Amazon Buys MGM For $8.45 billion

[Nick]

Whether this happens or not, the next studio i'd expect that may be looked as an acquisition piece an Apple, Comcast or Netflix (never count them out I guess), would probably be Sony i'm guessing.

 

[quinnmac000]

Whether this happens or not, the next studio i'd expect that may be looked as an acquisition piece an Apple, Comcast or Netflix (never count them out I guess), would probably be Sony i'm guessing.

Rumor on the street is Comcast buying part of the Discovery WB company while retaining full ownership of NBCUniversal

Sony is complicated as the only foreign owned major studio. Does the sell include Sony Music Entertainment which houses their most valuable IPs? Will theJapanese government allow the sale due to the ban on companies without HQ in Japan prior to 2015? Knocking Amazon out.

 

[Nick]

Rumor on the street is Comcast buying part of the Discovery WB company while retaining full ownership of NBCUniversal

If there's one thing from the merger, it could be Eurosport. It would fit in with Sky and Peacock well. I feel like NBCUniversal would love to buy HLN and CNN to squash competition, but for anti-trust reasons, they would almost certainly not be allowed due to owning MSNBC, CNBC and NBC News.

 

[shiekra38]

Apple, Comcast also look at MGM

Apple (AAPL) and Comcast (CMCSA) are to said have considered an acquisition of MGM studio (MGMB), though they saw it valued at about $6B, the NYT reported. Amazon (AMZN) is reportedly in...

seekingalpha.com

I just don't see Comcast being interested in MGM

I heard CBSParamount the other day and that made a whole lot of sense to me

 

[Nick]

I know a lot of big Bond fans likely won't want to hear this, but if this happens, I could easily see Amazon doing what they are doing with Lord of the Rings and (after working with EON to secure a deal and promising future movies) making a big-budget James Bond series.

 

[belloq87]

I know a lot of big Bond fans likely won't want to hear this, but if this happens, I could easily see Amazon doing what they are doing with Lord of the Rings and (after working with EON to secure a deal and promising future movies) making a big-budget James Bond series.

You're right... I don't want to hear that!

But I'll add a little more nuance. I don't want the Bond franchise to become diluted to the point that either the movies no longer feel like "events," or -- in the worst of scenarios -- no longer exist at all as an ongoing cinematic thing.

Now, if Amazon wanted to produce mega-expensive, 1950s/1960s period piece adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels as a "Prestige Television" series, I could possibly get behind that. Close to half of his novels were not really adapted all that faithfully into the movies, and they were done out of chronology, which undercut a lot of the continuity that Fleming established for his final four books.

But if Amazon were to do that, I'd want it to be visually separated from the movies, and without any of the iconography of the films (no Bond theme, no gunbarrel opening, no fancy title sequence and song, etc.). As little cross-contamination as possible, so that the movies could continue to exist as a distinct entity.

 

[quinnmac000]

I know a lot of big Bond fans likely won't want to hear this, but if this happens, I could easily see Amazon doing what they are doing with Lord of the Rings and (after working with EON to secure a deal and promising future movies) making a big-budget James Bond series.

Why the James Bond Franchise Complicates Amazon’s Talks to Acquire MGM

The James Bond franchise is MGM's prize asset, but its complicated deal structure could be a big obstacle to completing a deal.

variety.com

 

[Nick]

Why the James Bond Franchise Complicates Amazon’s Talks to Acquire MGM

The James Bond franchise is MGM's prize asset, but its complicated deal structure could be a big obstacle to completing a deal.

variety.com

I know EON has a controlling stake. I mentioned it in my post you quoted.

Amazon has the money MGM never dreamed of to throw at that family and tbh, unless they are EXTREMELY principled and just don’t want to make a deal with Amazon under any circumstances, then Amazon doesn’t have much to worry about long term.

And tbh, they may not even purchase MGM if they can’t get an assurance from EON that they’ll be willing to work together on Bond projects going forward. It’s been rumored that they want No Time To Die to be the last Bond film.

 

[rageofthegods]

I know EON has a controlling stake. I mentioned it in my post you quoted.

Amazon has the money MGM never dreamed of to throw at that family and tbh, unless they are EXTREMELY principled and just don’t want to make a deal with Amazon under any circumstances, then Amazon doesn’t have much to worry about long term.

And tbh, they may not even purchase MGM if they can’t get an assurance from EON that they’ll be willing to work together on Bond projects going forward. It’s been rumored that they want No Time To Die to be the last Bond film.

Someone else on Reddit noted that EON has supported spinoffs in the past - they developed a Jax spinoff in 2004 - they just don't want Bond to appear in any of the spinoffs.

And if we want to talk principles, Comcast has money that'd embarrass a Tsar and yet we still didn't manage to get a Bond show at USO!

 

[Coasted]

BBC confirmed “Amazon has agreed to buy the historic MGM studios for $8.45bn (£5.97bn).”

 

[Nick]

I hope Amazon restores the use of the MGM lion at the start of movies with it saying “An Amazon Company” or something underneath. It’s quite frankly criminal that MGM doesn’t use that anymore.

 

[belloq87]

I just hope they don't meddle with Bond.

If they don't, this could be a good thing from a financial stability standpoint.

 

[Ariandel]

Honestly, It was to be expected. Amazon is one of the biggest online delivery shops. And actually, it is good that this company is thinking about extending and bought MGM.TBT, I am a person that often makes online purchases, and I use Amazon's services a lot, and I never had a problem with them. Sometimes, to ensure that everything is fine with my package, I use the package tracker system. By the way, what do you guys think about this move that Amazon management made?