In the age of ongoing streaming wars, platforms must seek new ways to stay in the game and keep eyes on their content.
The nature of the fiercely competitive market — made more so by the global pandemic — has seen millions up millions of dollars being thrown around in order to secure coveted titles to add to libraries of original and existing programming.
Recently, it was announced that Netflix would outlay a content spend of $17 billion in 2021, and who could forget Disney’s historic purchases of Lucasfilm, Marvel and 21st Century Fox?.
Now, Amazon is in talks to shell out $9 billion to acquire legendary Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which went up for sale in December. The film studio, which was established in 1924, has entertained the possibility of being purchased by Apple and Netflix in the past, but no agreements were ever reached.
The acquisition would be significant, given MGM’s extensive library which includes classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur and Singin’ in the Rain along with modern-day money makers like James Bond, Rocky and Legally Blonde franchises, The Hobbit and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Upcoming projects on the studio’s slate include the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver.
Particularly attractive to Amazon — or any potential buyer — is surely the collection of Bond films, which is the fifth-highest grossing film franchise of all time, having amassed over $7 billion to date.
The much-delayed No Time to Die — which marks Daniel Craig’s final performance as 007 — will finally premiere later in 2021 and is expected to the year’s highest-grossing film.
For its part, Amazon spent $11 billion on creating, acquiring or licensing TV and film content in 2021 up from $7.8 billion in 2019.
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