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This is Mubi’s time. With studio specialty divisions almost a relic of the past and international and independent cinema soaring on the awards stage, the arthouse mini-studio founded by Efe Cakarel is cutting a growing swathe across the film landscape. Mubi is back on the Cannes Croisette with three films in Competition and another in Un Certain Regard.

Director Luca Guadagnino, a previous collaborator, is one of the company’s many fans in high places: “Mubi is a great and passionate company,” he says. “They will grow a lot as a business.”

Eye-catching growth has certainly been a hallmark of the company’s last few years.

Jason Ropell

Former investment banker and MIT graduate Cakarel founded the London-based company — then known as The Auteurs — back in 2007. These days, the headcount stands at more than 400 globally across 14 offices. And Cakarel believes that Mubi can become “many times its current size” in coming years.

How do you close an inaugural CinemaCon presentation featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars?

If you’re the executives at Amazon MGM Studios, you ask them to close the show with an epic group selfie. Vivica A. Fox had the honors of hoisting a selfie stick to capture the talent that had appeared on the Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during the two-hour show to cap a packed convention schedule Wednesday night just before 10 p.m. It was a rare group gathering on the big stage at CinemaCon where stars usually come out in clusters to promote their respective films.

Among those seen below (with links to coverage from inside the event): Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Daniella Pineda, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and filmmaker Gavin O’Connor from The Accountant 2; Ryan Gosling and filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller from Project Hail Mary; filmmaker Bart Layton,...

Exclusive: We are hearing from myriad sources that Amazon MGM Studios will be launching an international theatrical distribution arm for its feature slate moving forward.

The studio’s current foreign theatrical output deal with Warner Bros. ends at the end of this year.

This is a big step for Amazon, which has re-embraced the theatrical window since acquiring MGM. Their first big box office release was 2023’s Creed III, which had a franchise-record $58.3M opening and went on to gross $156.2M domestic and $276.1M worldwide.

With its own foreign distribution division, that puts Amazon MGM Studios in the pole position to handle international on its crown jewel franchise, that being Eon’s James Bond series. There were reports of late that 007 producer Barbara Broccoli was upset for myriad reasons with Amazon in regards to their approach to Bond. Perhaps Amazon MGM Studios having full hold on the global distribution of...

A leading light of the independent space is returning to the fray with news on Tuesday that Arianna Bocco, the former president of IFC Films, has joined Mubi as SVP of global distribution.

Bocco announced she was leaving IFC Films in March 2023 and will lead international distribution at Mubi films and grow its footprint.

She reports to Mubi chief content officer Jason Ropell and will attend Sundance Film festival, where the company has Amalia Ulman’s Argentina-us co-production Magic Farm in selection.

Mubi company is celebrating its biggest ever box office hit after The Substance starring Golden Globe winner Demi Moore,...

Mubi is expanding its global theatrical footprint, and it is hiring a seasoned indie film vet to lead the charge. Mubi has hired Arianna Bocco, the former president of IFC Films, to join the company as its SVP of Global Distribution, the company announced Tuesday, January 7.

Bocco spent 16 years at IFC Films, leaving in 2023 (she was elevated to the role of president in 2020) amid major changes to the indie distributor that resulted in a slew of executive departures.

In her new role, Bocco will lead the international distribution of Mubi’s titles, helping to expand its foreign footprint theatrically. Mark Boxer, who currently leads the U.S. distribution team and also worked with Bocco at IFC Films, will continue in that role. Some of the titles she’ll be working on to start include Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother.”

Bocco will report directly to Jason Ropell,...

Exclusive: In the wake of scoring a Golden Globe win for Demi Moore in its first big theatrical release The Substance, Mubi has hired former IFC Films president Arianna Bocco as its new SVP of Global Distribution.

Bocco will report directly to Jason Ropell, Mubi’s Chief Content Officer. U.S. Distribution will continue to be led by Mark Boxer; Bocco and Boxer had a long run together at IFC. Bocco will be at Sundance on behalf of Mubi where Amalia Ulman’s Magic Farm will receive its world premiere. Boxer will lead U.S. distribution under Bocco.

On deck for Mubi in the near future are such titles as Kelly Reichart’s The Mastermind and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother.

The role is a new post, based in New York, that will enable the streaming and theatrical company to take a greater footing handling the foreign distribution of its titles.

Coralie Fargeat’s bold, bloody and buzzy “The Substance” has become the most successful box office release for arthouse distributor and streamer Mubi.

