Back in April, we got confirmation from Apple TV+ and Legendary that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and more Monsterverse spinoff shows are in the works. This had fans excited because it is confirming to us that the show not only did well, but the Monsterverse is still going strong. With how much Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has made in the global box office it should still be going strong. A few days ago, Bloomberg reported that things are not going as well for Apple TV+ as we had thought and what it might mean for the future of these shows.
In an article by Bloomberg titled "Apple Tries to Rein In Hollywood Spending After Years of Losses" the article starts off by contrasting Apple TV+ with Netflix and how they keep earnings keeps growing as other platforms (Disney, Warner Bros, and Paramount) are having to cut back.
In the next section, however, is where we learn Apple TV+ had spent more than $20 BILLION to produce original movies and TV shows since the service first launched on November 1, 2019. While Apple doesn't buy up on every Hollywood project like Netflix, they splurge on individual titles. According to the Bloomberg article, Apple has spent more than $500 million combined on movies from Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, and Matthew Vaughn and upward of $250 million on the World War II miniseries Masters of the Air.
While Apple is spending billions of dollars a year on original programming, the streaming service has only attracted 0.2% of TV viewing in the US. The studio is looking to refine their strategy in Hollywood and spending cuts on projects. Severence is being used as an example in this article of how Apple went over budget on the project because Ben Stiller was originally casted for the show, but backed out and was replaced with Adam Scott. Ben Stiller stayed on as director and executive producer of the show, but each episode ballooned to more than $20 million per episode.
Out of all the shows under Apple TV, Ted Lasso has been the only show that really made an impact in bringing viewers. Despite eyes set on Severance to see how the budget cuts will affect the show, this may very well affect the second season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and future Monsterverse projects that Apple TV has ordered.
Some budget cuts may include less monsters and less big name stars. The main attractions of the show has been the monsters and Kurt Russell. The Monsterverse is known for introducing very creative monsters such as the Ion Dragon and the Frostvark while Godzilla roars and dominates the screen whenever he appeared. The show's co-creator Chris Black commented that the second season will have more of a focus on Kong. With the budget cuts we could see less monsters in this show. Perhaps the CGI quality of the monsters might dip (Hopefully, that is not the case). Plus, with Kurt Russell in the show it attracted a lot of attention from general audiences. The actor is most known for movies such as Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter's The Thing, Escape from New York, Escape from L.A., and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The death of his character (Lee Shaw) in the show is speculative. He could still be alive. The point is that with the budget cuts Apple TV is going to make getting him nor another big name actor into the show may not happen. The next season could explain that his character was definitely killed off during the finale.
However, it would mean the next season will then need to be more creative in story telling. One of the main criticisms of the show was that the show's story was a mixed bag. Audiences enjoyed the story of Lee Shaw, Dr. Keiko Miura, and Bill Randa more than the story of Cate Randa, Kentaro Randa, and May. The next season will mostly likely focus on Cate, Kentaro, and May since the other story of Lee, Keiko, and Bill is pretty much done and our main characters will want to find a way off of Skull Island.
I do think that Apple still believes in the Monsterverse. If they didn't, then they would not order a second season of Monarch nor for more Monsterverse projects. What Apple did was overspend on projects that were not gaining any attention. They were just throwing money at the wall hoping something would stick and realized that was not working out. Apple TV+ has a lot of shows that I have never heard of. I have never heard of Severance until Bloomberg put out this article. Perhaps if they did better marketing for their shows then Apple would get more subscribers and wouldn't be having this issue. For now, the only three shows people go to Apple TV+ for are Ted Lasso, Prehistoric Planet, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Even though Apple's main sellers are their gadget products such as the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac computers, a $20 billion loss on TV shows is something to be embarrassed by. I do hope that their budget cuts does not heavily affect the second season of Monarch and other Monsterverse shows Apple TV has planned.
What are your thoughts on the news of Apple cutting budget on TV shows? Do you think this will affect Monarch in any way or do you think the show is safe, for now? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on this. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, Gab, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.
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