Apple Wants To Buy 2-4 Greyhound-like Movies for AppleTV+ Every Year, says Fast Company

July 25, 2020July 24, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ 2 Comments

Greyhound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Seems like every news organization has “inside sources” — Fast Company has some saying that following the big splash of Tom Hanks’ Greyhound on AppleTV+ they want to buy 2-4 of these type blockbuster movies a year.

Going forward, one source says the streamer is discussing plans to release a dozen new movies a year on Apple TV Plus, roughly one a month. Two to four of those would be blockbuster-type titles such as Greyhound and Emancipation, the runaway-slave thriller starring Will Smith and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) that Apple recently acquired for $120 million in a bidding war with Warner Bros., Universal, and other studios. Another source had fewer specifics but confirmed that Apple is telling Hollywood that it’s now in the market for more tentpole-like feature films. (Apple would not comment for this story.)
Apple eyes new streaming strategy after Tom Hanks drama breaks records

Simple math suggests, if this is true (big “if” there), could cost upwards of $500+ million. I’m sharing this article here because my confidence in this is pretty high. Apple has the cash to throw around and it fits their historic corporate culture rather than dive into something, they pick and choose.

When Martin Scorsese needed to score some more greenbacks to finish his latest movie, who did he approach? (see: Apple Might Bail Out Budget of Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon) Yes, Apple.

Under Steve Jobs, rest his soul, this would be exactly the way they’d get into the movie business. It’s what he did with music. Jobs didn’t want to have a subscription plan like Spotify, he wanted to sell tracks for a buck each and so they did — they sold tons of them. Eventually this model would lose out to Spotify, but they made a boatload of cash in the interim.

If you compare the business types, that’s kind of what Apple is doing right now with AppleTV+. They don’t want to pay to rent licenses of movies for subscribers on a license, they want to take a piece of the pie to sell or rent monthly movies only and create their own originals.

The problem is Apple is so far behind Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Peacock, that they may never catch up buying and/or creating a mere dozen or so movies a year.

10 years = 120 movies
20 years = 240 movies

That isn’t going to build them a sizable enough library of originals to keep members subscribed. Sure, there are buying TV series, documentaries, miniseries, too (they just bought Werner Herzog’s new documentary “Fireball” according to MacRumors), but will it add up to what Netflix is releasing?

Netflix currently releases around 50+ originals a month. Most are TV shows, documentaries, miniseries, etc, but they offer a fair number of movies each month on average. This original content is on top of the existing library they are paying for of rotating movies. An argument could be made that Netflix doesn’t even need the rotating movies from other studios any more. You can’t say that about any other service of originals except maybe, possibly HBO, that also has an impressive catalog of original programming created since the 70s.

Quality-control is something we’ve questioned recently (see: Does Netflix Release Too Many Originals? Maybe Ask New CMO Bozoma Saint John) so quantity isn’t everything. The problem with AppleTV+ at this moment in time is their cupboards, content-wise, are too bare to justify an ongoing subscription compared to other competing streaming services.

It seems Apple believes this and wants to go grocery shopping on the theatrical movie aisle. So, if you’re a movie studio with a delayed title and contemplating taking it to streaming, Apple has arrived with multiple suitcases filled with cash.

Unfortunately, Apple aren’t the only ones who want to buy these theatrical releases. Netflix, Amazon, WarnerMedia/HBO, NBCUniversal/Peacock … perhaps to a lesser extent even Disney might cough up a few bones (although they seem less likely to be buying other movies, when they have a bunch of their own content in the pipeline).

The studios with finished movies, waiting for release dates will continue to have this option: sell to the highest streaming channel bidder. I’m sure every studio has Apple programmed on speed dial.

Greyhound somewhat predictably sets record for AppleTV+ for biggest weekend ever to date

July 15, 2020July 14, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ 9 Comments

Greyhound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kudos to Tom Hank and company for breaking the top weekend debut record at AppleTV+.

