What does it mean to suddenly change the Amazon studio movie strategy?
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Editor’s note: Amazon’s film “Hot Air Balloon Flight” launched this year, originally planned to be fully released, but after two months of remorse, the reduction of theater schedules, causing a huge shock in the industry. Read this article to take a look at the reasons behind it and the problems behind the Amazon studio. This article is translated from the article in the New York Times titled “Behind Amazon’s Sudden Change in Its Film Strategy,” by Nicole Sperling.
Figure 1: The movie “Hot Air Balloon Flight” stills, actor Himesh Patel (left) and Eddie Redmayne (right). Amazon Studio reduced the release time of the movie. Image source: Amazon Studio
Los Angeles – The Aeronauts, a big-screen adventure movie, tells the story of the 19th century ballooning flyers. The film is led by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Star Wars star Felicity Jones. The scene is extremely grand and the scene is a few miles above sea level. The place to shoot. In May of this year, Yamaha Film Studio announced that the film will be exclusively broadcasted on the IMAX screen for a week, before the “complete theater version” performance.
“We look forward to providing our customers with an unforgettable drama experience, especially on top of this cloud,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Pictures.
However, two months later, Amazon cancelled the IMAX screening arrangement and reduced the number of screenings in the theater. According to the new plan, “Hot Air Balloons” will be shown in a few theaters for two weeks before being played on Amazon Prime Video with more than 100 million users.
“This is not what we want to see,” director Tom Harper said in an interview with The New York Times at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.He was disappointed with the move. “Hot Air Balloon Flight” just received a concerted tribute at the Toronto Film Festival. After the movie was over, the audience even stood up and applauded. Harper went on to say: “But this is a world that changes rapidly. I sincerely hope that people can see this movie. If I want to decide, I will tell them to go to the theater.”
This huge shift in distribution strategy shocked the film industry at the same time, partly because Amazon has become a friend of Old Hollywood, and it is more willing to sign long-term contracts than other tech giants.
Includes two Oscar-winning films, Manchester by the Sea, the acclaimed comedy “The Big Sick” in 2017, and this summer’s Late Night show (Late Night) ), it’s all Amazon’s movies that have been shown in theaters for months.
With the changes in the Hot Air Balloon Flight Plan, Amazon began to behave more like its competitor Netflix. We all know that Netflix prefers to quickly offer movies to subscribers, not as long as Amazon. Film screenings are conducted in time. The sudden change of Amazon this time also triggered the entertainment industry’s doubts about the company’s entertainment department, which is how Amazon Studios ended.
The TV department of Amazon Studios has recently come to the fore, mainly because they have produced two Emmy-winning TV series, “Fleabag” and “The Great Lady Marvelous” (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). Salke, the former president of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), became a well-known screenwriter and production director like Jordan Peele and Barry Jenkins, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the producer of London Girls, after taking office in 2018. Television agreement. The awards honored by the TV department and the many good shooting contracts actually made Amazon’s film department somewhat eclipsed.
Richard Greenfield, co-founder of LightShed Partners Research, said to Amazon Studio: “In terms of movies, I still think they are still figuring out what they want to do.”
When the 55-year-old Salke succeeded Roy Price as president of NBC Entertainment, there was no good film resources left for her inheritance. Former Roy Price was dismissed for allegations of sexual harassment, and the film department was in a state of loss before Salke took office, even like Richard Linklater and Todd Haines (ToddHaynes) and other top directors are very bleak at the box office.
Figure 2: “My goal is clear, and specific things are already going on,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios.
Image source: Danny Moloshok/Reuters
In January of this year, Salke participated in the Sundance Film Festival for the first time as the head of Amazon Studios. The company immediately acted and frantically spent money on several movies, including $14 million each. Two films were released, the first of which was “Her Marathon” – a relatively low-key comedy film that felt good; the other was Annette Bening and Adam Drum ( Adam’s government starred in the factual type of film “Torture Report”, which will be released in limited edition in November. In addition, the company also spent 13 million US dollars to obtain the domestic copyright of “Deep Night Show” as a fledgling TV drama writer. Mindy Kaling not only served as a screenwriter but also starred in the show. Another protagonist in the play was a serious talk show host by Emma Thompson.
Amazon hopes to return to the glory of “Great Illness” through “Deep Night Show”, after all, its box office revenue at the Sundance Film Festival exceeded $56 million. On this basis, this summer, “Deep Night Show” will be shown on 2,200 screens across the United States.
The film, despite its critical acclaim and a marketing budget of $32 million, did not expect the audience to be too interested in the show. The “Deep Night Show” has only $15.4 million in the US box office. The news media rushed to report. “IndieWire” said the release was a “disaster.” And Variety magazine said that Amazon has “lost out of balance.”
