Amazon’s new movie strategy begins with theaters

Amazon’s film strategy is finally ready for its close.

After a decade of Dalliance with high-screen theatrical editions, Giant Tech Company will take the central scene this week in the annual contract for theater owners, spending several millions of dollars to provide an A-List star such as Ryan Gosling, Ben Affleck and Chris Hemsworth. This is the first time the company has ever taken such a role.

The point: To prove that the arm of his film, Amazon MGM Studios, is serious for the release of about 14 large, broad commercial films annually at theaters nationally and around the world.

The appearance is the culmination of a strategy for Amazon that started when bought MGM, with the impressive Sevasmio Studio Library in 2022 for $ 8.5 billion. For years, the company has released five to eight theatrical films, but it has never been clear how long they would stay in theaters before going to Prime Video, Amazon’s continuous flow service. “Air”, starring Mr Affleck and Matt Damon, received an exclusive theatrical release of 37 days. “Red One”, with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, hit Prime just a few weeks after his debut in theaters.

Now with 14 films a year, Amazon’s composition will compete from big studios in both size and scope, and most will spend 45 days in theaters before striking pay-per-view and then prime.

Amazon makes the change in the middle of its own corporate redirection. Jennifer Salke, who had overseen films and television businesses at Amazon Studios for seven years, left her work abruptly last week, surprising many people within the company. So when the lights decrease at the Cinemacon conference on Wednesday, all eyes will be in Courtenay Valenti, the head of the Amazon MGM film, who will present the vision of the company’s theatrical future.

“We have talked about the theatrical slate and the commitment that this company must have been theatrical for about two years now,” Ms Valenti, 61, said in an interview. “Finally, we can show. We don’t say it.”

Will Ms Salke departure upgrade this?

“It won’t,” said Ms. Valenti.

Amazon pushes into theaters, even when the film business seems to shrink and the audiences are more unstable than ever. Box Office sales are reduced by 11 % a year ago and remain well below the prepared levels. It is one of the few home entertainment businesses that have not yet recovered from Covid.

Some theater owners say they hope that Amazon will help correct one of the most important problems that plague their business-a lack of widespread films.

“The participation is still 35 %, and this is not due to the fact that filmmakers are a bit afraid of going to theaters,” said Adam Aron, president and CEO of AMC Entertainment. “The number of widespread release films is reduced by 30 %, so it’s extremely good news for us that a big deep pocket company like Amazon is going to increase the number of movies.”

Ms Valenti joined Amazon in 2023, a year after closing her MGM studio market. A 30 -year -old Warner Bros. veteran was hired to put together a plate that could compete with any Legacy Studio’s.

Her first class was to assure Hollywood that she was determined to make wide -ended films like those caused by Warner Bros: “Barbie”, “Fury Road”, “Elvis” and “Happy Feet”. Second: Amazon would release these films at a normal rhythm that could rely on both filmmakers and theater chains.

In addition to the 14 to 16 films that Amazon now expects to be released in theaters every year, another dozen will be produced directly for the prime video. The company also shapes its own international distribution arm.

“Amazon is not doing this for us because they want to feel good, they do it because it should be good for their business,” said Greg Marcus, a managing director of the company operating Marcus theaters, the fourth largest chain in the country. “Amazon says,” If we are going to be in the business constant flow, then we must also be in the theater business, if we want to maximize the impact of these films. ”

Still, there are no guarantees in the film business. Amazon holds the franchise James Bond, but every movie in this 62 -year series is years away. The company has just undertaken the creative control of the brand by its carers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, after a year of controversy. Amazon quickly put new producers in place-David Heyman (“Harry Potter”) and Amy Pascal (“Spider-Man”)-and hopes to start moving to an actor to play a bond in a new movie as soon as possible, but it will take time.

The company also restarted well -known MGM titles such as “The Thomas Crown Affair”, with Michael B. Jordan directing and starring. Adaptation of the best -selling novels (Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary” and Colleen Hoover’s “Verity”). and take over a favorite property of Mattel (“Masters of the Universe”).

But many of what Amazon has planned are original stories. There is a crime drama with Mr Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo in the vein of “heat”. A thriller, “after hunting”, starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield. And a sci-fi movie, “Mercy”, starring Chris Pratt.

“They love movies and get chances in the original IP,” said Jeb Brody, president of Imagine features, who has six films in progress with the company. “They want all kinds of works for all different audiences, but they are discreet.”

The new impulse is intense for Mrs Valenti, who has been in Hollywood for many years because she is not looking for the spotlight – and often tries to avoid it. He said he was proud of the films he was presenting at the theatrical conference this week, but he is also constantly taking care to use “we” instead of “I” to refer to the work produced.

“None of them happen by a person,” he said.

A daughter of Jack Valenti, the long -term face of the film industry as president of the Film Association, Mrs Valenti had a brief career in funding before starting her beginning as an executive at Warner Bros.

“I feel like I’m a 61 -year -old Nepo Baby,” he said with laughter.

But many in Hollywood seem to see her as something else: a sign that is finally becoming serious for the movie business.

“He wants to hear what you have to say and want to hear what he has to say,” said Charles Roven, a producer who has worked with Ms Valenti for decades and now has four projects on Amazon.