Tom Hanks’ wartime drama Greyhound launched on the streaming service Apple TV+ last month, much to the dismay of Hanks himself, apparently. In an interview with The Guardian, Hanks says he’s broken-hearted that his movie didn’t make its debut in theaters due to the coronavirus.
Hanks, who was one of the first celebrities to test positive for COVID-19, not only stars in Greyhound but produced and wrote the screenplay for the film. The special project has been a decade in the making and the fact that it doesn’t get a premiere on the big screen is “an absolute heartbreak,” Hanks said. “I don’t mean to make angry my Apple overlords, but there is a difference in picture and sound quality.”
Greyhound isn’t the only movie to skip the theatrical window and go directly to streaming. This year, filmmakers have had to decide whether they’re going to push pause on their movie’s release dates to wait for theaters to reopen, or if they will release them on streaming or VOD services like Apple TV+ or Fandango NOW. Disney’s Artemis Fowl was slated for a theatrical premiere but opted to head straight to Disney+ instead of waiting around for theaters to reopen.
Films still holding out for when they can debut on the big screen keep having to adjust their release dates as theaters continue to delay dates for reopening. The latest shifts include a move for Disney’s Mulan, which was initially set to premiere in March. Now, the live-action remake is scheduled to premiere on Aug. 21st. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was also recently pushed to Aug. 12th, after earlier being delayed until July 31st.
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