It’s been four years since Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion. But coming off the blockbuster success of this year’s hit movie “Project Hail Mary,” Hollywood has become a lucrative business for the e-commerce giant.
Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming service, “has emerged as a significant business with a revenue run rate in the tens of billions of dollars and is now profitable in its own right,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on the quarterly earnings call on Thursday. Jassy had previously told investors in May that Prime Video was profitable, but being on track to generate tens of billions is a new detail.
Amazon said its movie studio, Amazon MGM Studios, has brought in more than $1.2 billion in global box office sales so far this year, helped by hits like “Project Hail Mary” and “Verity.”
“Project Hail Mary” grossed an estimated $684 million worldwide, according to The Numbers. Starring Ryan Gosling and based on Andy Weir’s novel, the film opened in theaters in March and became Amazon MGM Studios’ highest-grossing release, according to entertainment reports. (The studio also had at least one notable flop this year: “Melania.”)
Jassy also named a number of TV shows as hits, including “Carrie,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “The Boys,” “Off Campus,” “Fallout,” and “Reacher.” Season 4 of “Reacher” drew 66 million viewers globally in its first 28 days, the company says, with more to come. Season 5 is filming now, and the show was picked up for a sixth season. (And if you don’t follow Alan Ritchson, the star of “Reacher,” on Threads, you are missing out on an actor who has turned a friendly-yet-witty reply into an art form.)
Sports have also been a significant driver. Prime Video broadcasts NASCAR, the Masters, and UEFA Champions League soccer, but Thursday Night Football appears to be its biggest success this year. The first six games of this season have averaged 17.7 million viewers, up 16% from last year, according to Nielsen figures Amazon shared. The streaming service also attracted over 2 million viewers for its second season of the NBA on Prime, Nielsen said.
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