Eddy Cue from Apple stated that the company aims to create 'better' and 'more' entertainment.

      The services chief, recognized as Cannes Lions’ Entertainment Person of the Year, explained Apple's approach to Apple TV: avoiding licensed reruns, offering fewer titles, and prioritizing storytelling. Eddy Cue wants to convey that Apple is far from done. While accepting the Entertainment Person of the Year accolade at this week's Cannes Lions festival, the senior vice president of services and health described the studio he helped establish as still evolving.

      “The exciting part is we’re just getting started,” he remarked to producer Jerry Bruckheimer during his speech at the Palais, “so there’s a lot more to accomplish.” His ambition, as he articulated, can easily fit on an award plaque: better quality, more output. The festival, which celebrates advertising and creativity on the Côte d’Azur, acknowledged Cue’s leadership of Apple Music and the Apple TV streaming service.

      On Monday, he shared the stage with Bruckheimer, celebrating their collaboration on “F1: The Movie,” which marked Apple’s first significant theatrical success last year. Cue described the honor as something he could not have imagined during his time as a young engineering student. His appreciation sounds rehearsed until one recalls he joined Apple in 1989 to focus on software, not screenplays.

      Beneath this gratitude lay a remarkably consistent strategy. At the outset, prior to the 2019 launch of what was then Apple TV+, Apple resolved not to acquire a back catalogue. Cue pointed out that many believed it was impossible to start a streaming service with such an approach, and they were likely correct. “If we were putting our name on it,” he reflected, “it seemed odd to attach our name to something we didn’t help originate.”

      The service debuted with about five or six original programs and no additional content. Now, over six years later, the lack of licensed reruns still defines it. Cue indicated that their guiding principle is “the best, not the most,” making the claim of “more” a bit precarious alongside it.

      He traced this philosophy back to Steve Jobs, who managed both Apple and Pixar and once told Cue that Pixar's success hinged on one element: “It begins and ends with the story,” as Cue recounted Jobs telling him. Apple reportedly spent two years searching for the right executives to lead the operation before eventually hiring Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg from Sony Pictures Television in 2017.

      According to Cue, the initial pitch was focused more on persuasion than financial incentives. He recounted persuading Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston to launch “The Morning Show” on Apple by arguing that a service with no other content would be more invested in their project than a competitor with a large library. This focus on prestige has since secured an Academy Award for best picture with “CODA,” a collection of Emmys, and with the Broadway adaptation “Schmigadoon!” winning a Tony, an EGOT for the platform.

      The financial aspect remains less clear: Apple does not disclose streaming subscriber figures, and Cue provided none. The “more” he referred to primarily involves films. “F1: The Movie,” featuring Brad Pitt as a driver returning from retirement, grossed $634 million at the global box office, noted by Cue as Pitt's largest film to date. A sequel hasn’t been officially confirmed, but both he and Bruckheimer discussed it as if it were imminent.

      Bruckheimer remarked, “We’re going to come back and hopefully make another ‘F1,’” with the “hopefully” subtly conveying significance. He also described another Apple project with director Joseph Kosinski, a thriller centered on government secrecy regarding unidentified aerial phenomena. Neither project has a confirmed release date.

      For a company whose other service endeavors have appeared more uncertain recently, the entertainment segment is the aspect Apple is most eager to discuss, and Cue approached it with the confidence of an executive receiving an award rather than addressing a financial report. Whether “better and more” can align with “the best, not the most” is a question he left unresolved, and it wasn’t probed further, as the award was inherently for achievements already realized.