Matthew Vaughn is evidently a massive fan of the spy genre, with the third installment in his Kingsman franchise arriving later this year, with plans for another seven movies and a TV show once The King’s Man has finally been released. The filmmaker isn’t slowing down in his quest to conquer espionage cinema, either, with the star studded Argylle being officially announced last month.
Based on the upcoming novel from Ellie Conway, the globetrotting adventure follows the title hero and world’s greatest spy, with a wealth of talent already attached. Henry Cavill, John Cena, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara and singer Dua Lipa are on board, with the latter set to provide an original title song and contribute to the score, as if those James Bond comparisons weren’t obvious enough.
Unsurprisingly, an intense bidding war broke out over Argylle, with virtually every studio and streaming service in Hollywood making a play for the distribution rights. AppleTV+ managed to come out on top, but that’s not before stumping up the eye-watering sum of $200 million, which is just for the first installment and not the entire cinematic universe that’s planned to follow in Argylle‘s wake.
Apple’s platform hasn’t quite managed to join the ‘Big Five’ of Netflix, Amazon, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Hulu at the top table of the streaming wars just yet, but the company is making some serious moves to rectify that. Argylle is the latest high profile acquisition following Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Will Smith’s Emancipation, Tom Hanks sci-fi Finch and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon biopic with Joaquin Phoenix, but at least the $200 million spent on Argylle should put them firmly into the franchise business.
