Amazon will spend over A$1.5 billion a year to produce movies for release in cinema, rather than on its own streaming platform.
The online retailer aims to make between 12 and 15 films each year for theatrical release, which will immediately put Amazon at the same level of major Hollywood studios such as Paramount Pictures and Sony.
Amazon only produces a few dozen films each year, compared to the hundred-plus Netflix produces. Amazon has enjoyed critical and box office success with Manchester By The Sea and The Big Sick.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan called this move “a vote of confidence in the theatrical model,” noting it could “easily boost receipts by 15 per cent to 20 per cent given Universal and Warner have roughly similar budgets.”
American cinema takings are down 33 per cent compared to 2019, the most pre-pandemic year.
Shares in AMC, America’s largest movie chain, jumped 9.2 per cent on the news.
