Amazon puts an $8.5bn MGM in its shopping cart, clicks on checkout
- Reference: 1622051798
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/26/amazon_mgm_buyout/
- Source link:
MGM (or Metro Goldwyn Mayer) has logged nearly a century in the moving pictures business in its various guises and has an impressive catalog of films, including Robocop , Rocky , Silence of the Lambs and the James Bond franchise.
The Bond series is co-owned by Eon Productions and has been quite the moneymaker over the years, although the latest entry in the series, No Time to Die has suffered repeated delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film, the 25th in the Bond series (if one excludes non-Eon films like the original Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again ) is expected to be Daniel Craig's last outing as the British Secret Intelligence Service agent.
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Craig's departure leaves a vacancy, and while it is fanciful to wonder if Amazon's Jeff Bezos might fancy a crack at the role, we suspect he would be more suited to playing the next Bond baddie. In fact, it is difficult to imagine many at the top of the tech world who would fit the role of anything other than a supervillain.
[4]Amazon hit with antitrust lawsuit after DC AG says TTFN to price fixing
[5]Amazon continues its ban on allowing police to use its facial-recognition software
[6]Space Force's data must flow: Microsoft Azure and Ball Aerospace demo satellite to battlefield linkup
[7]Activist millionaires protest outside Jeff Bezos' homes to support tax rises for the rich
The [8]prize for Amazon is in MGM's huge archive of TV and film. Mike Hopkins, senior veep of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, said: "The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM's talented team. It's very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling."
Although the thought of yet more "reimagining" from the studios may leave one vaguely queasy, the purchase is a shot across the bows for Disney, which recently passed the 100 million subscriber mark for its Disney+ service, and streaming heavyweight Netflix, which [9]announced a slowing in growth to 208 million paid subscribers in April.
This whole thing raises a question: by acquiring MGM, Amazon [10]gets the studio that owned The Apprentice, which starred Donald Trump, and so does that mean Bezos gets the ex-president's outtakes tapes from the show? It's probably not that straightforward though it's amusing to think about given the [11]clash between Trump and the billionaire.
Meanwhile, Bezos's home state's senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) added an amendment earlier this month to the Endless Frontier Act calling for an extra $10bn for Moon landing funding. Bezos' Blue Origin space biz was dropped from a list of suppliers for NASA's latest Moon shot in favor of SpaceX, and the extra funds look likely to support a second contract for support, which Blue Origin stands a good shot of winning.
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This has caused a row with Senate firebrand Bernie Saunders (I-VT), who questioned of the logic of subsidizing someone who's not short of spare cash.
"Jeff Bezos is the richest guy on the planet. He's gotten $86 billion richer since the start of the COVID pandemic. Does he really need $10 billion from Congress for space exploration?" the senator [13]asked . ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YK7FAMokag3TFcQjN-k0-AAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YK7FAMokag3TFcQjN-k0-AAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YK7FAMokag3TFcQjN-k0-AAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/25/amazon_antitrust_lawsuit_washington_dc/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/24/in_brief_ai/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/20/azure_ball_aerospace_demo/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/18/bezos_millionaires_protest/
[8] https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-and-mgm-have-signed-agreement-amazon-acquire-mgm/
[9] https://ir.netflix.net/ir-overview/profile/default.aspx
[10] https://deadline.com/2021/05/amazon-mgm-deal-renews-speculation-what-happens-to-the-apprentice-outttakes-1234764453/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/10/amazon_trump_deposition/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YK7FAMokag3TFcQjN-k0-AAAAJc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1397539013020438532
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Because if anyone knows the pitfalls of having "buy now with one click" enabled it is Amazon
That means he also co-owns the Pink Panther!
>That means he also co-owns the Pink Panther!
A Bond, Trump, Sellers cross-over series using deepfakes.
Bond villains
Whilst I could see Bezos and Musk as bond villains delivering the “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die.” line, the likes of Gates or Zuckerberg look more like the nerdy side kicks or the minor villain duped in to assisting Donald Pleasence in his nefarious plan.
Re: Bond villains
Dear Mr Bezos,
No doubt you will be looking for a replacement for Daniel Craig as Bond. We represent the interests of Mr Alistair Dabbs (photograph enclosed) who you will find to have the necessary attributes for the role.
