Tom Hanks has done it again for Apple TV+, with new sci-fi drama Finch bringing in a record audience for the streaming platform and blowing away Hanks’ previous exclusive Apple movie, Greyhound, in the process. Although Apple doesn’t divulge their viewing figures, sources have said that the apocalyptic movie has become the most-watched film on the platform ahead of the World War II thriller that Hanks delivered last year. According to insiders, Finch was released in over 100 countries on Friday and over the course of the weekend brought in the highest viewer numbers for a debut in the two years since the streamer launched in 2019.
Finch is the latest in a long line of hits for Apple, including the likes of the series’ Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Invasion and the Jason Momoa vehicle See, all of which have brought more and more people to Apple TV+ than ever. There is obviously a lot of competition across the endless number of streaming platforms out there, and with Amazon bringing out the big guns with their billion dollar Lord of the Rings series, Netflix sitting on the likes of Stranger Things and Disney+ having the Marvel and Star Wars franchises among others, Apple is relying on big names like Tom Hanks to keep them in the game, and so far it seems to be working.
Finch is the second of three projects Hanks has exclusively worked on for Apple, with his next one being the World War II series Masters of the Air, which is produced by Steven Spielberg, who is another big name to have been involved with Apple TV+ since its launch.
Over the years, Hanks has seemed to make isolated characters very much his thing, having already been nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Castaway, in which he spent most of his time alone with just a volleyball by the name of Wilson for company, and in Finch there are more than a few similarities. This time around Hanks plays the title character, a man who has spent ten years in a bunker in the middle of nowhere following a solar apocalypse, alone but for his dog, Goodyear and a robot android he builds called Jeff. Seemingly the last man on Earth, Finch makes a journey across America to make sure that Goodyear is looked after when Finch has gone.
While the biggest surprise about the Apple TV+ movie is that it managed to not get any kind of theatrical release with it being the kind of Hanks drama that people have lapped up in the past and would probably have done quite well. As well as Hanks as its star, Finch also boasts Robert Zemeckis as one of the executive producers, and has Spielberg’s Amblin Partners as one of the production companies. However, this seems to be becoming the new norm, with some of the biggest stars, directors and producers all eager to get their names behind projects for the biggest streaming platforms out there. This comes to us from Deadline.
Source: movieweb.com