Amazon acquires MGM for 8.5B

[Hatebox]

“Physical media is dead but you can stream Bond movies now, congrats” lol nobody asked for this shit. This like when niggas was all “death of cinema but hey you get to see wolverine in a spider man movie, good job” lol this ain’t our fuckin fault. Where’s the antitrust laws??

— VyceVictus (@VyceVictus) May 26, 2021

[filmlover]

This was probably more for their library of titles than anything else. Imagine it's in the contract that No Time to Die and all future Bond movies will be theatrical only for at least a month or two.

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

This was probably more for their library of titles than anything else. Imagine it's in the contract that No Time to Die and all future Bond movies will be theatrical only for at least a month or two.

That's partially LA Times' take, for what it's worth:

 

 

Quote

It comes at a pivotal time as competition ramps up among streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max, where hit shows are key to driving consumers to subscribe. The rapid changes are fueling a wave of consolidation in the media landscape. Just last week, AT&T said it would spin off WarnerMedia in a $43-billion deal with Discovery, a remarkable retreat for the telecommunications giant only three years after buying the assets.

 

For Amazon, the principal attraction is MGM’s valuable library, which includes 17,000 episodes of TV programming and a stable of film properties, including “Rocky” and “Shark Tank,” that could be mined for reboots, and some of which already have.

 

Amazon already has a studio of its own, based in Culver City and run by former NBC executive Jennifer Salke since 2018. It has produced a handful of acclaimed television series, such as “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Fleabag,” and has released some popular movies, including “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” The studio, which earlier won awards for such arthouse fare as “Manchester by the Sea,” was nominated for 12 Oscars with films that included “Sound of Metal,” “Borat” and “One Night in Miami.”

 

But Amazon’s performance on the big screen has been uneven and many of its biggest hits were films that it didn’t actually make. For instance, “Coming 2 America,” a big draw for Amazon Prime Video this year, was acquired from ViacomCBS’ Paramount Pictures. And if Amazon wants to stay competitive, it has to ramp up production.

 

People close to the e-commerce colossus who were not authorized to comment said the MGM acquisition fits Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s plan to grow Amazon’s entertainment business more aggressively to better compete against Netflix and others.

 

"This gives them the opportunity to acquire talent that has a better expertise at creating movies and hits,” said Brian Yarbrough, a consumer research analyst with Edward Jones.

 

Streamers are eager to build their own library of intellectual property for series, as more companies are launching rival platforms instead of selling to others. Amazon’s acquisition of MGM increases its catalog of content and gives it a prolific TV production engine. Beverly Hills-based MGM is responsible for shows such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Vikings” and “Fargo.”

 

“Clearly Amazon is in full throttle in terms of spending on programming,” said Brahm Eiley, president of the Convergence Research Group, based in Victoria, Canada. “That’s the only way that you are going to reduce churn and keep eyeballs on your programming at the end of the day.”

 

They also think though that's it's about firming up the production pipeline on both TV and film side.  Strengthening their rolodex, as it were.

[lorddemaxus]

 

[lorddemaxus]

Bezos doesn't even know what MGM owns and what it doesn't. He mentioned Raging Bull eventhough it is now part of TCM.

[cdsacken]

On 5/17/2021 at 4:28 PM, CJohn said:

And people still think theaters have any chance of survival... it is over. Accept the streaming Gods in your life.

Lol streaming sucks ass for many. This is like saying fast food cancelled restaurants. 30-40% decrease in theaters is likely low.

[Eric Duncan]

17 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

Bezos doesn't even know what MGM owns and what it doesn't. He mentioned Raging Bull eventhough it is now part of TCM.

Mike Hopkins, the senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video also mentioned Raging Bull as a part of catalog content. I think it's fair to say he has a better understanding of the finer details of this deal as a part of his job, so...

[Napoleon]

What's the deal with those old MGM movies that WB bought, like Wizard of Oz? Will Amazon be able to get them some day? WB owns them for eternity?

[Jamiem]

27 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

Bezos doesn't even know what MGM owns and what it doesn't. He mentioned Raging Bull eventhough it is now part of TCM.

 

7 minutes ago, Eric De Vil said:

Mike Hopkins, the senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video also mentioned Raging Bull as a part of catalog content. I think it's fair to say he has a better understanding of the finer details of this deal as a part of his job, so...

It was a UA release and those are all over the place, it's different from MGM where most pre-1986 films were sold off. So they could very well own Raging Bull and some other 1980's and earlier films through the UA part of the catalog. 

[Mango]

ugh Amazon can't resist grabbing whatever they can with those grubby hands 

[Eric Duncan]

6 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

What's the deal with those old MGM movies that WB bought, like Wizard of Oz? Will Amazon be able to get them some day? WB owns them for eternity?

Technically the company Turner Entertainment, a subsidiary of WB, has complete and total ownership of MGM titles pre-1986 and their copyright. So the only way Warner could lose those movies is if they sold off Turner to Amazon some other company, which they will never do because then they would lose a lot of other stuff, like the pre-1950 WB catalogue, several Looney Tunes shorts and Hanna-Barbera. A Warner without Scooby-Doo would only lead to anarchy and chaos.

[WittyUsername]

These corporate buyouts are getting depressing. 
 

27 minutes ago, Eric De Vil said:

Technically the company Turner Entertainment, a subsidiary of WB, has complete and total ownership of MGM titles pre-1986 and their copyright. So the only way Warner could lose those movies is if they sold off Turner to Amazon some other company, which they will never do because then they would lose a lot of other stuff, like the pre-1950 WB catalogue, several Looney Tunes shorts and Hanna-Barbera. A Warner without Scooby-Doo would only lead to anarchy and chaos.

