Leading Apple’s negotiations are Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, the two former Sony Pictures executives who recently joined Apple to lead its original content efforts. It’s unclear how much Apple is willing to spend specifically, but the franchise is said to be worth anywhere from $2 billion to $5 billion.
That massive price tag would seemingly exceed the budget Apple dedicated to original content, which one report pegged at around $1 billion.
It’s also not exactly clear what Apple would do with the rights, as the package likely extends far beyond just film and TV and ventures into apps and other types of digital media.
Today’s report comes after news last week that said Apple was bidding for rights to produce a TV drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Whether or not anything actually comes from either of these negotiations, however, remains to be seen. Apple’s still relatively new in the content space and faces competition from a variety of more established companies.
