Tom Hanks ‘Greyhound’ Is Coming to Apple TV+ on July 10

Last month Apple scored a major coup in its efforts to get extremely high-profile movie content under its Apple TV+ umbrella with the news that it had snagged exclusive rights to a major new Tom Hanks film, and now the company has just officially announced a release date of July 10th for the blockbuster.

The film, Greyhound, was originally slated to appear in theatres in May under the Sony Pictures label, but was delayed to June due to the ongoing health pandemic before Sony finally realized that if people were going to be able to see the movie at all in the coming weeks, it would have to be on a streaming service. After approaching several potential suitors, Sony was able to get an offer of close to $70 million from Apple, who soundly beat out Netflix for the exclusive rights.

Although Apple prefers to release major films in theatres before they come to Apple TV+ in order to be eligible for Oscars and increase its Hollywood cachet, the continuing global health crisis means that’s not going to happen with Greyhound; after all, the whole reason Apple has it is because Sony wasn’t willing to rely on a theatrical release schedule.

So as a result, Greyhound will be making its worldwide premiere exclusively on Apple TV+ on July 10th, where it will be simultaneously released in over 100 countries.

In addition to the announcement of the release date, Apple has also shared a trailer for the film, which stars Tom Hanks as a veteran Naval officer who struggles with his first Captaincy of a destroyer that’s assigned to escort and protect a convoy of 37 merchant ships and suddenly finds himself plunged into the Battle of the Atlantic.

The movie was also written by Tom Hanks, and stars Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue alongside Hanks in the lead role. Notably, it’s actually Apple’s second collaboration with Hanks’ Playtone Productions company, after signing a landmark deal for the epic WWII mini-series Masters of the Air last fall, which will also be the first series to be produced in Apple’s own studio.

Father’s Day

Greyhound was originally slated by Sony to land in theatres on Father’s Day weekend, and while it’s unclear why Apple is pushing it out to July 10th instead, it seems that the company does have something else up its sleeve for Father’s Day weekend in the form of Dads, a new documentary that will be released right on Father’s Day — June 21st — as a “joyful exploration of contemporary fatherhood,” with a star-studded collection of celebrities adding their own anecdotal wisdom.

Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, the daughter of famous director Ron Howard (who is also serving as producer), the documentary tells the stories of “six extraordinary fathers from across the globe” and will also feature commentary from Hollywood names such as Judd Apatow, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Patrick Harris, Ron Howard, Jimmy Kimmel, and Will Smith, to name a few. Bryce Dallas Howard will also be adding her own take on the dads in her own family with interviews with her father Ron Howard and her late grandfather, Rance.

Meanwhile, Apple still has more up its sleeve in terms of feature film debuts, with another report last month that it has signed a deal for “one of the highest profile films in Hollywood” — the Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which will not only be directed by the legendary Scorsese, but feature both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead roles, marking the first time the trio have worked together since 1993.