Many fans logically began to ask what plans Bezos had with their favorite movie heroes. Amazon’s shareholders are no doubt wondering whether the corporation will finally break into the biggest players in the entertainment industry thanks to this acquisition.
The British daily tried to offer answers to these questions to both camps Financial Times. An article by Dave Lee and James Fontanelly-Khan reminds us that Bezos has been trying to break through in Hollywood for several years and that mastering the entertainment industry was one of his big dreams. The acquisition of MGM is Amazon’s boldest move to the sector to date. It is said that Apple also gritted its teeth at the almost hundred-year-old studio, whose trademark is a roaring lion. However, she offered only six billion dollars for it.
“MGM has a broad catalog of adored intellectual property,” Amazon’s chief said at a meeting with shareholders on Wednesday. “Together with their talented people, we can transform and develop it for the 21st century. We have a lot of fun work ahead of us and people who love stories will benefit from it, “added Bezos.
Rich content may not be enough
Thanks to the purchase of MGM, the Internet giant acquired the rights to 4,000 films and 17,000 series episodes. In addition, two cable TV channels Epix and MGM HD. It now has plenty of compelling new content for its Amazon Prime Video streaming platform, which recently broke two hundred million global subscribers. This will definitely help Amazon in the fight against rival companies Disney and Netflix.
–
–
Amazon has been investing heavily in its streaming services recently. Last year, he spent $ 11 billion on new audiovisual content. That is 7.8 billion more than in the previous year. However, although he has already produced a number of his own hits, such as the 2016 Oscar-winning film A Place by the Sea, Prime Video has so far lagged behind Netflix and Disney in terms of successful projects.
MGM has in its portfolio cult films such as James Bond, Rocky, The Raging Bull, The Silence of the Lambs, The Seven Brave, Ben Hur, The Wizard of Oz or the Fargo and Vikings series. However, the editors of the Financial Times are not sure whether this will be enough to enter the elite of the entertainment industry. MGM is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most respected Hollywood studios, but according to many, it has had its golden age long ago.
“It’s not exactly the largest studio in town,” says Thomas Hughes, a former MGM director. “In Amazon, he’s serious about film content. But there’s always the risk of spending billions and billions on content that people don’t want to watch, ”added Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones.
Problems with Bond
Experts agree that practically the only truly profitable franchise with huge commercial potential that Amazon got through MGM is James Bond. But he shares the rights to a British agent with permission to kill MGM with the production company Eon Productions. And it is its owners, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who will always have the main say about Bond’s creative future.
–
–
In other words, Amazon can’t do what it wants with Bond and shoot dozens of new Bond series and spin-offs, as Disney does after buying Star Wars rights, for example. By the way, producers Broccoli and Wilson have already made it on Thursday reassure Agent 007 fansthat Bond films will continue to be shown on big screens in the coming years and there is certainly no danger of it being permanently moved only to the Internet.
“Michael and Barbara are very, very sensitive about this franchise,” a person close to the producers told the Financial Times. “MGM people, for example, have tried in the past to create a big series from Bond’s world that could compete with the Game of Thrones, but they were fundamentally opposed,” the person added. Broccoli is the daughter of the original Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli.
–
–
So far, the last made Bond film with Daniel Craig in the title role due to the coronavirus pandemic is still waiting for its cinema premiere, which should finally take place in the Czech Republic on October 8.
However, the same rules as for Bond do not apply to all other brands. Amazon can therefore handle most of them at its own discretion. So moviegoers can certainly prepare for a flood of new sequels, reboots and spin-offs of older successful films.
