Amazon acquires MGM for 8.5B

[BoxOfficeZ]

So they spent 8 billion dollars on a deal for MGM but can't be bothered to spend 8 dollars on the godawful Prime video UI?  

[eddyxx]

Is Disney the last golden age studio to not be bought out by a bigger company?

[Thomas Beck]

7 hours ago, excel1 said:

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

 

There's an easy solution, just subscribe to one, or a few, streaming service(s) at a time and switch to another when you run out of things you want to watch.

Edited May 27, 2021 by Thomas Beck

[Jamiem]

19 minutes ago, eddyxx said:

Is Disney the last golden age studio to not be bought out by a bigger company?

That has been the case for some time I think.

 

Warner, Paramount, 20th Century FOX, Columbia, MGM, UA, RKO and Universal have all been bought out at least once.

 

Paramount with its current parent company ViacomCBS is the only other major studio (along with Disney) without a tech or telecom parent, that should change with the Warner-Discovery merger but it’s pretty grim really. 

[titanic2187]

I am very surprised MGM is still worth 8.5b, that lion logo probably made up half of the value.  

[Macleod]

Nice to see some great discussion of FILM HISTORY in this thread!  

 

On 5/26/2021 at 5:04 PM, 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.

 

TCM doesn't "own" anything, but I think you're talking about the Ted Turner-owned catalogue of pre-1986 MGMs that was eventually picked up by Warners?  

 

https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-and-mgm-have-signed-agreement-amazon-acquire-mgm

 

Above is the official press release from Amazon.  Film rights can get contentious for a number of reasons, but certain titles here oddly stick out.  They mention POLTERGEIST and BASIC INSTINCT -- the former of which is owned by Warners through the pre-86 Turner MGM buy.  As far as INSTINCT, that is more debatable and confusing -- as StudioCanal own the film and I think also many home video rights, and they had previously licensed it out to Lionsgate in the U.S. for many years (as they had a previously existing deal with Carolco), but there is a new 4K restoration that Rialto has helped with.  MGM has BASIC INSTINCT 2, from my understanding and might own "sequels and future franchise iterations"...but the only one people really care about is the original.  So why is MGM/Amazon claiming they have the original title, which would no doubt entice investors/consumers to get PRIME so they could watch it?  

 

 

On 5/27/2021 at 12:57 AM, BoxOfficeZ said:

So they spent 8 billion dollars on a deal for MGM but can't be bothered to spend 8 dollars on the godawful Prime video UI?  

 

AGREED.  I thought my older Vizio TV was compensating with an older version of the app, but good to know I'm not crazy.  Just one of the many reasons that I decided to QUIT Amazon Prime this week.  The interface has always been shoddy, lots of curios of titles I was never 100% compelled to watch, and their shipping and customer service behavior has, particularly in recent months, really disappointed me.  Watching NOMADLAND also made me reconsider how much I'm contributing to the big machine of corporate shuffling.  "Too big for their britches" comes to mind.  So what was I paying for?  I'm done.   

 

On 5/27/2021 at 3:13 AM, eddyxx said:

Is Disney the last golden age studio to not be bought out by a bigger company?

 

Good point and kind of a sad state of affairs.

 

2 hours ago, titanic2187 said:

I am very surprised MGM is still worth 8.5b, that lion logo probably made up half of the value.  

 

I think many studios would have paid around $4-5 billion for the BOND franchise alone...  It's a valuable library for someone who knows what to do with it...but that has always been the real question.

 

Well, Stallone has been working on *two* different ROCKY spin-off projects, a Prequel TV series and perhaps one more spin-off present-day film where "Rocky mentors an illegal immigrant from the border"... so I'd say Amazon's backing might very well make these more likely to happen!  😂 

 

He also has a Director's Cut of ROCKY IV finished up...I could very well see that being a PRIME exclusive...

Edited May 28, 2021 by Macleod

[Eric Atreides]

 

[dudalb]

On 5/28/2021 at 11:44 AM, titanic2187 said:

I am very surprised MGM is still worth 8.5b, that lion logo probably made up half of the value.  

The BOnd franchis is probably it's most valuable physical asset, but  the name MGM does have a lot of Brand value; people still associate it with the MGM of the Golden Age Of Hollywood.

MGM  never really recovered from it's near death in the early 70's. Supposedly the recepits from "That's Entertaiment' Kepp ti alive as a studio, the Kerflooians were giving seriiously consideration to shutting down the studio entirely, and just use the name as a Brand name for the MGM Grand hotels.

