Apple TV+’s WWII drama Greyhound has become the largest opening-weekend release ever for the streaming service. The film, written for the screen by and starring Tom Hanks, is based on the 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester about a commander of the US Navy on his first war-time assignment in command of a multi-national escort group defending a merchant ship convoy under attack by submarines in early-1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic, only months after the U.S. officially entered World War II.
In addition to offering the largest opening weekend ever for Apple TV+, 30% of Greyhound’s viewers were new to the service. That goes to demonstrate that A-list projects can bring business to the medium. Apple TV+ has also brought in other bib-nanmed projects, such as the Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon limited series The Morning Show, The Banker with Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson and the limited series Defending Jacob with Chris Evans.
With the future of movie theaters unclear thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, this could be a shift in how films are distributed.