[1]https://regmedia.co.uk/2013/06/28/bonds.jpg
In the event of him being overlooked for the role, we would ask you to consider him for modelling roles in your online emporium.
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2013/06/28/bonds.jpg
disappointing quality of movies out of Hollywood
and I thought the quality of movies had ALREADY gone down the sewer. I used to purchase movies on DVD and go to the theater a LOT.
I almost NEVER do that nowadays. Remakes are often LESS than disappointing, and with the exception of 'Deadpool', even the Marvel Studios movies have become a disappointment (to ME, anyway).
I can't see a future of Hollywood movies (in general) getting _BETTER_ because Bezos owns the studio...
(can someone show some proof to the contrary?)
Re: disappointing quality of movies out of Hollywood
Have a beer to go with your next viewing of Deadpool Bob.
The key word in the article regarding the MGM future is 'Reimagine', is there no original imagination left in Hollywood anymore?
I am also getting bored with everything depending on evermore outrageous CGI in preference to good acting in well chosen locations too, although from what I have heard about GoT shows that it can be done.
Re: disappointing quality of movies out of Hollywood
I am also getting bored with everything depending on evermore outrageous CGI
It was the improving technology of special effects which gave us the blockbuster (and predominantly sci-fi) film boom of the 80s & 90s.
CGI has the potential to make it cheaper and easier to make better, more imaginative films. That reality hasn't worked out that ways is not the fault of the technology, but unrelated studio issues.
Re: disappointing quality of movies out of Hollywood
" getting _BETTER_ because Bezos owns the studio... "
On the other hand, given some of the dismal crap I've seen recently (in which Deadpool was a shining exception, thumb up), I do have to ask if it's possible for a Bezos studio to manage to do worse...or have we finally reached that sweet spot of peak mediocrity?
Re: disappointing quality of movies out of Hollywood
> I can't see a future of Hollywood movies (in general) getting _BETTER_ because Bezos owns the studio...
I suggest that it's all about the back catalogue and using that to entice people into subscribing to Amazon Prime.
Current film production will probably be left to its own devices i.e. continue with cinema releases (but what would have a been a straight-to-video turkey might now be a "straight to Prime turkey").
New show ideas
...so does that mean Bezos gets the ex-president's outtakes tapes...
I had not thought of that. The results could be hilarious.
Just a shame
That they don't invest a millionth of that money in making their Prime Video app something other than a painful user unfriendly heap of shit.
There's no "coming soon", the "recently added" recycles the same few things endlessly, the search is dire and when an exact match doesn't exist it makes suggestions that are basically genre roulette and have nothing to do with what you were looking for...
...and a personal whinge since I'm in France is that so much stuff is in French. I know that sounds odd but there are loads of movies obviously of English language origin (usually American) where the only audio is a dub of questionable quality. Plus it's damned near impossible to browse anything much in Amazon's playlist. It's almost as if they don't really want you watching anything.
All these reasons and more are why I watch Netflix more these days. Amazon might be world class at selling stuff, but when it comes to a good user friendly video service, Prime Video is practically a masterclass in how to screw up.
new law of economics
Every bubble expands until the froth's beneficiaries convince themselves to spend absurd sums on a Hollywood film studio.
1980s: Japanese real estate bubble (Sony buys Columbia Pictures, September '89)
1990s-2001: Dotcom bubble (AOL buys Time Warner, January '00)
2010s-2021: Retailers and telephone directory companies calling themselves "tech" (Amazon buys MGM Studios, May '21)
Those previous purchases (there were others; those I've listed were representative for brevity) didn't hold up well, and the bubbles they represented popped almost immediately thereafter. It just may be a law of economics that the height of a bubble is marked by the purchase of unprofitable vanity media businesses by the very people who ought to know better: those whose own assets comprise the bubble. See also, owners of profitable businesses buying professional sporting clubs.
Interesting point.
Well that's the question
The question being why can't Amazon pay their employees better?
Won't some one please think of the struggling movies?!
"Amazon puts an $8.5bn MGM in its shopping cart, clicks on checkout" What, not "Buy now with 1 click"?