Chris Pratt in 2021’s The Tomorrow War
May 8, 2023
Amazon Studios and its sister MGM Studios are borrowing a page from the Warner Bros. Discovery playbook: Third party content distribution. The two studios have formed a distribution company aimed at licensing 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows to third-party platforms, including streaming. premium VOD, transactional VOD and digital retail.
Amazon acquired MGM Studios for $8.5 billion in 2021.
Dubbed Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, the unit will be headed by longtime MGM executive Chris Ottinger, who reports Brad Beale, VP of worldwide licensing and distribution at Amazon and MGM Studios. Beale reports to Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon/MGM Studios.
In a media interview, Ottinger said distribution would some theatrical, PVOD, electronic sell-through, transactional VOD, airlines, and related formats.
Movies and TV shows include 7500, “Goliath,” All the Old Knives, “Hunters,” Bliss, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Coming 2 America, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” I Want You Back, The Tender Bar, The Tomorrow War, The Voyeurs and Without Remorse, among others.
Additional movie/TV show franchises include James Bond, Rocky, Creed, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Vikings,” and “Fargo”.
“The launch of Amazon MGM Studios Distribution reinforces our commitment to bringing the very best content to audiences everywhere worldwide,” Salke said in a statement. “With the integration of MGM, we wanted to take advantage of the existing team to expand our business in ways that will greatly benefit our customers around the world.”