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Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution subsidiary under Amazon.com, Inc. Formerly known as Amazon Studios, it rebranded to its current name in October 2023 after merging with MGM Holdings, which Amazon had acquired the previous year. The studio produces and distributes content for theatrical release under the MGM label and for Amazon Prime Video, and joined the Motion Picture Association as its seventh member in October 2024.
Key moments
November 16, 2010Launched as Amazon Studios
May 2021Amazon announces acquisition of MGM Holdings
October 3, 2023Completes merger with MGM Holdings and rebrands to Amazon MGM Studios
October 1, 2024Joins the Motion Picture Association (MPA)
Amazon MGM Studios competes in the global mainstream entertainment content space, with key rivals including:
Walt Disney Studios (Disney, 20th Century Studios, Marvel, Lucasfilm): Dominates family-friendly and franchise IP, with integrated Disney+ streaming platform
Warner Bros. Discovery: Combines theatrical distribution with HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming, holding iconic DC and classic film IP
Universal Pictures (Comcast): Ties to Peacock streaming, with strong library of horror, animation, and blockbuster franchises
Netflix: Leading pure-play streaming platform with massive original content output, no theatrical window constraints
Paramount Global: Owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, and Pluto TV, with a mix of broadcast, theatrical, and streaming content
Amazon MGM Studios is a major entertainment content producer and distributor that combines the digital scale of Amazon and the decades-long entertainment legacy of MGM. Formed through the 2023 merger of Amazon Studios and the acquired MGM Holdings, the brand benefits from the dual equity of two well-known names in their respective fields: Amazon’s reputation for innovation, digital infrastructure, and global customer reach, and MGM’s iconic library of award-winning film and television IP that has built global consumer loyalty for generations. The brand operates a hybrid model of theatrical distribution under the MGM banner and streaming content for Amazon Prime Video, positioning it to capture value across evolving entertainment consumption patterns.
As a relatively new merged entity, Amazon MGM Studios has quickly established its legitimacy in the industry, highlighted by its 2024 admission as the seventh member of the Motion Picture Association, a milestone that places it alongside the longest-standing major Hollywood studios. Its parent company Amazon provides unmatched financial and technological resources to scale content production, market new releases, and integrate content into Amazon’s broader ecosystem, giving it a competitive edge over many smaller and even legacy studios.
The brand’s positioning at the intersection of streaming and traditional theatrical entertainment allows it to adapt to shifting industry trends, while its access to MGM’s valuable franchises provides a steady foundation for future growth. This combination of legacy IP and modern digital infrastructure gives Amazon MGM Studios a unique brand strength that few competitors can match.
Brand leadership
Score: 78/100
As a merged entity backed by one of the world's largest corporations, Amazon MGM Studios holds significant leadership clout in the global entertainment industry. Its 2024 admission to the Motion Picture Association as the seventh member formalizes its standing among top-tier Hollywood studios, and it controls valuable, high-profile IP that drives industry discourse and content development trends.
Audience interaction
Score: 82/100
Distributed primarily through Amazon Prime Video, which counts hundreds of millions of global subscribers, the studio benefits from direct, ongoing engagement with viewers across streaming platforms, plus theatrical release touchpoints that drive widespread social media conversation around its new releases and legacy IP. Its deep integration with Amazon's customer ecosystem also enables personalized content recommendations that boost consistent, long-term audience interaction.
Growth momentum
Score: 85/100
Following the 2023 merger with MGM, the studio has rapidly expanded its content slate, with increased investment in both original streaming content and theatrical blockbusters leveraging MGM's iconic franchises. The merger has unlocked new cross-promotional opportunities across Amazon's businesses, and the studio is on a clear upward trajectory in terms of market share, content output, and industry influence.
Brand stability
Score: 80/100
Backed by the deep financial resources and established market position of parent company Amazon.com Inc., Amazon MGM Studios benefits from exceptional operational and financial stability. The combination of two well-recognized, trusted brand names (Amazon and MGM) also provides consistent consumer confidence that reduces brand volatility even amid industry disruptions.
Brand age
Score: 35/100
The Amazon MGM Studios brand was formally established in its current form in October 2023 following the merger, making it a relatively young brand overall. While the legacy MGM brand dates back nearly a century, the combined Amazon MGM Studios identity is still in the early stages of full consumer adoption and market penetration, resulting in a lower score for this metric.
Industry profile
Score: 90/100
The merger of Amazon Studios and MGM created one of the most high-profile entities in the global entertainment industry, drawing widespread coverage from trade media and mainstream outlets. Its admission to the Motion Picture Association further elevated its industry standing, making it a central player in ongoing conversations about the future of streaming, theatrical distribution, and big-budget content production.
Global reach
Score: 88/100
Leveraging Amazon Prime Video's global footprint that spans over 200 countries and territories, Amazon MGM Studios content reaches a vast, diverse global audience. It distributes MGM's legacy content and new original productions to audiences worldwide, and has been expanding its local content production in key international markets to grow its global brand presence even further.
