It ’s prescribed folk — Jeff Bezos will now own James Bond(pending regulatory approval lol ) . After murmur earlier this calendar week , Amazonannouncedtoday that it has signed an agreement to acquire MGM in an $ 8.45 billion good deal that will bolster the e - commerce whale ’s Hollywood ambitions .
To be clear , this flock is n’t so much about Amazon competing with other streaming challenger like Netflix , Hulu , or Disney+ . This is all about intellectual property , baby . MGM — or that studio with the iconic roaring lion — has a vast catalogue of more than 4,000 cinema , including James Bond , Robocop , Silence of the Lambs , Stargate , Tomb Raider , and The Pink Panther . It also has 17,000 TV display , including pop serial publication like Fargo andThe Handmaid ’s Tale . MGM also has several buzzworthy projects lined up , including Ridley Scott ’s House of Gucci , the next Bond flick No Time to Die , and an unnamed Paul Thomas Anderson film .
Since 2013 , Amazon ’s project piles of immediate payment at producing its own original content . Case in point , it ’s flip awhopping $ 465 millionat the first time of year of its forthcomingLord of the Rings prequelseries . Despite all that moolah , you ’d probably be a trivial pressed to commend more than a handful of memorable titles like Transparent , The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , andThe Boys . By snapping up MGM ’s most popular IP , Amazon ’s banking that you ’ll be less likely to cancel your Amazon Prime account , and therefore , your access to Amazon Prime Video .
Photo: Mladen Antonov/AFP (Getty Images)
“ The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure treasure trove of IP in the deep catalogue that we project to reimagine and develop together with MGM ’s talented team , ” Mike Hopkins , senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios , said in apress release . “ It ’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high - timber storytelling . ”
According toNBC NewsandVariety , the about $ 9 billion quite a little is a huge triumph for MGM as well . Both Apple and Comcast had patently sniffed around purchase MGM in the past few years , at a rating of just about $ 6 billion ( including MGM ’s debt ) . The softwood is Amazon ’s secondly - largest acquisition and its biggest since grease one’s palms Whole Foods in 2017 for $ 13.7 billion .
That said , it might not be completely fluent soaring from here . Amazon will have to convince regulators that the pile does n’t violate antimonopoly regulations . According toRecode , Amazon will likely argue it ’s a little Pisces in the stream world and that the mint wo n’t lead in fewer streaming choices for consumers . The other snag is that the Bond franchise is n’t solely owned by MGM . That ’s because it shares the rights to everyone ’s favorite undercover agent with Eon Productions , which is owned by the Broccoli family . Eon Productions has maintained a vise hold onits creative control over the plastic film series , with the Broccoli family having the final say on everything from statistical distribution to which actor gets to supersede Daniel Craig . Citing anon. industry reservoir , Varietynotes that it ’s improbable the Broccoli family will countenance any adherence film to first appearance on Amazon Prime Video and they have n’t been gravid fans of Bond spin - offs or TV series .
At the end of the day , this is just the latest example of how smaller mass medium companies are consolidate to keep up with the large guys . Last week , AT&T announceda $ 43 billion merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery , a move that brings HBO , Warner Bros. , CNN , Food web , HGTV , DC Comics , and more , all under one roof .
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