The Demi Moore-starring body horror — which Mubi acquired for multiple territories before Cannes (where it won the best screenplay) for a figure rumoured to be in the low double-figures, its biggest acquisition to date — has a global box office after 10 days of $14.8 million, of which $13.6 million comes from Mubi’s markets.

The figure easily surpasses the $10 million the company amassed earlier this year with “Priscilla,” which itself was a major moment in the trajectory of Mubi, founded by London-based Efe Cakarel in 2007, marking its widest release at the time (and surpassing its previous record holder “Aftersun” at the box office). But “The Substance” — which had a reported budget of $17.5 million — turns things up several notches further, becoming Mubi’s first wide release in the U.S.

In Coralie Fargeat’s body horror shocker The Substance, Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister who is unceremoniously fired from her fitness TV show by a loathsome studio boss, played by Dennis Quaid. Feeling defeated, Sparkle can’t resist the draw of an experimental new drug called that promises to reveal a younger and even better version of herself.

If you’ve seen the trailer, then you know what happens next: Sparkle takes the leap, injects herself with the mysterious liquid and literally births the new and improved Elizabeth Sparkle — known as Sue and played by Margaret Qualley — out of her spinal cord. The only rule for the body swap is that they must spend one week in one body and one week in the other with no exceptions. Needless to say, drama and shocks unfold in quick succession.

Despite the trauma onscreen, Moore and Qualley say...

Exclusive: TV industry veteran Katharina Feistauer has joined film service Mubi.

She has taken on a VP of Global Programming role at the film distributor, producer and streamer, having exited Paramount Global’s PlutoTV recently. Feistauer will report to Jason Ropell, Mubi’s Chief Content Officer.

Based in Mubi’s London office, she will lead Mubi’s programming team across all markets, driving the overall strategy of the streaming service and managing the pipeline of indie and filmmaker-driven content.

Mubi’s upcoming releases include Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, the Demi Moore-starring horror that was acquired for north of $10M in Cannes and will release wide in theaters on September 20.

Other films on the slate include Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Ira Sachs’ Passages, Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life, Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sex, Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Kevin Macdonald’s documentary High & Low...

“With disruption comes great opportunity,” Mubi Chief Content Officer Jason Ropell told delegates at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Tuesday. “It brings evolution and I think, right now, optimism in the business is warranted.”

Speaking at a rare onstage interview at Kviff’s International Industry Insights section alongside indie stalwart and Killer Films co-founder Christine Vachon, Ropell broke down Mubi’s current business model whilst also touching on the company’s ambitions for growth in the independent and auteur space, which include theatrical distribution in addition to releasing titles on its own streaming platform.

“Mubi is a modern, globally-scaled studio and has all the components that a modern studio has from development through production to distribution – theatrical distribution to a platform, which we own – and sales thereafter, as well as foreign sales through The Match Factory,” said Ropell. (Mubi acquired international sales agent The Match Factory in 2022).

This structure,...

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s (Kviff) industry strand Eastern Promises has unveiled its 2024 winners.

The winners come from its established Works In Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, and First Cut+ strands, as well as its new Works in Development – Intensive Queer programme, and the second edition of Kviff Talents.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Winners included Turkish feature Amedspor, directed by Rezan Yesilbas, which took the Works in Progress Visual Post Production Award. The film centres on a Turkish football club that decided to reclaim its Kurdish identity. The judges called it “an important and enthralling...

“In a funny way, the strikes had a much more profound effect on changing the business than Covid did.” That was the assessment shared by legendary independent film producer Christine Vachon during a session at the Industry Days program of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Tuesday.

Her comments came during a fireside chat on the topic of “The Independent Film Ecosystem and Production in the Changing Industry,” in which Vachon was joined by Jason Ropell, chief content officer of arthouse streaming service Mubi.

“Disruption creates opportunity, and it creates evolution,” Ropell argued. Vachon echoed that. “Jason stole one of my favorite lines,” she quipped. “Out of great disruption comes great opportunity. I have seen people dance on the grave of independent film so many times.”

But she argued: “It is a business essentially as long as people want truly original stories, and I think that the business shows us that again and again.

Mubi’s chief content officer Jason Ropell has talked up the company’s growth ambitions, saying it wants to scale up to meet growing global demand for auteur and independent films in both theatres and on its streaming platform.

“We need to be global,” said Ropell, speaking on a panel at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival today (July 2). “We need to have global theatrical distribution capabilities on top of the global streaming ability which we have. I think over time you’ll see us moving in that direction. I feel very, very strongly that the global aggregate audience for...

