Apple TV's massive billion-dollar spending spree continues, as it has been announced that Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi will helm an adaptation of Terry Gilliam's 1981 fantasy comedy Time Bandits. Time Bandits tells the story of a young English lad, Kevin, who discovers a time hole in the back of his wardrobe. A group of dwarves emerges, coaxing Kevin into joining them on a journey through time that culminates at the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness. Including Monty Python's John Cleese, Sean Connery, and Ian Holm, the original has attained cult classic status--and Apple TV is hoping to capture the magic.
Apple TV's Hollywood Spree
This marks the latest in a long line of Apple TV developments and acquisitions over the last year. The company has been working with a $1 billion budget to recruit high-profile projects from well known stars in TV and film. Some of the higher profile series include the reboot of Amazing Stories (with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and NBC Universal), an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi novel series Foundation (helmed by Josh Friedman, who headed The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and David Goyer, co-writer of the Dark Knight trilogy), and series directed by La La Land's Damien Chazelle and M. Night. Shyamalan, respectively.
Waititi is riding a wave of high profile projects following his blockbuster success with Ragnarok alongside beloved classics like What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople. His next film Jojo Rabbit comes out this fall, while the TV adaptation of Shadows comes to FX this March. He will also be one of the several directors behind the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Waititi will direct and co-write the pilot, executive producing alongside Gilliam and producer Dan Halsted. The new Time Bandits series will be co-produced by Paramount TV, Anonymous Content, and Media Rights Capital.
What's Next For Apple TV?
While Apple has been working overtime on building a stable of high-end projects, Apple itself has remained relatively quiet on its overarching plan. Analysts expect that the sheer quantity of funding and high-end deals signals an intent to expand to a new streaming service, possibly integrated into a centralization of its diverse array of media holdings. It is also possible that, similar to Amazon Prime Video availability for Prime subscribers, Apple may give away access to its unique programming to existing consumers of Apple's various goods and services.
We will find out soon enough what plans Apple actually has in store, with CEO Tim Cook finally announcing when Apple will formally unveil its plans: March 25th.
Folding the service in to existing Apple customers may be an excellent strategy to elevate its platform's profile, in a context when CBS All Access is expanding its content against existing streaming titans Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu, while NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, and Disney are set to launch their own streaming services in the near future. In such an increasingly saturated streaming landscape, there are limits to what cash-strapped consumers can--and will--pay for, and bundling content with existing products and services would be an excellent way to increase these series' reach. We'll see what Apple ultimately decides on March 25th, but in the interim we can look forward to updates on Time Bandits and the other exciting projects it will offer.
