All posts tagged: Amazon MGM Studios

Luca Guadagnino Says He’s Not Surprised Amazon Dropped His OpenAI Film

Luca Guadagnino Says He’s Not Surprised Amazon Dropped His OpenAI Film

Luca Guadagnino says it wasn’t surprising Amazon MGM dropped his nearly-finished Sam Altman movie Artificial shortly after Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI. “I can’t say much because we are right in the middle of this situation,” Guadagnino told Italian television, “[but] these are industrial policies that are certainly not new.” Speaking to news show Otto e mezzo on Italian network La7, Guadagnino cited an incident from 2003 when CBS canceled the broadcast of The Regans, a miniseries about President Ronald Regan and his family, starring Josh Brolin and Judy Davis, following a conservative backlash. (The series eventually aired on CBS’s sister network Showtime.) The Italian director could have mentioned a more recent example, Ali Abbasi’s 2024 Donald Trump movie The Apprentice, which premiered to acclaim in Cannes but was blackballed by studio and independent distributors, before finally landing with Tom Ortenberg’s indie outfit Briarcliff Entertainment. Neither of those, however, is a direct comp to the Artificial situation. Amazon pulled out of Guadagnino’s film shortly after announcing its $50 billion strategic partnership with …

Luca Guadagnino Says He’s Not Surprised Amazon Dropped His OpenAI Film

Netflix, Focus Pass on OpenAI-Sam Altman Movie Dropped by Amazon

Both Netflix and Focus Features have passed on acquiring Luca Guadagnino‘s Artificial movie after the nearly-completed film was abruptly dropped by Amazon MGM Studios, sources have confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, A24 is said to have screened the film but its standing in the race to acquire the Sam Altman–OpenAI comedic drama remains unclear. Focus, Netflix and A24 could not be reached for comment. Additionally, fellow indies Mubi and Neon have not yet responded to THR‘s requests for comment following a report they were pursuing the film. Amazon MGM Studios confirmed Friday that it would not be releasing the movie, the casting for which — Andrew Garfield as Altman and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk — has already made headlines. “We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker — not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue,” a spokesperson for Amazon told THR. “We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the …

Kate Hudson-Javier Bardem Amazon Movie Adds 6 to Cast

Kate Hudson-Javier Bardem Amazon Movie Adds 6 to Cast

Amazon MGM Studios‘ Hello & Paris is saying hello to six castmembers. Rupert Penry-Jones, Trudie Styler, Amber Valletta, Bella Maclean, Eliot Sumner and Thaddea Graham have joined the cast of the forthcoming romantic comedy feature from writer-director Elizabeth Chomko, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Javier Bardem and Kate Hudson were previously announced to star in Hello & Paris, which is loosely inspired by author Deborah McKinlay’s 2014 novel, That Part Was True. Hello & Paris is currently in production and described as being in the same vein as titles like Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail. The film centers on a landscape architect and a best-selling but embattled novelist who have a prickly first meeting in Paris before gradually getting to know each other as they exchange books and recipes while residing on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Other previously announced castmembers include Steve Zahn, Phil Dunster, Gemma Chan, Aisling Bea and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Chomko (What They Had) helms the project from her own script. Hailing from Fifth Season, the movie counts Finola Dwyer as a producer and will get a worldwide streaming release on …

Good Advice Cupcake Creator Slams BuzzFeed for Teaming With Amazon on AI Show

Good Advice Cupcake Creator Slams BuzzFeed for Teaming With Amazon on AI Show

The creator of Cuppy, the star of the web series The Good Advice Cupcake, is calling out BuzzFeed for partnering with Amazon for an AI-created animated series about the character. Loryn Brantz took to her Instagram, saying she’s “horrified and disgusted by BuzzFeed taking my character, The Good Advice Cupcake, and giving it to an AI platform.” Brantz initially developed Cuppy as a comic during her time at BuzzFeed before it was adapted into an animated web series by animator and voice actor Kyra Kupetsky. “My time at BuzzFeed was marked by continually being taken advantage of and lied to,” she continued. “They repeatedly assured me in good faith that they would never do anything with Cuppy without my input, yet offered me no legal options, insisting that I would never need them. The news that this character, who is based on my own personality and whom I created as a microphone to spread love and positivity, has been taken and turned into a soulless AI puppet feels like having my intestines pulled out of …

Michael Buble Drew Scott Team for Hometown Giants Hockey Docuseries

Michael Buble Drew Scott Team for Hometown Giants Hockey Docuseries

Grammy-winning recording artist Michael Bublé and Property Brothers presenter Drew Scott are teaming up for a Prime Video docuseries about the Vancouver Giants, their hometown hockey team in which they have ownership stakes.   The six-part series Hometown Giants from Scott Brothers Entertainment and Amazon MGM Studios will see Bublé and Scott as part of a local hockey team filled with young players looking to get into the National Hockey League. “Michael Bublé and Drew Scott step into the unpredictable world of Canadian junior hockey as part-owners of the Vancouver Giants, where teenage players chasing a shot at the NHL face constant pressure, sacrifice, and life-changing decisions — knowing every practice, shift, and hit could make or break their future,” a synopsis from the producers reads. Both Bublé and Scott are co-owners of the junior hockey team, with Bublé having joined the Giants organization as a part owner in December 2008 alongside majority owner Ron Toigo, and Scott coming on board in September 2023. Bublé, who grew up in Burnaby, just outside Vancouver, of course, …

‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Signs Amazon MGM Deal

‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Signs Amazon MGM Deal

Reacher star and executive producer Alan Ritchson and Amazon MGM Studios are expanding their relationship. Ritchson has signed a three-year, first-look TV deal with the studio. Under the deal, Ritchson and his Dancing Skeleton production company will develop and produce new series projects for Prime Video, the streaming service that’s home to Reacher. (Amazon MGM Studios also produces the series with Paramount TV Studios.) “With the success of Reacher and our upcoming spinoff Neagley, it felt like a natural next step to continue our partnership with Prime Video as we focus on bringing top-tier episodic content to life,” Ritchson said in a statement. “Reacher is just the beginning.” Season four of Reacher is set to premiere later this year, and Prime Video has picked up a fifth season. Ritchson also has two Amazon MGM films on deck: Christmas movie The Man With the Bag, which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, and an untitled Vietnam War film in which Ritchson will play a Navy SEAL; the latter recently finished production. He also stars in Angel Studios’ Runner and the indie Motor City, …

Masters of the Universe First Reactions

Masters of the Universe First Reactions

By the Power of Grayskull!!! He-Man and the gang have landed on Earth following the world premiere of Masters of the Universe at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on Monday evening. While official critics’ reviews for Travis Knight‘s live-action adaptation of the Mattel media and toys franchise are embargoed till much closer to Masters‘ release date of June 5, Amazon MGM Studios allowed premiere attendees to release brief social media reaction after the screening. Masters tells the story of Prince Adam of Eternia who as a child crash lands on Earth and is separated from his Sword of Power. Adam is raised on Earth as the pretty average Adam Glenn but his life changes when he is reunited with his sword. He returns to save his ruined homeland, and faces off against the evil Skeletor. In-demand British actor Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/Adam Glenn/He-Man, with Jared Leto playing Skeletor. The all-star cast also features Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms and Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin as Sorceress and Kristen …

Oliver Jones Exits Apple TV to Join Amazon MGM Studios

Oliver Jones Exits Apple TV to Join Amazon MGM Studios

Oliver Jones is set to exit Apple TV after six years and join Amazon MGM Studios as senior commissioner for U.K. scripted. The studio’s vice president & head of international originals, Nicole Clemens, told her team about Jones’ appointment in an email on Monday. He’ll be working closely with Clemens on the commissioning of new U.K. scripted shows starting in May, and will relocate from L.A. back to London for the role. Commissioners Gemma Brandler and Punit Mattoo will report to Jones. “It has been a privilege to work alongside my brilliant colleagues at Apple TV for the past six years, and to collaborate with the remarkable artists I was lucky enough to work with,” said Jones, whose credits as senior creative executive for international scripted television at the streamer include the Kurt Russell-starring Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ Masters of the Air with Austin Butler, Israeli spy series Tehran with Hugh Laurie, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett. “It’s always a tough decision to leave a job I love, …

Mel Brooks’ Sequel Movie Sets Spring 2027 Release Date

Mel Brooks’ Sequel Movie Sets Spring 2027 Release Date

The Schwartz is with the forthcoming sequel to Spaceballs. Amazon MGM Studios‘ feature follow-up to the 1987 original film is set for wide theatrical release April 23, 2027, the studio announced Friday. Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis, Daphne Zuniga, Bill Pullman and George Wyner reprise their roles from the first one, while newcomers to the cast include Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Lewis Pullman and Anthony Carrigan. Josh Greenbaum is helming the comedy from a script by Gad, Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez. Producing the film are Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Jeb Brody for Imagine Entertainment, alongside Gad, Brooks, Greenbaum and Kevin Salter. Plot details and the official title for the follow-up to the Star Wars-spoofing feature have not yet been shared. A look at the Spaceballs 2 table read. Courtesy of Amazon MGM Originally released by MGM in 1987 — a decade after George Lucas’ sci-fi classic Star Wars debuted to become a culture-defining smash — Spaceballs starred Pullman, Moranis, Zuniga, Wyner and John Candy, as well as a voice role for Joan Rivers as a C-3P0 parody. Brooks helmed the film that earned …

Amazon MGM Studios Reorgs Its Worldbuilding TV Team

Amazon MGM Studios Reorgs Its Worldbuilding TV Team

Amazon MGM Studios is reorganizing its Worldbuilding Series team, whatever that is. (OK, it’s genre TV.) Matthew King and Adrienne O’Riain will be departing. Blair Fetter informed his staff via memo today; read that below. Hi Team, I want to take a moment to share some updates to our team structure, and to recognize the people who have been central to building what we have today. As we look ahead, we’re evolving the Worldbuilding Series organization to operate with a flatter, more streamlined structure—one designed to enable leaders who are nimble and versatile enough to move fluidly between development and current production. This is about positioning the team to move with greater autonomy as we continue developing the ambitious, global series our audiences love.  With that, I have to share that Matthew King and Adrienne O’Riain will be departing the organization. I want to take a moment to thank them both for their hard work in this organization. Matt and Adrienne have each been incredible partners and have given so much to this team. Matt brought …