannathan as June
• Zlatko Burić as Dimitri
• Richard Kind as Kid's dad
• Frances McDormand as the voice of Pamela Dowd-Henry

Production

In September 2021, a studio bidding war began for a film package that included Jon Watts as writer and director, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt on board to star and produce via their respective production labels, Smokehouse Pictures and Plan B Entertainment. Wolfs reunites the two actors, who previously worked on the Ocean's trilogy (2001–2007) and appeared in one scene together in Burn After Reading (2008). Apple TV+ acquired the rights to the film after winning the bidding war against Amazon MGM Studios, Annapurna Pictures, Lionsgate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Netflix, Sony Pictures (which would later take over theatrical distribution rights), Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Pictures. Additional cast members were revealed in 2023. Principal photography reportedly began in January 2023 in New York City, including the neighborhoods of Harlem and Chinatown. Larkin Seiple, who previously shot Watts' Cop Car (2015), was the cinematographer of the approximately 70-day shoot.

In August 2024, The New York Times reported that Apple paid Clooney and Pitt more than $35 million to star and Watts more than $15 million to direct the film. Clooney denied this claim, stating, "It is millions and millions and millions of dollars less than what was reported. And I am only saying that because I think it's bad for our industry if that's what people think is the standard bearer for salaries."

Release

Wolfs is scheduled for a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 20, 2024, before debuting on Apple TV+ on September 27. It was originally set for a wide release since Apple acquired it in 2021, Clooney and Pitt having "made the deal to do that movie where we gave money back to make sure that we had a theatrical release." In December 2023, Apple entered another agreement with Sony Pictures Releasing, following their partnership on Napoleon, to distribute the film in cinemas, scheduling it for release in the United States on September 20, 2024.

In August 2024, six weeks before its release, Apple announced its decision to pivot from a wide release to a limited release on the same date. The New York Times noted that Sony, who had agreed to distribute the film and split the marketing costs with Apple, was set to begin a national marketing campaign during the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, Zack Van Amburg, who oversees Apple's entertainment programming, canceled those plans, as Apple executives hoped "to not risk a public disappointment should the movie not succeed at the box office". Clooney said he and Pitt put some of their salary into keeping the limited release.

The film premiered out of competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2024. Watts skipped the event due to contracting COVID.

Reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of 6.0 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 24/10. Using a weighted average calculator, Metacritic assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Future

A month prior to its release, Apple confirmed a sequel was in the works, with Watts, Clooney, and Pitt returning. Of the announcement, Watts said, "Apple's been talking to me about a sequel since I turned in my cut in December [2023]. That's always been an ongoing discussion. I absolutely did not write the movie with a sequel in mind. But it was very fun to make, so I don't know, I think you let the audience decide if they want to see more."

External links

• Official website
• Wolfs at IMDb

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