Once targeting a June release here, Sony shunted the new Tom Hanks-adapted/starring World War II drama Greyhound to date dry dock when the Coronavirus pandemic shut cinemas down. And in an even bigger move, it has now been shipped off to Apple's streaming service Apple TV+.
According to Deadline, once the film was taken from its cinematic release schedule, Sony and Hanks' Playtone company decided to quietly shop the film around, which sparked a bidding war between the streaming services, with Apple grabbing the movie in its biggest commitment to a movie yet, albeit one that won't now see cinemas.
Greyhound is based on a true story, and also CS Forester's novel The Good Shepherd, which Hanks himself turned into a script. It's set in the early days of the conflict. An international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by captain Ernest Krause (Hanks) in his first command of a US destroyer, crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi U-boats. He takes out one easily enough, but that's just the start of the battle – one where he and his convoy will not enjoy the protection of air support...
Apple has yet to set a release date for this one, but we'd expect it to be soon.