(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon.com today announced an exclusive content licensing
agreement with new film studio A24, known for cutting-edge commercial
hits such as Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring.
This groundbreaking multi-year agreement makes Prime Instant Video the
exclusive premium subscription home for all of the current and
forthcoming A24 titles shortly following their release on DVD and
Blu-Ray.
“We are always looking for new ways to bring our Prime Instant Video
customers, unique, exclusive movies and TV that we think they will
love,” said Brad Beale, Director of Digital Video Content Acquisition
for Amazon. “As always, we monitor DVD and digital sales very closely
and A24 movies such as Spring Breakers and The Bling
Ring are exceptionally popular among our customers. This new deal
with A24 allows us to offer those same titles to our Prime Instant Video
customers soon after they are released on DVD and Blu-Ray and at no
additional cost.”
Today’s announcement includes four theatrical releases: Harmony Korine’s Spring
Breakers, starring James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez; Ginger
& Rosa, directed by Sally Potter, starring Elle Fanning and
Annette Bening; The Bling Ring, directed by Oscar Award winner
Sofia Coppola, starring Emma Watson; and James Ponsoldt’s The
Spectacular Now, starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. The
deal will also include A24’s upcoming releases like Jonathan Glazer’s Under
The Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson; and The Rover directed
by David Michôd, starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson.
“As an independent film distributor, our relationship with Amazon Prime
Instant Video marks the next generation in output deals. It speaks to
the larger shift in customers’ consumption habits,” said Matthew Bires
from A24. “Not only can we share our content with an engaged audience,
we have access to better analytics to monitor the films’ reach. Amazon
is an extremely innovative and entrepreneurial company and the scope and
dynamism of the platform is incredibly exciting for our films.”
Prime Instant Video, which includes tens of thousands of movies and TV
episodes, is the exclusive online-only subscription home for PBS series Downton
Abbey, the CBS summer blockbuster series Under the Dome, with
each episode added just four days after initial broadcast, and other hit
TV series including Justified, Falling Skies, Grimm,
Suits and Covert Affairs. Prime Instant Video also
offers an exclusive collection of kids shows from Nick Jr. that customers
won’t find on any other online-only subscription service, including
favorites like Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Blue’s
Clues, and The Backyardigans. Debuting in November, Amazon’s
first original series Alpha House and Betas can be found
exclusively on Prime Instant Video as well.
About Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video
Amazon Instant Video offers over 150,000 movies and TV episodes for
customers to rent or purchase and enjoy on Kindle Fire Devices, iPad,
iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 Wii and
Wii U, among other connected TVs and devices. Prime Instant Video,
Amazon’s video subscription offering, enables Prime members to watch
tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost to
their Prime membership. For more information about Prime Instant Video,
visit www.amazon.com/primeinstantvideo.
About Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is the best bargain in the history of shopping. Prime is an
annual membership program for $79 a year that offers customers unlimited
Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items including books, home and
garden products, electronics, video games, clothing, and much more.
Amazon Prime members also get access to unlimited instant streaming of
thousands of movies and TV shows and access to hundreds of thousands of
books to borrow for free, as frequently as a book a month, with no due
dates from a Kindle device. Customers who receive free Prime shipping
benefits through our Amazon Student or Amazon Mom programs can upgrade
to an annual paid membership to receive Amazon Prime’s digital benefits.
About A24
Launched in the summer of 2012, A24 is a New York-based media company
focused on the distribution, financing and production and feature films.
Recent releases include Sofia Coppola’s highly buzzed about The Bling
Ring and James Ponsoldt’s Sundance darling, The Spectacular Now.
The company previously released Harmony Korine’s incredibly successful Spring
Breakers starring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and James Franco.
Upcoming titles for 2014 include David Michod’s highly anticipated
second feature The Rover, Steven Knight’s Tom Hardy starrer Locke,
Jonathan Glazer’s acclaimed Scarlett Johansson film Under the Skin
and the Jake Gyllenhaal starrer Enemy.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle,
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s
Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most
customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything
they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the
lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of
unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books;
Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home
& Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health &
Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web
Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to
in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end
technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any
type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most
advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher
contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the
latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the
ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle,
features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX
features a stunning exclusive 7” or 8.9” HDX display, a quad-core 2.2
GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as
exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second
Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday
button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display,
high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de,
www.amazon.co.jp,
www.amazon.fr,
www.amazon.ca,
www.amazon.cn,
www.amazon.it,
www.amazon.es,
www.amazon.com.br,
www.amazon.in,
www.amazon.com.mx,
and www.amazon.com.au.
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms
include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context
indicates otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly
from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to
competition, management of growth, new products, services and
technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international
expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and
data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements,
acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system
interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments
and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could
affect Amazon.com's financial results is included
in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent
filings.
Copyright Business Wire 2013