Killer Films producer Christine Vachon, Mubi’s chief content officer Jason Ropell, and Fatih Abay, diversity and inclusion officer at the European Film Academy are among the international speakers heading to the industry programme of this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), taking place until July 8 in the Czech Republic.

The recently restored Imperial Spa will house the entire industry programme. It’s wood-panelled interiors will host the Industry Days’ Eastern Promises for four days of project pitches, talks, events, and workshops as well as the Film Industry Office and Lounge. There is an afternoon forum dedicated to...

Exclusive: Mubi has tapped Amazon MGM Studios and IFC distribution vet Mark Boxer as their U.S. Head of Distribution. Boxer will be on the Croisette during the run of this year’s Cannes Film Festival scoping out product for Mubi. In the new job, Boxer will be based in the New York office, and he’ll report to Mubi Chief Content Officer Jason Ropell.

The two decades-plus theatrical distribution vet, who first cut his teeth at Savoy Pictures, is known for building out distribution ops and tailoring myriad distribution plans for an array of movies. With Boxer, Mubi gets an internal distribution executive who’ll champion their slate to the fullest, giving their pics the best possible exposure across theaters coast to coast. The hire puts Mubi on a new level of distribution stateside as they make larger investments in features and expand their executive ranks.

Mubi’s upcoming slate,...

Ketchup Entertainment announced today that they have acquired North American rights to the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Memory, written and directed by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Michel Franco. The film stars Academy Award ® winner Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Brooke Timber, Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Jessica Harper and Josh Charles. It premiered in Competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival earning an eight-minute standing ovation, with Sarsgaard going on to receive the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Jury. It also screened to great acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is screening at AFI this Saturday, October 28th with Franco and Sarsgaard in attendance and will open theatrically this December.

Memory follows Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) a social worker who leads a simple and structured life until Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they...

Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard have both officially entered the Oscar race for their extraordinary performances in Michel Franco’s “Memory.” However, the awards campaign has announced that Sarsgaard’s riveting turn as a man suffering from Alzheimer’s disease will be submitted for supporting actor consideration at the major ceremonies, including the Golden Globes, SAG and Academy Awards. His Oscar-winning co-star Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) will vie for lead actress.

Written and directed by Franco, the film was recently acquired by Ketchup Entertainment for North American distribution and will receive an Oscar-qualifying run in December. It premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival, where Sarsgaard received the Volpi Cup for best actor from the Jury, joining the ranks of past honorees such as Brad Pitt (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) and River Phoenix (“My Own Private Idaho”). It was later screened at the Toronto,...

On the website for Mubi, the international cinema platform describes itself in several ways: “A streaming service? A curator? A publisher? A distributor? A cinema lover? Yes.”

Yet in a recent online conversation hosted by Sundance Collab, the Sundance Institute’s educational service, Mubi Chief Content Officer Jason Ropell added another facet to Mubi’s motives: Netflix alternative.

Ropell, the former head of Amazon Studio’s film division, said in a revealing conversation with Sundance programmer John Nein that, while Mubi takes SVOD rights for both films it buys and produces in-house, it takes a more expansive approach to other revenue streams, from theatrical to PVOD.

“In contrast, Netflix will create or buy a film and it will only be on Netflix,” Ropell said. “It’s the exclusive access to the platform that’s their value proposition. Our job is to support films through every facet of the distribution chain.

Exhibition stocks were up today on news from Bloomberg that Amazon is going to commit a reported 1 billion to theatrical releases annually.

We hear that such a plan is truly in its early days — read Amazon doesn’t have an executive yet to lead MGM theatrical. Capisce? Since Amazon bought MGM, it has been trying to figure out how to put the genie back in the bottle: Amazon committed heavily to theatrical with reported box office numbers and wide releases during the Jason Ropell-Bob Berney-Ted Hope administration — sometimes releasing pics through distribution partners such as Lionsgate, STX, Roadside Attractions and Bleecker Street before bringing it in-house under IFC day-and-date distribution czar Mark Boxer. When Jen Salke took charge of the studio in 2018, she pivoted to a Netflix-like theatrical/streaming model with limited theatrical releases over a shorter or day-and-date window synced with a Prime Video drop.

Click here to read the full article.

