Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by paxys 1548 days ago
Eh, no one is giving Apple credit for this win other than Apple themselves. They bought distribution rights to the film well after production was finished and it was already making waves in the festival circuit. Apple's own studio had zero creative input.
1 comments
relyks 1548 days ago
This is very important to note. Apple Studios didn't develop the movie. Apple was just good at selecting a potentially well-performing candidate for their streaming service and for winning awards at different competitions. They did heavily promote the movie though. Who knows, without Apple's support and promotion, CODA may not have gotten to this point
link
tshaddox 1547 days ago
> Apple was just good at selecting a potentially well-performing candidate for their streaming service and for winning awards at different competitions.

I mean, there was reportedly a fierce bidding war to acquire the film, between (at least) Amazon and Apple. I don’t even think you can credit Apple for some unique insight into the potential of the film.

link
relyks 1547 days ago
Amazon and Apple were the final bidders. Either they were willing to outspend the traditional studios or both somehow determined the movie would have success and help produce profits down the line more so than the traditional studios thought it could
link
tshaddox 1547 days ago
Still, if Apple had a unique insight, it wasn’t “this movie is a strong contender for a best picture Oscar.” It was more like “it’s worth $25m to us to buy this movie,” which from my perspective remains to be shown.
link
relyks 1547 days ago
Yeah, it remains to be shown. They definitely had some criteria to believe it'd be successful though. The criteria they were aiming for could have been any or all of the following: getting more Apple TV+ subscribers, sustaining existing subscribers, having that specific movie get more views, and/or building up a good library of content
link
dagw 1548 days ago
Who knows, without Apple's support and promotion, CODA may not have gotten to this point

Having worked on a movie that had a (short, failed) Oscar push, you cannot underestimate who important (and expensive) promotion is to even just getting a nomination. Had CODA remained an indie darling on the festival circuit it almost certainly would not have won.

link
relyks 1547 days ago
Interesting, I assumed it'd be the case, but I didn't know that for sure
link