AI-generated analysis can support preliminary reasoning around Amazon MGM Studios' brand value, but all derived estimates are for illustrative purposes only, as they do not undergo the rigorous auditing and comprehensive data collection process required for official brand valuation. To obtain a fully audited, official brand value assessment for Amazon MGM Studios, contact the World Brand Lab directly.
Prime Movies
Amazon Content Services
Amazon MGM Studios Distribution
MGM Alternative Television
subsid
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
United Artists
Orion Pictures
website
mgm.com amazonmgmstudios.com (press releases)
footnotes
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Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and televisionproduction and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California.Launched on November 16, 2010 as Amazon Studios, the company adopted its current name on October 3, 2023 after its merger with MGM Holdings, which Amazon had acquired the year prior.[3]
Productions from the studio are primarily distributed through theaters and Amazon's own streaming media service, Amazon Prime Video.[4]
Alongside Amazon Prime Video, the company constitutes one half of Amazon's membership in the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which it joined in October 2024.
History
Formation and early success (2010–2021)
Scripts for television and films used to be submitted online to Amazon[5] and read by staff; however, the website states they no longer accept submissions. Amazon aimed to review submitted scripts within 90 days (although the process may be longer). If a project was chosen for development, the writer was paid $10,000. If a developed script was selected for distribution as a full-budget movie, the creator was paid $200,000; if it was selected for distribution as a full-budget series, the creator was paid $55,000 as well as "up to 5 percent of Amazon's net receipts from toy and t-shirt licensing, and other royalties and bonuses."[6]
In 2008, Amazon expanded into film production, producing the film The Stolen Child with 20th Century Fox.[7] In July 2015, Amazon announced it had acquired Spike Lee's new film, Chi-Raq, as its first Amazon Original Movie.[8][9][10]
In 2010, Amazon Studios started allowing people to submit screenplays, which Amazon Studios and its customers would vote on. The top scriptwriters were told that they would earn cash prizes. This was named as "the scientific studio" by Jeff Bezos.This program stopped eight years later as submitted scripts were of low quality.[11]
Amazon Studios also released its only comic-book series, Blackburn Burrow, in 2012 as a free download.[12] It contained a survey allowing Amazon to collect feedback to determine whether or not it was worthwhile to make the comic into a film.[12]
Amazon Studios had received more than 10,000 feature screenplay submissions as of September 2012[12] and 2,700 television pilots as of March 2013;[13] 23 films and 26 television series were in active development as of March 2013.[12][14] In late 2016, it reorganized its film division into Prime Movies.[15]
On July 27, 2017, it was announced that, starting with the December 2017 release Wonder Wheel, Amazon Studios would be its own self-distributing company.Previously, Amazon Studios had relied on multiple external studios to distribute their projects.[16] The company also acquired global television rights to The Lord of the Rings for $250 million.[17] However, Amazon still has external distribution clients outside of the United States, such as Elevation Pictures in Canada, as well as Warner Bros. and StudioCanal in the United Kingdom and France.
In April 2018, Amazon Studios announced that they would no longer accept open submissions of screenplays.[18]
Acquisition of MGM and rebranding (2021–present)
In May 2021, Amazon (parent company of Amazon Studios) entered negotiations to acquire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).On May 26, 2021, it was announced that the studio would be acquired by Amazon for $8.45 billion, subject to regulatory approval, continuing to operate as a label alongside Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video.[3] Amazon will continue to partner with United Artists Releasing (MGM and Annapurna Pictures' joint distribution venture), which will continue to operate and release MGM titles theatrically "on a case-by-case basis."
In August 2021, it was reported that Steven Prinz signed an overall television deal and a first-look deal with the studio.[19] In September 2021, it was reported that Brian Otaño had signed a deal with Amazon Studios.[20] Also in September, Eddie Murphy had signed a first-look film deal with Amazon Studios.[21]
Accolades
In 2015, Transparent was the first show produced by Amazon Studios to win a major award and the first show produced by a streaming media service to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy (a.k.a. "Golden Globe for Best Series").[48]
In 2017, for Manchester by the Sea, Amazon Studios became the first streaming media service to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture;[49] the film was nominated for a total of six Academy Awards, winning two: Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay for Kenneth Lonergan.
The film The Salesman (2016) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; it was directed by Asghar Farhadi and distributed in the US by Amazon Studios.[50]
In January 2022, Westbrook signed a multi-year first-look deal with Amazon Studios.That same month, Amazon Studios signed a ten-figure deal with 87North Productions.
