Amazon spent $16.6 billion on streaming content in 2022 — Up 28% from 2021

During its fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday, Amazon revealed it spent $16.6 billion on content in 2022. That’s up from spending $13 billion in 2021. That figure includes around $7 billion spent on original content, live sports, and licensed content available for free for Prime members. That’s up from $5 billion spent the previous year. While not explicitly detailed by Amazon, it’s generally accepted that the company spent $1 billion for rights to stream Thursday Night Football last year and over half a billion on the first season of its most popular original series, “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power.” Read more ›

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Amazon greenlights new sequal series to ‘Blade Runner 2049’

Amazon has greenlit the production of a new TV show to serve as a sequel to the movie Blade Runner 2049, according to Variety. The title has said to be Blade Runner 2099, which indicates the story will take place 50 years after the movie. Ridley Scott, who directed the original Blade Runner movie, is on board as an executive producer for the new project, as is Michael Green, the co-writer of Blade Runner 2049. The premise, cast, or release date have not been announced.

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Amazon’s ‘The Rings of Power’ series draws 25 million first-day viewers but reviews are blocked for 3 days

Amazon has announced that there were more than 25 million viewers globally that watched its original series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on the first day. That makes it the biggest premiere in Prime Video’s history. That’s good news for Amazon given that it’s the most anticipated Amazon original series to date and the most expensive to make. However, Amazon has executed its relatively new policy of putting a 3-day hold on all Prime Video reviews for the new series to stave off those unhappy with the release. Read more ›

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Amazon moves up ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ premiere slightly with more episodes

The debut of Amazon’s most highly anticipated original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is 2 weeks away but Amazon is making a couple of last-minute changes to the premiere. Instead of the first episode being released at midnight on Friday, September 2nd, the series will now debut a little earlier, on Thursday, September 1st, at 6 p.m .PT / 9 p.m. ET worldwide. That’s certainly a better time if you were planning to watch it immediately as it becomes available on Prime Video, but not a significant departure from the original release schedule. What is a slightly bigger deal is that Amazon has now decided to release not only the first episode at launch but the second episode as well. The remaining six episodes of the first season will be released once a week every Thursday at 6 p.m PT / 9 p.m. ET. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the first full trailer for the series released last month.

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First full trailer released for Amazon’s highly anticipated ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series

Amazon has released the first full trailer for its upcoming original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, based on the fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. This two-and-a-half-minute trailer is more substantial than the first 60-second “teaser” trailer released earlier this year. The series takes place thousands of years before the events in Peter Jackson’s six feature films. This trailer provides a first look at some of the characters in the series. The series is set to debut later this year on September 2.

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Amazon completes aquisition of MGM $8.45 billion

Amazon has announced the completion of its acquisition of movie and TV studio MGM. The purchase of MGM for $8.45 billion was announced back in May 2021 but required regulatory scrutany before being completed. European Union antitrust officials gave the purchase unconditionally approval this week and the Federal Trade Commission had until the middle of this month to challenge the acquisition, which it did not. The purchase of MGM adds over 4,000 films and 17,000 TV episodes to Amazon’s content library, which includes franchises such as James Bond, Rocky, Robocop, and Stargate. Amazon held true to its word to still release the latest James Bond film in theaters, as opposed to making it a Prime Video exclusive, but has not commented on the rest of the acquired content catalog.

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Amazon releases first trailer for its highly anticipated ‘Lord of the Rings’ TV series

The first teaser trailer for Amazon’s upcoming original series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, based on the fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. The series takes place thousands of years before the events in Peter Jackson’s six feature films. This is easily expected to be Amazon’s most impressive original series and has cost $465 million to produce the first season alone, not counting the $250 million Amazon paid 4 years ago for the rights to make it. The series is set to debut later this year on September 2.

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Next major Amazon original series, ‘The Wheel of Time,’ releases first trailer

Amazon has released the first teaser trailer, available here on YouTube and embedded below, of its highly anticipated upcoming original series The Wheel Of Time. Amazon describes the series, which is based on the 14 volume book series by Robert Jordan, as “Set in an epic fantasy world, The Wheel of Time follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young villagers, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn… the one who will either save or destroy humanity.” The series is set to debut on November 19th, 2021. Read more ›

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‘Hotel Transylvania 4’ is rumored to debut exclusively on Prime Video

Sony is allegedly in talks with Amazon to release Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, the fourth movie in the popular series, exclusively on Prime Video as an Amazon Original Movie, according to Variety. The movie was originally slated to open in theaters on Oct. 1st, but the surge in COVID cases has reportedly caused Sony to explore alternative releases, with Prime Video being the most likely platform. Sony has already made a similar arrangement with Amazon for the released of Cinderella, which will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on Sept. 3rd. Being the only major studio without a dedicated streaming service of its own, Sony has been making deals with Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, HBO, and Hulu since 2020 for the release of its movies.

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Amazon buys MGM for $8.45 billion

The rumors were true. Amazon has announced the acquisition of MGM for $8.45 billion. Assuming regulators allow the deal to go through, Amazon will own MGM’s library of content which includes around 4,000 films and 17,000 hours of TV shows. MGM franchises that will soon be owned by Amazon include 12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair, and many others. The deal isn’t just about acquiring rights to existing content because Amazon says they will “empower MGM to continue to do what they do best: great storytelling,” so, it seems like MGM will continue to release new movies and shows under Amazon’s ownership. Read more ›

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