Tom Hanks has a new sci-fi film coming out from Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik, and while it was originally called Bios and set for theatrical release this August, it has now changed its title to Finch and has a new release date and outlet.
Originally, Bios was being released by Universal. Now Finch will be released on Apple TV+. The film is produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment which held an auction for the film over the weekend, according to Deadline. Apple won the auction, obviously, and plans on releasing the film later this year so it can be in contention for awards.
Finch is about a robotic engineer (Hanks) who survives an apocalyptic event by staying in a bunker for a decade. In that time, he designs a robot (voiced by Caleb Landry Jones) who can take care of the man’s dog, Goodyear, after the man dies. So basically it’s about a man, a dog, and his robot, learning to co-exist and live in a post-apocalyptic world where they’re some of the last beings around.
The film sounds like it might have a certain epic quality to it and who better than Sapochnik to capture that? He directed both the “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Long Night” episodes of Game of Thrones, becoming that show’s go-to guy for the biggest episodes. (He’s now one of the head creatives on the spinoff, House of the Dragon.) His teaming up with Hanks and Spielberg’s company sounds pretty damned good, which is probably why Apple wanted to be a part of it. Plus, Apple also acquired Hanks’ recent film Greyhound from Sony and had lots of success with it. Seems Apple is in the business of Tom Hanks.
With a backlog of finished films due to covid-19, several studios have taken to selling their films to streamers in this manner. Sony did it with Greyhound and The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Paramount did it with The Tomorrow War and Coming 2 America, etc. So far, it seems like it’s been a fairly successful move for all parties. Exactly why Finch is joining that list, however, we aren’t quite sure.
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