Apple’s WWII drama Greyhound, starring and written by Tom Hanks, has become the largest opening-weekend release ever for Apple TV+, including series that have bowed on the service, sources close to Apple tell Deadline. The streamer is loathe in giving up exact numbers, but I’m told the film turned in a viewing audience commensurate with a summer theatrical box office big hit,
Tom Hanks-Starrer Greyhound Torpedoes Apple TV+ Opening Weekend Record – Deadline

I don’t mean to dismiss this record setting event in any way, but really, what has been the competition at AppleTV+? There’s been the Amazing Stories reboot, which hasn’t generated that much excitement. I’ve heard a little bit of fanfare over the Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon TV series The Morning Show. There have been no other big movies or TV shows I’m aware of on this film’s level.

This will bolster Apple’s desire to buy more exclusive films. That’s a win for AppleTV+ subscribers. Good job all around!

22+ Greyhound Reviews – Tense, Terse WWII Naval Combat, Tom Hanks Shines

July 14, 2020July 13, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ 2 Comments

Greyhound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s a steal being able to watch Greyhound for $4.99 or a free week trial, if eligible, for AppleTV+.

Hanks adapted Greyhound from the 1955 C.S. Forester novel The Good Shepherd, which is set during the Battle of the Atlantic. The book tells a fictional story about a WWII captain, George Krause, who is leading his first war convoy later in his life. This leads him to have doubts about whether he’s fit for the job since those around him are younger but have more war experience.
What Is Real & Imagined In America’s Dad’s Latest WWII Movie Greyhound?

… you’ve been warned, SPOILERS ahead …

Simplistic WWII Tale similar in purpose to 1917

When the Oscar-winning 1917 starts, we follow behind the camera of two soldiers with a mission to deliver orders across enemy lines. In a very similar fashion, Greyhound starts with Hanks’ character Captain Krause eating breakfast and taking command of the protector ship for a convoy heading through a zone without any air cover. Along with his crew, they must execute at a fever pace, reacting to German U-boat sightings, with the concerns being ammunition level, avoiding torpedos and trying to ignore taunting from the Grey Wolf, a U-Boat with a commanding officer that tells them repeatedly they are going to die.

The emotion of 1917 is very similar in that I was fearful for the soldiers and in this case worried that the good ship Greyhound would become torpedoed and sunk. Would they make it to air cover before running out of ammunition?

There is no time for Captain Krause to even eat, as we are reminded multiple times. No time for sleep, no time for doing anything but focusing on protecting the fleet. Getting across and into friendly waters where air cover exists.

For those who are looking for more plot or story than that, there really isn’t any. There is characterization, but it’s not done with exposition, it’s done with facial expressions, character actions and all the ways good films and acting performances.

What Good Guy Character Can’t Tom Hanks Do?

After seeing Tom Hanks here, I’m beginning to think there is no good guy character Tom Hanks can’t play. It would be interesting to see him writing himself into a really bad, bad guy role. Could he pull that off? I think he might be typecast at a perennial good guy. Just Hanks showing up on screen and you feel for the guy. That makes films with him starring like this one stand out.

Reviews by Others

What do others think about Greyhound?

