Apple's Eddy Cue states that the company aims to create 'better' and 'more' entertainment.

      Eddy Cue, designated as Cannes Lions’ Entertainment Person of the Year, explained the rationale behind Apple TV: no licensed reruns, a limited number of titles, and a conviction that storytelling is paramount. He emphasized that Apple is far from done. While accepting the accolade at the Cannes Lions festival this week, the senior vice president of services and health portrayed the studio he helped develop as still evolving.

      “We're just getting started,” he conveyed to producer Jerry Bruckheimer on stage at the Palais, expressing that there is still much work ahead. His ambition can be summarized succinctly: better, more. The festival, focused on creativity and advertising along the Côte d’Azur, acknowledged Cue’s leadership of Apple Music and the Apple TV streaming platform.

      He shared the stage on Monday with Bruckheimer, whose “F1: The Movie” marked Apple’s first significant theatrical success last year. Cue interpreted the recognition as something he never imagined as a young engineering student, a sentiment that feels rehearsed until one recalls his entry into Apple in 1989 was to work on software, not films.

      Beneath his gratitude, Cue articulated a remarkably consistent strategy. From the beginning, prior to the 2019 launch of what was known as Apple TV+, the decision was made not to acquire a back catalog. Cue recalled that many told him starting a streaming service this way wouldn’t work, and they were likely right. "If we were putting our name on it," he remembered, "it felt strange to attach our name to something we didn’t help create."

      The service debuted with about five or six original shows and no additional content. Over six years later, the lack of licensed reruns continues to define it. Cue stated the guiding principle is “the best, not the most,” which makes the goal of “more” somewhat challenging to align with.

      He traced this philosophy back to Steve Jobs, who managed both Apple and Pixar and once told Cue that Pixar’s success hinged on a singular aspect: “It begins and ends with the story,” Cue recounted. Apple, according to him, spent two years searching for executives to lead the venture before hiring Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg from Sony Pictures Television in 2017.

      The initial pitch, he noted, focused primarily on persuasion rather than finances. He shared how he convinced Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston to bring “The Morning Show” to Apple by claiming that a service without competing programming would be more invested in it than a competitor with a full lineup.

      Their focus on prestige has since earned them an Academy Award for Best Picture with “CODA,” numerous Emmys, and with the Tony-winning “Schmigadoon!” an EGOT for the platform. The financial outlook, however, remains murky as Apple does not disclose streaming subscriber figures, and Cue provided none.

      The "more" he mentioned mainly pertains to films. “F1: The Movie,” featuring Brad Pitt as a driver pulled from retirement, grossed $634 million at the global box office, which Cue highlighted as Pitt’s most successful film. A sequel hasn't been officially confirmed, but both Cue and Bruckheimer spoke as if it were inevitable.

      “We’re going to come back and hopefully make another ‘F1’,” Bruckheimer indicated, with the "hopefully" suggesting cautious optimism. He also described another Apple project with director Joseph Kosinski, a thriller centered on government secrecy regarding unidentified aerial phenomena, though neither project has a confirmed release date.

      For a company whose other service ventures appear less secure lately, the entertainment segment is the one Apple is eager to discuss, and Cue addressed it with the demeanor of an executive receiving an award rather than defending a profit and loss statement. Whether “better and more” can align with “the best, not the most” remains an unanswered question, though it wasn’t a topic raised. After all, the award was for accomplishments already achieved.