Coronavirus Shutdowns Have Led to an Apple-Sony Deal for Tom Hanks

According to CNBC reports, Apple has paid Sony roughly $70 million for 15 years of streaming rights to the Tom Hanks film “Greyhound.”

Sources familiar with the terms have revealed the deal for the film, which cost about $50 million to make. “Greyhound” is a World War II battleship drama that was written by Hanks and stars the “Forrest Gump” star. The movie was produced by Sony.

This is the biggest ever-movie acquisition for AppleTV+ service. Sony will retain the right to distribute the movie in China, where it could eventually put it in theaters according to the sources.

This will be the first time that a Tom Hanks movie goes straight to streaming. Hanks had to approve the deal before Sony and Apple could go forward with it said the sources.

According to the sources, the coronavirus shutdowns forced the cancellation of the scheduled release of the movie on Father’s Day weekend, June 19th. Sony became concerned that the film wouldn’t be able to find a slot among the superhero films and franchises that had been delayed from the summer.

A source also said to CNBC that the studio shopped the film to Netflix and Apple, but Apple was willing to pay more.

Greyhound will premiere not in theaters everywhere but on Apple+ at a time to be determined.

Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra said on CNBC’s ‘The Exchange,’ “This is not a practice that we expect
to see happen many times, but we’ll see a few times. We are completely dedicated to the theatrical world, but this is an opportunity that arose and we took it.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.