Recommended

tensecondsfromnow / film-authority.com: “Chris Nolan’s Dunkirk aside, WWII has been something of a cinematic dead-end of late, with film-makers too keen to view the past through the prism of today’s issues. Focusing on deep blue heroics, Hanks earns his chops as a writer, but also reminds audiences worldwide that America once led the free world.”
After Misery: “…it’s a dad movie. Last year we got something similar in ‘Midway’ and even if I usually avoid comparing movies within reviews, now there’s a good reason for it. Greyhound isn’t getting torpedoed by a lengthy runtime or messy editing like Midway, in fact the solid editing keeps the sea battles tense and interesting. Splashy visual effects are used here more carefully and cinematography is using a lot less to deliver more”
Andy Meek / BGR: “For much of it, you experience the fog of war right alongside the commanding officer — with an additional obstacle being that we don’t always understand what the orders that have been barked out mean, since we’re not fluent in Navy-speak. But that only adds to the verisimilitude”
badblokebob (4/5): “This isn’t some stately drama about men at sea who are occasionally forced to take potshots at an unseen enemy, but an action movie; only instead of men clashing with kung fu or guns, its boats and subs fighting with torpedos and, um, trigonometry. The result is tight, tense, and thrilling.”
Cinema Trace: “It’s focus is the action and skill it took to avoid being hit, and one excruciating moment when the Greyhound is put as a target of two triangulated torpedoes, shows the inevitability of warfare and the near impossibility of maneuvering the floating tonnage of a war ship on the rough open waters of the Atlantic. Whether or not they are successful, you’ll have to see the film. It’s spectacular.”
Darren / The M0vie Blog: “The movie runs a brisk ninety-one minutes, which makes it surprisingly lean as summer blockbusters go. That brevity helps to underscore the movie’s core strengths. It is a movie that relies on adrenaline and tension, and maintaining those sensations for longer than an hour-and-a-half is a big ask for even the most skilled filmmakers. Instead, Greyhound gets in, gets out and gets the job done.”
Doc / EYG / Embrace Your Geekness: “If you are a fan of war movies, Greyhound is an effective story that is a quick and enjoyable watch. Tom Hanks is great as always and the visuals are stunning.”
Doug Jamieson / The Jam Report (3.5/5): “…it doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel of war movies and there’s very little here we haven’t seen in countless other films. It’s a classic war film that showcases the anarchy of battle and the toll responsibility can take on those in charge. If the film stopped to take a breath and allow us to more intimately understand its key players, the end result may have been more compelling.”
Keith / Keith & The Movies (4.5/5): “For a taut 90 minutes the film sticks to that focus, carrying its viewers across the enemy-infested North Atlantic and putting us into the heads of the men navigating it. It could have done more with its characters or built more of a backstory. But it’s the willingness to stick to its guns (no pun intended) that makes the movie such a thrilling war-time experience.”
luisreviewer / World Of Entertainment: “Great film, really a tense film that I think keeps you interested and on the edge of your seat.”
POPCORN ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWS: “The movie is fast-paced with no rest for the captain or the audience. This is not a character-driven movie or an in-depth analysis of the crew members. It’s non-stop torpedos, attempts to save ships being sunk, flying bullets, blasting battery cannons, and depth-charges blowing up U-boats. The seas are rough, the air is freezing cold, and the nights are dark and frightening.”
Rob’s Movie Vault: “…a taut, exciting, no-nonsense war movie that weighs in, less the end credits, at one hour and twenty-three minutes. The film’s brevity is true to the virtues it respects: clear, coolheaded professionalism, all egos checked, a well-oiled machine of well-trained men getting the job done.”
Sarah Cartland / Caution Spoilers: “…is a study in the on-the-spot mechanics of sea battle pretending to be an examination of character (it was interesting to watch it just after The Old Guard, a character study and love story pretending to be a fantasy about immortals).”
The Interstellar Valley / jlambright: “Get it, watch it. Become part of this messed up experiment in keeping Hollywood afloat during these turbulent, fraught times.”
tomburkhalter: “…don’t expect this story to tell you what is happening. It’s going to bloody well show you. My advice? Hang on and pay attention.”
Vague Visages / Peter Bell: “The biggest factor that keeps Greyhound from being a genre standout is the predictable nature of Schneider’s direction and Shelly Johnson’s cinematography. The establishing shots are rather generic and better suited for a television series than a dramatic film.”