Except for  Thath's Entertaiment --which cost next to notihng to make..MGM did not produce a movie for oever three years. it begun production again in 1975, but did not have any outstanding successes. In 1980 it merged with another Studio in trouble, UA.

I do think the Brand name is a major reason why Bezos bought it.

Actually many anlysts think that Bezos probably overpaid, but a couple of extra billion is chump change for Bezos.

This is not nearly as bid a deal as The Mouse taking over Fox. Fox was a functioning major studio, MGM was a minor studio..and possibly not even a Triple A minor at that.

[cdsacken]

Amazon overpaid by 2-3B. Still could be worth it though. Ton of content 

[HouseOfTheSun]

Bezos overpaid by 8.5 billion. Eon controls Bond and the entire mgm library doesn’t add much of any value to Amazon Prime Video. The good part of the catalog is owned by Warner 

[HouseOfTheSun]

9 hours ago, dudalb said:

The BOnd franchis is probably it's most valuable physical asset, but  the name MGM does have a lot of Brand value; people still associate it with the MGM of the Golden Age Of Hollywood.

MGM  never really recovered from it's near death in the early 70's. Supposedly the recepits from "That's Entertaiment' Kepp ti alive as a studio, the Kerflooians were giving seriiously consideration to shutting down the studio entirely, and just use the name as a Brand name for the MGM Grand hotels.

Except for  Thath's Entertaiment --which cost next to notihng to make..MGM did not produce a movie for oever three years. it begun production again in 1975, but did not have any outstanding successes. In 1980 it merged with another Studio in trouble, UA.

I do think the Brand name is a major reason why Bezos bought it.

Actually many anlysts think that Bezos probably overpaid, but a couple of extra billion is chump change for Bezos.

This is not nearly as bid a deal as The Mouse taking over Fox. Fox was a functioning major studio, MGM was a minor studio..and possibly not even a Triple A minor at that.

The film studio was probably the 3rd most important part of that purchase for Disney. The streaming assets and the television assets were far more important. 

[lorddemaxus]

 

Lmao, that image though.

[grim22]

First anti-trust proceeding in a while hits Amazon and MGM

 

 

 

[Eric Atreides]

 

[dudalb]

11 hours ago, Eric Quinn said:

 

I symaphtize with the union's ulitimate aims, , but think they have the chances of a snowball in hell with winning the suit.

[Eric Atreides]

 

[Eric Atreides]

 

[dudalb]

Not that there was all that much to fold

[Eric Atreides]

https://deadline.com/2023/04/robocop-stargate-legally-blonde-barbershop-in-works-film-tv-amazon-mgm-ip-1235243057/

 

Quote

EXCLUSIVE: MGM’s extensive film & TV catalogue, built over the past century, was the main driver behind Amazon’s $8.5B acquisition of the storied Hollywood studio. For the past year, since the deal closed in March 2022, Amazon Studios has been sifting through MGM’s library, identifying about a dozen initial titles for film and/or TV development, including Robocop, Stargate, Legally Blonde, Fame, Barbershop, The Magnificent Seven, Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair.

 

Each title is being approached differently — some are being steered toward film, some toward TV and some big ones are getting both movie and TV treatment.

 

For instance, Amazon Studios is in active early conversation on Legally Blonde, both for a movie and a potential TV series, sources said. There already had been on and off efforts to get a third Legally Blonde film off the ground for the past five years.

 

Amazon has similar plans for Stargate. We hear both film and TV installments are considered, with a movie likely going first.

 

Robocop also is being talked about for both film and TV, with a TV show possibly first, Deadline hears.

 

Additionally, Amazon Studios is actively developing TV series based on Fame, Barbershop and The Magnificent Seven, sources said.

 

There are also discussions about a Thomas Crown Affair movie as well as a Pink Panther movie, which could be animated, sources said. A Poltergeist project also is a possibility down the road, we hear.

 

Deadline already revealed plans for a Creed universe spanning film and TV, which Amazon Studios has been discussing with franchise star and filmmaker Michael B. Jordan. The studio also just made a first-look deal with Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions for film and TV projects. we hear expanding the Rocky brand into television may be part of it.

 

There are currently no plans for other James Bond series beyond the unscripted competition series announced shortly after Amazon’s acquisition of MGM closed as the franchise producers are focused on figuring out the next film installment.

 

[Reddroast]

21 minutes ago, Count Eric said:

https://deadline.com/2023/04/robocop-stargate-legally-blonde-barbershop-in-works-film-tv-amazon-mgm-ip-1235243057/

 

 

I'll be honest im surprised stargate as a franchise was used more for tv then big blockbusters. That premise seems ripe for some excellent and massive follow ups that would have been huge