AppleInsider Staff
Tom Hanks film "Finch" broke Apple TV+ records this past weekend when its premiere attracted more viewers than any other movie to debut on the service, according to a report on Wednesday.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Deadline reports that "Finch" outperformed previous record holder "Greyhound," another Hanks film, to notch the largest opening weekend in Apple TV+ history.
The film was released in over 100 countries on Friday, Nov. 5, and more than doubled its opening day audience through Saturday and Sunday, the report said. Apple has not revealed official viewer numbers.
A post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, "Finch" stars Hanks as a robotics engineer who is one of the few survivors of a cataclysmic solar event. Living in a bunker for 10 years, Finch creates a robot, played by Caleb Landry Jones, to care for his dog when he no longer can. As the trio embark on an adventure to the American West, Finch attempts to show his creation the wonders of life.
"Finch" is the third collaboration between Apple TV+ and Hanks. Along with "Greyhound" and "Finch," Hanks is producing limited WWII series "Masters of the Air" with Steven Spielberg. A sequel to HBO's award-winning "Band of Brothers," the show is currently filming in the UK.
Apple is preparing an impressive slate of feature films including "The Tragedy of Macbeth," directed by Joel Cohen and starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, as well as Will Smith vehicle "Emancipation."
Christine McKee
24 Comments
Watched it, and found it to be a complete waste of time. The story/plot was non-existent. It’s like they thought if they just showed Hanks for 2 hours that it’d mean it’s a good movie. 2 hours and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the point of the story was. How are there literally only 3 characters in the entire move (and only one of which was an actual HUMAN) and we had absolutely ZERO character development!?
But things like this don’t matter to the critics here. All that matters to them is the NUMBER of offerings, not the quality of the content. So they judge Apple TV+ as a failure. Using that same logic Apple Music is a failure because Spotify has more subscribers, iOS is a failure because there are more Android devices, the Mac is a failure because there are more PCs sold.
This movie is very enjoyable, basically an exploration into what it means to be human. A typically strong performance by Tom Hanks, it's definitely worthy of watching.
Do yourself a favour and ignore negative nellies proclaiming otherwise, this is a great addition to the ATV+ catalog.
So, one wonders what is that record number of viewers tuning in? What does it take to be numero uno?
Each scene was well scripted, directed and acted. Of course it was a one man Hanks show. But geez, pretty thin story arc (robot emerges with human characteristics in post apocalyptic hell) and a downer of an ending without any great emotional payoff. No great “wow” discovery at the end. Glad I saw it but will never watch it again.