Amazon is taking on the silver screen, planning to acquire original movies for theatrical release and early-window distribution on its Prime Instant Video service. Feature films will not be available online the day of their theatrical release, but instead be available to Prime subscribers four to eight weeks after. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Amazon Original Movies division will be lead by former Good Machine co-founder Ted Hope, who also was most recently the CEO of indie film streaming service Fandor. The company expects to release 12 original movies every year. Amazon’s main competitor Netflix, previously announced that it was planning to produce 10-14 movies a year and currently holds a deal with Adam Sandler to make four movies to debut exclusively on the service.
Related Stories
Whoopi Goldberg and cast mates will take The Stand on CBS All Access Dec. 17
The Stand, CBS All Access’ television adaptation of the storied 1978 Stephen King novel, will debut December 17. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo and Amber Heard, the limited series unfolds around King’s apocalyptic struggle between good and evil after a plague destroys most of the country. Ben Cavell serves […]
McKinnon lands unprecedented Exotic deal
Get ready cats and kittens. Joe Exotic (working title), UCP’s limited series starring and exec-produced by Kate McKinnon, scored a straight-to-series order by both the NBCU television and streaming divisions. In an unprecedented move, project will roll out across broadcast net NBC, streamer Peacock, and a basic cable net USA. Series is based on the […]
Cat’s meow: Quaid will star in his own animal rescue story
Dennis Quaid is the cat’s meow. He’s partnering with ITV America’s Leftfield Pictures for unscripted TV project Saving Dennis Quaid, which he’ll star in and exec produce. Project documents the animal lover’s recent headline-making pet rescue where he and partner Jimmy Jellinek set out on a mission to adopt a 6-year-old black cat from Lynchburg, […]
Turner Sports Shaq’s up
Big news at Turner Sports, as the company lands a multiyear extension of its partnership with Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq’s expanded role gains the Basketball Hall of Famer more airtime, including on TNT’s Inside the NBA and NBA on TNT, as well as contributions to NBA.com. He also will develop projects throughout the WarnerMedia portfolio including […]
The Tonys go digital
The 74th Annual Tony Awards ceremony will go on, presented digitally sometime in the fall. Date and platform are TBA. The event had originally been scheduled for June 7, but was replaced by plans for a streaming special on the same date due to COVID-19. That special was postponed amid unrest over the George Floyd […]
CynCity
Cynsiders
What Happens If Time Runs Out For TikTok?
As the clock winds down on TikTok (or not), don’t push the panic button yet,...GenAI: Changing the Marketing Game
Gen AI is disrupting the ad testing market, enabling marketers to test the effectiveness of...Adjusting Priorities in Advertising
Eden Collective, a consultancy of senior media strategists dedicated to bridging the gap between short–term...