Doesn’t MGM still own all the James Bond and Rocky movies? 

[Eric Duncan]

6 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

These corporate buyouts are getting depressing. 
 

Doesn’t MGM still own all the James Bond and Rocky movies? 

That is very true, and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess it was because Broccoli/Wilson and Stallone demanded it? I'm sure somebody like @Cap has the explanation

[lorddemaxus]

13 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

These corporate buyouts are getting depressing. 
 

Doesn’t MGM still own all the James Bond and Rocky movies? 

Bond and Rocky were distributed by UA so I guess based on what @Jamiem said, they stick with MGM. I personally thought all pre-1986 UA films were sold off too but I guess not. Kinda makes this worse since UA's pre-1986 collection is huge and not being able to get them in the form of physical media in the future would be awful.

[Jamiem]

16 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

These corporate buyouts are getting depressing. 
 

Doesn’t MGM still own all the James Bond and Rocky movies? 

 

10 minutes ago, Eric De Vil said:

That is very true, and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess it was because Broccoli/Wilson and Stallone demanded it? I'm sure somebody like @Cap has the explanation

Rocky and bond were both United Artists releases which got a different treatment from MGM releases in terms of selling old catalog titles. I kind of explained this earlier:

 

1 hour ago, Jamiem said:

It was a UA release and those are all over the place, it's different from MGM where most pre-1986 films were sold off. So they could very well own Raging Bull and some other 1980's and earlier films through the UA part of the catalog. 

 

[excel1]

How do people not see the over saturation of the streaming services coming ? 

[filmlover]

2 hours ago, excel1 said:

How do people not see the over saturation of the streaming services coming ? 

Coming? We're already there.

 

[Cap]

5 hours ago, Eric De Vil said:

That is very true, and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess it was because Broccoli/Wilson and Stallone demanded it? I'm sure somebody like @Cap has the explanation

I'm just gonna quote Wikipedia causes it's easier:

 

Quote

By the late 1960s, the company's stock price had declined to the point where the value of its assets well exceeded the value of its stock, making it the potential target for a takeover and the company fought off corporate raiders. The company fell under the control of outsiders with little experience in film-making. In 1969, deal maker Kirk Kerkorian bought 40% of MGM and installed new management. The management immediately started a sell-off of assets and laid off much of its staff. Output was reduced to an average of five movies per year. Kerkorian focussed on other ventures, utilizing the company brand. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company was created in 1973 as a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in the 1980s became an independent company.

 

Over the next 37 years, the studio was bought and sold on multiple occasions. In all, Kerkorian bought and sold the company three times. Each sale was larger than the previous, and often funded with debt. The debt led to further sell-offs and divestitures. The company sold its Culver City studio complex, its backlots, film library and subsidiaries to pay off incurred debt and reduce ongoing costs. To bolster its output and increase its film library, the company acquired United Artists in 1980. In 1986, Kerkorian sold the company to Ted Turner and bought most of it back, only to sell it again in 1992. Kerkorian bought the company a third time in 1996 and purchased studios such as Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Co. and their film libraries. In 2004, Kerkorian sold the company to a consortium including Sony Pictures. Finally, in 2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.^[5][6]

 

Kerkorian was a Hotel guy that has no really interest in films. He just wanted MGM for the name basically.  

 

When Turner got involved he was mostly interested in the back catalogue for his cable Empire, aka how TCM was born.

 

The Broccolis have ALWAYS been clingy about Bond because they owned (still own?) Eon Productions which is the ones that actually has the rights to James Bond.

 

 

+

 

I honestly don't know what to think about this whole deal.  I don't think it really shakes the town to its core the way Fox-Disney, or even WarnerMedia-Discovery, did.  The MGM of the Studio System that boasted having "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" is dead, and has been for 60 years.  It's mostly just a shell Studio in Name Only now.  Everyone who said this deal has more to do with their back catalogue is 100% correct.  Looking forward to them all being Amazon Prime exclusives now.  Yay? 🤷‍♀️ 

 

On the other hand, this could be great.  I mean, 8B feels like a steal/fire sale, and Jeff Bezos has so much god damn money he could be totally chill at people running MGM like Netflix where profits and debts don't matter (I still have no idea how that business model works, but, hey, let them blow their money).  Maybe Jeff Bezos will bring back the Art Gratis Artis...

 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Screenwriters sharing their experiences of meeting with MGM...

 

 

 

I get whatever reflexive response people might have to Amazon, but MGM has been struggling for a while... Do all the people complaining now think MGM was going to magically rise from the ashes and return to its Golden Age glory on its own? MGM was either going to get bought out or die out. 

 

 

[Jamiem]

1 hour ago, Cap said:

The Broccolis have ALWAYS been clingy about Bond because they owned (still own?) Eon Productions which is the ones that actually has the rights to James Bond.

Correct but EON has a holding company called Danjaq which was essentially a joint venture between the Broccoli family and United Artists (who have been owned by MGM since the 80s) since 1975 when 50% was sold by Harry Saltzmen (the original co-owner) to UA, who eventually sold that 50% share back at a latter date for better distribution terms. 
 

Which brings us to the current day in which from my understanding of how the arrangement works the Broccoli family has creative control and MGM has distribution and copyright rights to all the Bond films made by EON

Edited May 27, 2021 by Jamiem