Back in May, it was reported that Tom Hanks’ “Greyhound” would be going straight to streaming platform Apple TV+ but no release date was announced at the time.
9to5Mac reported that Apple TV+ subscribers will get to watch the movie on the Apple TV app on their device of choice, as well as on Fire TV and Roku.
Penned by Hanks himself, “Greyhound” is directed by Aaron Schneider and also stars Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue.
Apple’s short summary for the movie reads: “Inspired by real events, Captain Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks) leads an international convoy of 37 ships on a treacherous mission across The Atlantic to deliver thousands of soldiers and much-needed supplies to Allied forces.”
Apple bought worldwide rights for the World War II epic through a USD70 million deal with Sony Pictures, beating other streaming platforms that were also vying for it.
Previously, Sony slated for the Tom Hanks-starrer to be released in North American cinemas back in May itself but later postponed it for a month due to the pandemic shutting down cinemas worldwide. Plans for a theatrical release was scrapped when cinemas’ reopening wasn’t looking feasible anytime soon.
“Greyhound” joins a slew of movies that have opted to forgo a theatrical release in favour of premiering on streaming platforms.
Among these are Disney’s “Artemis Fowl”, Dave Bautista-starrer “My Spy” and animated film “Trolls World Tour”, the latter which inadvertently rubbed a few North American cinemas the wrong way with its digital release, causing Universal titles to be banned from future screenings in these cinemas.