AMAZON PASSING ON THEATERS
Posted: 080819

Amazon Studios Chief Jennifer Salke says the streaming service is changing their film release strategy and will run most off their product on the service and skip theaters. Amazon plans to lift the number of films it is releasing on Amazon Prime to about thirty films a year with twenty of them airing on TV. She also said the company will be more like Netflix when it comes to how they open films if they go theatrical: “You’ll see less of the three-month window, and you’ll see different variations. Even through Sundance, I learned a lot about just how flexible we can be with those models, and they really vary. In some cases, it’ll be important for us to get the movie quickly to the service, while still following through with a theatrical release that feels much shorter, two weeks even, two to eight weeks. And then in other cases, we’ll allow, where it makes sense, a wider release strategy.” The service has signed deals with Nicole Kidman and Jason Blum’s production houses to create content. Amazon Studios spent $47 million to buy five films at Sundance and they are open to Amazon doing a major blockbuster film franchise.

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