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Amazon Talking to Sony & Paramount About Producing Movies for Prime
While most streaming sites are moving towards constant inflow of original content, Amazon finds itself in the midst of preliminary talks with Sony and Paramount on the creation of original films for Prime Video. As sites like Prime Video, Netflix, and Hulu continue to garner influence over the film industry, more and more deals of this nature may become quite commonplace.
Streaming sites are constantly changing the way viewers experience content, and Amazon wants to be at the forefront of this new wave. King of the streaming sites, Netflix, has been pumping out original content on a very regular basis, with a wide range of TV shows but also successful movies, like Beasts Of No Nation and Jim and Andy. Hulu is also dedicated to their own material with stellar shows like The Mindy Project, Casual, and The Handmaid's Tale, however has yet to do much in the way of original movies. All of this is not to say Prime Video cannot boast its own original content. One would be remiss to ignore the Emmy-nominated The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, or Emmy-winning Transparent.
In their most recent move, reported by Deadline, Prime Video appears to be turning outwards, paying closer attention to the studios and finding a way to outsource some content - returning, perhaps, to the early days when streaming sites had no original films or shows to speak of. The potential negotiations with Paramount and Sony remain in the infant stages, as Paramount is currently strapped to a streaming deal with pay TV service, Epix – a deal they'll likely make their way out of – while Sony, is under contract with Starz for the next four years. Overall, the decision to utilize Paramount or Sony's content falls in line with the direction taken by the newly appointed head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke – a firm believer in quality not quantity.
It's long appeared that Amazon has had its eyes fixed on other streaming services, drawing waves of inspiration from its predecessors. However, one business move in particular, Paramount's release of The Cloverfield Paradox directly to Netflix, had Jeff Bezos salivating. The result of that successful collaboration is what Prime Video wants to "replicate" for Paramount and Sony.
Though these talks are in the preliminary stages, one can imagine the success of previous models - as well as the increasing ubiquity of streaming services - would lead Sony and Paramount to the obvious choice. The overall outcome will depend, as always, upon the consumers, and where they decide to watch their movies.
