Argylle, the spy action-comedy film starring Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell that flopped upon its theatrical release, has landed an Apple TV Plus launch date.
The joint Apple-Universal movie, which was only released in theaters in early February, will join the streamer's back catalog on Friday, April 12. That's right, Argylle will be released on one of the world's best streaming services in just one week (at the time of publication, anyway). The confirmation comes by way of a post on Apple TV Plus' X/Twitter account, which you can view below:
Never judge an author by their cover. Argylle is coming to Apple TV+ in one week. pic.twitter.com/9rnZ1UZ324April 5, 2024
For the uninitiated: Argylle tells the tale of Elly Conway (Howard), the esteemed and award-winning author of the spy book series starring the titular character Aubrey Argylle. He's played by Cavill (The Witcher, Superman) in metatextual, live-action sequences – based on Conway's works – that are peppered throughout the film.
Away from the public eye, Conway keeps herself to herself, choosing instead to shun glamorous parties for quieter days at home with her cat Alfie. However, Conway's life is turned upside down when events in her literary works surprisingly start to play out in real life. When a nefarious criminal organization known as The Division target her because her novels seemingly predict the future, Conway is forced to team up with an actual spy – Aidan Wylde (Rockwell) – to put an end to The Division's plans for world domination.
I spy another underwhelming Apple film
Ahead of its February 2 release, I suggested that Argylle would be one of 18 epic movies that audiences wouldn't want to miss in 2024. Indeed, based on the various trailers and TV spots that Apple/Universal released ahead of its theatrical debut, which teased a spy film that would subvert our expectations, it seemed Argylle would be a surefire hit.
That didn't prove to be the case, though. One of 2024's early new movies was critically panned prior to its release, with journalists calling it "bloated", "confusing", "messy", "overlong", "airy", and "boring" among many other negative adjectives. Its Rotten Tomatoes (RT) rating subsequently left a lot to be desired, with the Matthew Vaughn-directed movie earning a terrible 33% score pre-release.
Argylle faired far better with general audiences – its 72% RT score proving as much – but it was as much a commercial flop as a a critical one. According to Box Office Mojo, it made an abject $92.2 million worldwide, which is less than half its reported $200 million budget. That figure doesn't take into account its marketing/promotional costs, either, meaning Argylle was as big a failure as I can remember for an Apple Studios-developed project. In short: don't expect to see it on our best Apple TV Plus movies list any time soon.
In fact, I can't remember a more turbulent time for the tech giant's entertainment division from a moviemaking perspective. Only two of the six recent films that Apple has independently or co-financed – Killers of the Flower Moon (93% and 84%) and Flora & Son (93% and 83%) – have been hailed by fans and critics alike. Napoleon (58% and 59%), The Family Plan (25% and 61%), and Fingernails (60% and 47%) were all met with mixed to poor receptions, just like Argylle was. If Apple felt it was finally making inroads in the movie business after CODA's shock 2022 Best Picture Oscar win, the world-renowned company might want to revisit its filmmaking strategy.
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