Salke said “it’s really frustrating” when he mentioned these news stories. She is still defending the purchase of “Deep Night Show”, saying that since the film was released on Amazon’s Prime Video on September 6, it has played more than any original Amazon movie. But she did not disclose how much the specific number is.
When the “Deep Night Show” is still on the show,Amazon and Bob Berney, the boss of the movie market distribution department, parted ways. Berney is a Hollywood veteran, but his four-year contract with Amazon has expired. At about the same time, Amazon changed the distribution route of “Hot Air Balloons”, which is a movie made by Amazon itself, with a budget of about 40 million US dollars.
Salke has three colleagues, Ted Hope, Matt Newman and Julie Rapaport as heads of the movie “The Hot Air Balloon Flight” Salke told them that in addition to the exclusive IMAX signing and full release in the US, the film will also be available to a limited number of theaters on December 6th and will be screened on the streaming channel on the 20th of the month. (Entertainment One, referred to as eOne, will be released in the UK in the form of a full theater screening, but also includes IMAX theaters)
Salke said: “With a movie like “The Hot Air Balloon Flight”, we feel that we can carry out larger events on Amazon’s Prime.”
But when the release plan is uncertain, it will come when you go to the cinema to watch a movie and tend to watch a small screen. Since the movie-watchers seem to be less willing to go to the cinema to watch movies that are not big or have no one or two superheroes, the box office revenue this summer has dropped by 2% compared to 2018.
Salke said: “In view of the current business situation, no one really likes to go out to the cinema to watch, but in any case, the entire film industry likes to discuss films that are not performing well.”
But Amazon decided to adopt the release route of the movie “Mama Marathon”, which was launched in five theaters in August, and then fully screened on more than 1,000 screens. But according to data from the Box Office Mojo website, so far, only $6.6 million in box office revenue. Amazon has adopted a similar strategy for the Honey Boy, starring Shia LaBeouf, which received strong repercussions early on and scheduled for November 8th in some theaters. Released, and then launched nationwide promotion.
The late-night show starring Mindy Kaling, despite being well received,The performance of the cinema throughout the summer was disappointing.
Image source: Emily Aragones / Amazon Studio
The Hot Air Balloon Flight and the two small production films have adopted different distribution strategies, which are contrary to the traditional Hollywood perception. The traditional Hollywood view holds that spectacle movies like Hot Air Balloons are supposed to have a chance to succeed on the big screen, and those niche movies are usually more suitable for direct marketing to consumers.
Independent producer Todd Black has two movies on Amazon, one of which is described by Aaron Sorkin about Lucille Ball. The film, he supports Salke and her film team. He said: “They are learning the way, learning to clearly define what they can and can’t do, what they will do and what they will not do.” He added: “But I think they need some help, they need to know themselves. What is the mission?”
Salke’s voice sounds very confident and says: “My goal is clear, and the specific things are already in progress.”
What is the task she said?
She said: “Our mission is to make movies have the same values, that is, trying to get quality content for consumers around the world,” she continued. “This is why viewers buy, I will show our movies online. It also regularly provides movies to our global users.
She added that starting in 2020, these movies (up to 30 per year) will be divided into three categories: including the adult film by director Jennifer Kent about lesbian love; making “Smart: The dark-themed thriller film by Gumman Record and Blumhouse Productions, the company that escaped the town, and some films from Nicole Kidman and her Blossom Films production company. Called by Salke as a “sexy dating night” movie, it is now called a teasing movie.
“I have great confidence in this program,” Salke said. “I know what impact global marketing campaigns can have on TV series. I also know what these specific numbers are.”
Salke has not yet replaced Berney’s status. Before joining Amazon, Berney was responsible for the marketing of the film “The Labyrinth of Pan” and “The Passion of Jesus”. The company also seems to be eager to find a new market leader.
Three Amazon people said that in the eyes of those who want to change jobs in Hollywood, Amazon Studio has become a loser. In a word, because the recent release work of “Hot Air Balloons” has left a bad impression, thinkThe future of Amazon’s film department is in chaos.
One of the problems that few people care about but still exist is that the benefits of this thrifty company are few and far between. For example, Amazon refuses to pay for first-class air travel for employees. Some people add that although the choice of stock options is more generous, the salary is lower, and the parking lot in the city (Culver City) is too small. Those who don’t arrive early are often trapped in the nearby Trader Joe’s parking lot.
Independent filmmaker Black believes that the film industry should be more patient with Amazon. He said: “They know that they have made some mistakes, but everyone is paying attention to them all the time, just like watching with a microscope.” Black continued: “But no one will ignore the size and volume of Amazon. It’s still a big deal.”
Translator: Hailey