Tom Hanks & Gary Goetzman’s Playtone Makes Apple TV+ Exclusive Deal; WWII Epic ‘Masters Of The Air’ On Tarmac Along With ‘Greyhound’ Sequel

EXCLUSIVE: After collaborating on the 2020 film Greyhound — with a sequel in the works — and the just-wrapped WWII series Masters of the Air, Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have made multi-year exclusive overall deal with Apple TV+.

The pact encompasses series, documentaries and unscripted projects for Apple to develop, produce and distribute globally. Along with Apple Studios and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, Playtone picked up where it left off — telling the WWII story with earlier Emmy-winning efforts The Pacific and Band of Brothers, both for HBO. Masters of the Air, with an ensemble of young actors including Elvis star Austin Butler, follows the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep.

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Playtone productions have won a slew of Emmys for series that include John Adams and Olive Kitteridge.

Going To War: How ‘Greyhound’ VFX Supervisors Nathan McGuinness And Pete Bebb Brought The Battle Of The Atlantic To Life In Less Than Four Months

Apple Original Films and Playtone have begun to move forward on a sequel to Greyhound, the WWII thriller feature that starred Hanks and became one of Apple TV+’s most watched entries.

Under leadership of Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, Apple finds itself with much momentum. On the film side came the Best Picture Oscar win for CODA, the first for a streamer, and on the TV side there is an expanding TV lineup that includes the Korean-, Japanese- and English-language drama Pachinko; the new Gary Oldman starrer Slow Horses, adapted from Mick Herron’s espionage novels; and the Elisabeth Moss vehicle Shining Girls, based on the Lauren Beukes novel. On the feature side, Playtone is in production on A Man Called Otto, with Hanks starring and Marc Forster directing, for Sony Pictures.

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