Not Recommended

Cait Kennedy / But Why Tho? A Geek Community: “Overall, Greyhound is…fine. Its worst sin is being simply adequate. It neither impresses nor disappoints, but it certainly does not go beyond the bare minimum. As a streaming flick, it will blend seamlessly into the ranks of its kind but will likely be forgotten. Which really is a shame.”
Darren Lucas / Movie Reviews 101: “Tom Hanks is strong enough in the leading role, but he never hits the full level of his abilities, with the supporting cast not putting a foot wrong, only they just don’t get to make an impact in anyway. This does end up feeling like one of the bigger disappointments in the year, being more average, rather than a spectacle it should have been.“
Den Of Geek / David Crow: “…has a listless quality that cannot seem to wrap its arms around the potential for white-knuckled dread. While there are a few standout moments, like the first time a U-Boat crosses beneath Krause’s ship, or when they hear the earliest taunts from U-Boat sadists over the radio seeking to psychologically torture their prey, in the main the film moves at a perfunctory pace that better resembles an unpleasant pleasure cruise.”
Orca Flotta / Thar She Blows: “A procedural small scale production of a U-boat hunt without any character. Many cheaply made effects don’t necessarily have any effect on the audience. I guess Tom Hanks is lucky his film was snatched up by AppleTV+, it wouldn’t stand a chance in the theatre.”
Rachel’s Reviews (6.5/10): “I realize some will want more character development and I can understand that. There are choices in Greyhound that pushed the simplistic approach even for me. For example, the radio dispatches from the wolfpack ships are as sniveling and sleazy as we’ve ever seen from an evil German in a movie. He sounds like he is practically a villain from an Indiana Jones movie for a second.”
Simon / TV and City (Grade: C-): “The film isn’t without merit, including a good Tom Hanks performance and a decent supporting cast (though Elisabeth Shue is terribly underutilized), but they can’t elevate Greyhound from being painfully generic and insipid.”
The Obsessive Viewer: “…like the dialogue, the action becomes too repetitive by the end to stand apart. There are only so many ways to depict attacking enemy submarines without getting stale. Regardless, I felt everything the film wanted me to feel: despair when something goes wrong, exhilaration when victory is achieved (the sweeping score by Blake Neely surely helped contribute).”

Linked above and wondering what would be the cool thing to do next? Commenting once in awhile is always good (I like reader and other blogger interaction). If you have the trackback/pingback come to your site then just approve it because after people read your review then they can come here and follow links and read someone else’s review. What comes around goes around and sharing is the ultimate “thank you!” on the internet.

Did I miss your review? Use the comments to tell me about your movie-related/review blog and I’ll follow. I like following movie-related blogs and pull quoting from my reading list as well as other new blogs shared, liked and discovered.

Happy movie watching!

Tom Hanks doesn’t want to anger “Apple Overlords” with his disappointment that Greyhound is AppleTV+ exclusive

July 8, 2020July 8, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ Leave a comment

Bonus points for Tom Hanks using the word “overlord” to jokingly describe the wrath of Apple for making his new movie Greyhound an AppleTV+ exclusive.

“I don’t mean to make angry my Apple overlords, but there is a difference in picture and sound quality,” he added.
Tom Hanks on ‘heartbreaking’ move to send new movie Greyhound straight to Apple TV

In all seriousness, the only choices for this movie were to be delayed, released to VOD (or PVOD, if you prefer) or directly to a streaming channel. Netflix did that with The Lovebirds, Amazon with My Spy. If the theaters remain closed, rest assured there will be more movies that take this same path.

The movie looks interesting, I’m a longtime fan of Hanks movies, and yes, will probably throw down for a one month sub to AppleTV+ just to watch this movie. I mean, it’s $4.99 for the month. That’s a budget movie ticket price.

While subscribed, will see what else the Apple Overlords have got in store for subscribers. More of the Amazing Stories would be worth checking out (see: Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories (2020) Returns to Apple TV on March 6 – Are You Interested?)

Are you subscribed currently to AppleTV? What else is worth watching there right now? Let us know in the comments.

Greyhound is available for streaming on AppleTV+ on July 10, 2020.

FIRST LOOK: Greyhound – Apple TV+

June 12, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ 2 Comments

Tom Hanks’ next movie — as has been the case for several other movies during the pandemic — is skipping a theater release for AppleTV+ subscribers.