In November 2022, it was announced that Jennifer Salke, in addition to Amazon Studios, will be given full control of MGM's film and television divisions, with Brearton stepping down as COO to become the Vice President of PVS Corporate Strategy for MGM+ and MGM Alternative Television.[22]
In December 2022, Intrepid Pictures signed a multi-year overall television deal with Amazon Studios.[23] The studio is one of the largest employers in Culver City with roughly 2,700 staffing their headquarters and production facilities.[24] In January 2023, Critical Role Productions signed a multi-year overall television and first-look film deal with Amazon Studios.[25]
In March 2023, it was announced in response to the decision to release Air into theaters worldwide instead of Prime Video, that Amazon had shut down United Artists Releasing and folded the distributor's operations into MGM, making Creed III the first film to be distributed by the latter studio itself under Amazon's ownership.[26] Also in March, Joe Quesada signed an exclusive first-look deal with Amazon Studios, and the studio also signed a multi-year first-look film deal with Imagine Entertainment.[27][28]
In May 2023, Amazon Studios created Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, an international film and television distribution unit for Amazon and MGM projects.[29] The distributor's first films were Saltburn, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2023, Sitting in Bars with Cake, which was released on Prime Video on September 8, 2023, and A Million Miles Away which was released on Prime Video on September 15, 2023, all 3 films were released through the MGM banner.[30][31] On October 4, 2023, Pablo Iacoviello, the studio's director of monetization for local originals, announced at the TV forum Iberseries & Platino Industria in Madrid that Amazon Studios would merge with MGM Holdings and would be renamed to Amazon MGM Studios itself to reflect this.This would also result in the on-screen 2016 animated Amazon Studios logo designed by Monster Creative being retired, with all film productions going forward, as of September 2023, opening with the 2021 MGM Leo the Lion logo designed by Baked Studios.[32]
In December 2023, Amazon MGM Studios secured a deal with Games Workshop, the creator of Warhammer 40,000, to adapt its characters and stories for film and television.The agreement, involving British actor Henry Cavill as an executive producer and actor, enables Amazon MGM to produce Warhammer 40,000 themed movies and TV shows.[33] In January 2024, Amazon announced hundreds of layoffs across Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video and Twitch in order to "prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business, while relentlessly focusing on what we know matters most to our customers," according to Mike Hopkins.[34] In March 2024, beginning with the Prime Video release of the remake of Road House, Amazon MGM Studios marked the centennial anniversary celebration of the founding of MGM with a "100 Years" logo variant appearing on all films produced and released by the studio throughout the year.
In April 2024, Amazon MGM, in collaboration with Fandango at Home, Rotten Tomatoes and iTunes, offered customers a "100 Essential Movies" bundle of 100 films from the MGM library as part of the studio's centennial for a limited time.[35] That same month, they signed a three-year first-look deal with Jake Gyllenhaal's Nine Stories Productions banner, for which they will have a first look on films the latter company intends to produce for theatrical and streaming releases, including a film adaptation of the musical Fun Home.[36]
In July 2024, the company announced the revival of United Artists after more than a decade of dormancy as a label, entering a multi-year partnership with Scott Stuber, former Chief of Film at Netflix and Vice Chairman at Universal Pictures.Under the deal, Stuber will produce films under his newly formed production company for United Artists, with Stuber involved with all projects released by the freshly revived banner.[37]
In late-August 2024, Amazon MGM Studios announced they were planning to sell its unscripted production studio MGM Alternative as an independent company including its subsidiaries Evolution Media and Big Fish Entertainment.[38]
In September 2024, it was announced that Amazon MGM and Prime Video would join the Motion Picture Association (MPA) as its seventh member starting October 1, the second non-studio to do so after Netflix in 2019; this would also mark a return to the MPA for MGM after it lost membership in 2005 following a buyout led by Sony Pictures.[39]
In February 2025, Amazon MGM and Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of Eon Productions announced its intentions to form a joint venture to manage the franchise rights to James Bond.Following the closing of the transaction, Amazon MGM would have full creative control over the Bond film franchise.[40] The deal cost Amazon MGM an estimated $1 billion for creative control, on top of what Amazon originally paid for MGM.[41][42] According to reports, Bezos himself directed Amazon MGM executives to "get rid" of Broccoli "no matter how much it costs."[43][44]
In March 2025, it was announced that Jennifer Salke would step down from her role at the helm of Amazon MGM to become a producer instead.[45] In April 2025, the studio made its first appearance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, with the plan to release more films theatrically in 2026 than in previous years.[46]
In June 2025, Sony Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios formed a multi-year deal in which Sony would handle the international theatrical distribution of titles from the latter studio following the conclusion of its four-year deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.However, this does not include home entertainment rights as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (and later on, Alliance Entertainment) will continue to distribute MGM's products.This deal would reunite Sony with MGM for the first time since 2020.[47]
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
, starring
Rachel Brosnahan
, won two
Golden Globe Awards
(
Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
and
Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
for Brosnahan) and five
Primetime Emmy Awards
, including
Outstanding Comedy Series
and
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
for Brosnahan.
United Artists Releasing's Women Talking earned a nomination for Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards and won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 2023, Orion Pictures' American Fiction earned Amazon MGM Studios its first win for the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival following the studio's rebrand.[51] The film went on to receive five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards; including Best Picture, and won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[52]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television
MGM Alternative Television
MGM International Television
MGM On Demand
MGM/UA Television
Big Fish Entertainment LLC
Half Moon Pictures
Evolution Media
Gato Grande Productions (joint venture with Mexican entrepreneurs Miguel Aleman and Antonio Cué)
