Amazon Resets Its Film Operation After Rough Year at Box Office

Interestingly, they are pairing with Blumhouse, which is the biggest scam there is. Terribly exploitative of people working for them and super cheap.

Feb. 18, 2019

CULVER CITY, Calif. — The film business has chewed up Amazon over the last year and a half.

The trouble started late in 2017, when the tech giant moved into self-distribution. No more would it rely on established Hollywood partners to push its films into theaters. But the box office game is harder than it looks, and Amazon released six flops in a row. Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel” cost $25 million to make and took in only $1.4 million in North America. “Beautiful Boy,” based on the best-selling book, cost $23 million and collected $7.6 million.

Now a company that is accustomed to entering markets and making the incumbents shudder is pushing the reset button.

Amazon is now striving, at least to start, to roll out about 30 original movies a year. Budgets will range from a few million dollars up to $50 million or more. But not all of those movies will be released in theaters. For instance, the “sexy date-night movies,” to use Ms. Salke’s description, will go directly to Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming service. (Look for them on Saturday nights starting this summer.) The scary Blumhouse movies — eight have been ordered — will also skip theaters.

“Some will be thriller-y, some will have a foot in horror, some will be more serious drama,” said Jeremy Gold, who runs Blumhouse TV with Marci Wiseman. “We see this as a critical next step in building an ongoing relationship between Amazon and Blumhouse.”"