It’s a fictional tale set during World War II, but based on events during a long naval campaign.

Greyhound takes place at a critical moment in the Battle of the Atlantic, which began in September 1939 and only ended with the Germans’ surrender on May 8, 1945. As Blazich explains, the conflict was centered chiefly on supplies: An island nation, the United Kingdom required a steady flow of imported goods and raw materials, many of which originated in the U.S. The Soviet Union, besieged by the Nazis’ Operation Barbarossa, was also in dire need of food, oil and other essential supplies, which arrived via seaports on the Arctic Ocean.
The True Story Behind Tom Hanks’ ‘Greyhound’ Movie | History | Smithsonian Magazine

The trailer:

Not sure if it’s the fact Tom Hanks is in the film — for me, anyway, he’s single-handedly a reason to check out the movie — or the story, but this one looks promising. And I’m not much of a war film movie fan. The last WWII naval battle movie in the theaters we watched was Midway ⭐️⭐️⭐️ which we enjoyed and recommended.

Since we don’t subscribe to AppleTV+, we’ll need to subscribe for at least one month (it’s $4.99/month) to see this one. Considering we can see what else is on AppleTV at the time, that seems like a good deal to me.

Will others like us that don’t currently subscribe sign up for a month to see this? I mean, what’s the difference in paying $5-20+ USD to rent a movie on VOD vs. paying for an entire month and having access to the entire service’s library of content. Seems like a no brainer, if the movie is of interest.

Are you looking forward to seeing this one? If you aren’t an AppleTV subscriber, is this movie enough of a reason to subscribe? Or will you wait for reviews to come back first from others first?

Greyhound will premiere streaming on AppleTV+ on July 10, 2020.

2 Movies COMING TO THEATERS in May 2020 (maybe) + 7 Movies Rescheduled

April 25, 2020May 30, 2020 ~ Todd Russell ~ 6 Comments

NOTE: This post will continue to be updated until the end of May 2020, as movie release dates change, newer trailers drop, sometimes within weeks of the scheduled release date

Normally — not these times right now — when theaters are open, this post would have been made about 45 days prior to all theatrical releases. The studios are changing movie release dates so frequently right now, we waited until the end of April to publish this post.

As of this writing, there are only *2* movies scheduled to open in theaters and, at least in our area, no theaters are open anywhere. Washington State has a stay at home order that runs until May 4, 2020.

Just for reference, I’ve left in details of the other 9 movies that were originally scheduled to be released in theaters on May 2020 as well as where they will be showing if announced.

The following are movie trailers and my anticipation on a scale from 0 (no interest) to 10 (highest interest in seeing).

If you’d like to see a list of all movies released in 2020 click here (that post updated throughout 2020).

2020 Theater Releases
JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY

All movie release dates unless otherwise indicated are for the United States, the release dates in other countries may vary.

May 2020 Movies (2 scheduled)

The High Note
[FIRST LOOK]

The High Note ~~is opening in theaters on May 8, 2020~~ will be released on VOD on May 29, 2020

Anticipation for The High Note: 4/10

Irresistible
[FIRST LOOK]

Irresistible is opening in theaters May 29, 2020

Anticipation for Irresistible: 3/10

Movies originally planned to release May 2020, but moved by studios

Black Widow
[FIRST LOOK]

Black Widow will open in theaters November 6, 2020

Anticipation for Black Widow: 8/10

Legally Blonde 3

No trailer as of March 1, 2020. No plot summary available at IMDB has been shared either. Reese Witherspoon is returning in the title role as Elle for the sequel. The movie was originally scheduled for Valentine’s Day 2020, but pushed back for release until May 8, 2020. Now, it’s been pushed back to “TBA” — to release date is unknown.

No anticipation is possible without any real information on this sequel to base on, Marking as NR (No Rating).

Scoob!
[FIRST LOOK]