Tom Hanks’ WWII flick Greyhound is the biggest hit Apple has enjoyed so far. And it’s reportedly made the company serious about blockbuster Apple TV+ movies for the first time.
The iPhone maker is supposedly considering debuting a movie each month on its streaming service. And several of those are expected to be blockbusters.
More Apple TV+ movies to follow in Greyhound’s wake
After launching last November, Apple TV+ is still struggling to find an audience. According to a market-research firm, only about 7% of American households that use streaming video services subscribed to Apple.
But when Greyhound debuted earlier this month, weekend viewership was in-line with how many tickets the film would have sold if it had debuted in theaters. And 30% of those were supposedly new to Apple TV+.
Citing unnamed “sources familiar with Apple’s thinking,” Fast Company reports that this success set Apple on a new course.
The iPhone maker allegedly plans to come out with a dozen new movies a year. And several of those would be big-ticket films — Greyhound supposedly set Apple back $70 million.
Plenty of flicks already on the way
While there have been far more TV series on the new streaming service than movies, Tom Hanks’ creation wasn’t the first. The Banker, starring Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson, debuted on Apple TV+ this spring.
And there are plenty more Apple TV+ movies in development. There is a film from Martin Scorsese in the works, for example. Apple is turning the graphic novel Snow Blind into a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. A story about escaping slavery starring Will Smith is being made into Emancipation. There will even be an a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.
