APPLE SIGNS A MULTI-YEAR FIRST-LOOK TV AND FILM DEAL WITH MARTIN SCORSESE

Apple has signed a multi-year first-look TV and film deal with Martin Scorsese. The legendary filmmaker will base his Sikelia Productions banner at Apple in a multi-year deal for film and television projects Scorsese will produce and direct for the Apple TV+ service.

The company is already producing Scorsese’s next film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which Paramount will distribute theatrically. Apple will stream the film on its platform following its theatrical release. "Killers of the Flower Moon” is the Eric Roth-scripted adaptation of the David Grann non-fiction book, and will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The film, which is produced by Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas at Imperative Entertainment, is in pre-production and expected to get underway February in Oklahoma.

Berthed for years at Paramount — in 2015 the studio extended the deal for four years — Sikelia Productions was established by Scorsese in 2003. The company manages and produces all of Scorsese’s projects including: “The Irishman,” “Silence,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Hugo,” “Shutter Island,” “The Departed,” “The Aviator,” and the series “Boardwalk Empire” and “Vinyl”.