The Sundance Institute has unveiled the producers and the projects selected for this summer’s Producers Lab and Producers Summit. Taking place July 25-28 and July 29-31, respectively, the events are being held in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort. The Producers Lab will feature six fiction films’ and five nonfiction films’ producers and their projects while the summit will host 40 industry insiders and 26 indie filmmakers.

Advisors for the feature film program include David Hinojosa (Zola, Bodies Bodies Bodies), Amy Lo (Nancy, Sugar), Riva Marker (The Guilty, Relic), Josh Penn (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Jason Michael Berman (Nine Days, Uncorked) while the documentary film program features Daffodil Altan (PBS’ Frontline), Violet Feng (Hidden Letters, Tigre Gente), Andrea Meditch (Ernie & Joe, Fathom), Bob Moore (Midwives, Softie) and Amanda Spain (MSNBC Films).

Industry participants in this year’s summit include Maria Altamirano...

Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization that puts on the yearly film festival in Park City, has announced the entrants for its Producers Lab and Producers Summit.

Both events, the former taking place from July 25 to 28 and the latter from July 29 to 31, will be held in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort. The Institute picked six fiction film and five non-fiction film producers and their projects. Producers Lab and Producers Summit, which counts more than 40 industry leaders and 26 independent filmmakers among its participants, supports up-and-coming producers through year-round mentorship, granting, educational resources, strategic introductions, and networking opportunities with the industry.

“It has been three years since we have been able to gather in person, and over this time, the landscape for independent storytelling has shifted dramatically. It’s never been more critical to work to create a sustainable future for independent producers, a key priority for the Lab and Summit,...

The Sundance Institute has named the participants for its 2022 Producers Lab and Summit, both of which are set to take place in person this year at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort.

The Fellows and projects selected for the Lab’s Feature Film Program are Apoorva Guru Charan (The Rotting Of Casey Culpepper), Leah Chen Baker (The President’s Cake), Eli Raskin (Starfuckers), Chloe Sabin (Sales Per Hour), and the duo of Helena Sardinha and Doménica Castro (Huella). Those set for the Lab’s Documentary Film Program are Lindsey Dryden (Untitled Dwarfism Project), Yoni Golijov (Untitled Sura Mallouh Project), Dawne Langford (Untitled Baltimore Project), Neyda Martinez (Bartolo) and Igor Myakotin (Queendom).

Jade Jackson (Losa), Lauren Lopez de Victoria (Forward), Fox Maxy (Water Tight), Albert Tholen and Aiko Masubuchi (Earthquake), and Séverine Tibi (Birthday) will participate in the Producers Summit on the Fiction Features side, with Nonfiction Feature participants to include Jude Chehab...

Exclusive: WWE Superstar Liv Morgan will make her film debut in Yale Entertainment’s darkly comic thriller, The Kill Room. She joins an ensemble that also includes Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Manganiello, Maya Hawke, Debi Mazar, Larry Pine, Dree Hemingway and Leah McSweeney, as previously announced.

The film centers on hitman Reggie (Manganiello), his boss (Jackson), an art dealer (Thurman) and their money laundering scheme that accidentally turns the hitman into an overnight Avant-Garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld. Morgan will play an art purist who bemoans the vapidness of art dealers.

Nicol Paone is directing from Jonathan Jacobson’s script. Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, and Jon Keeyes are producing under their Yale Productions banner alongside Anne Clements of Idiot Savant Pictures, Paone, Thurman, Dannielle Thomas and Jason Weinberg from Untitled Entertainment, William Rosenfeld of Such Content, and Bill Kenwright of Bk Studios.

Exclusive: Marking her first feature since she won a Best Actress Oscar for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, Jessica Chastain and Dopesick and The Batman star Peter Sarsgaard have just wrapped on Michel Franco’s (New Order) new film, which we can reveal is called Memory.

Plot details are being kept under lock and key but the English-language project is rumoured to revolve around a New York City staycation. Also starring are Merritt Wever (Birdman), Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), and Jessica Harper (Suspiria).

The project marks Franco’s second American-set film after 2015’s Chronic, and marks the fifth collaboration between the filmmaker and cinematographer Yves Cape. Pic wrapped shooting in New York last Friday.

Franco, a festival-favourite, won the Venice Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for recent feature New Order. Four of his films have played at Cannes, three winning prizes.

The film is produced...

The Ioc Refugee Olympic Team competing in the Tokyo Olympics is set to be the subject of a feature documentary from For Sama director Waad Al-Kateab.

Al-Kateab, who was nominated for an Oscar for her Syrian Civil War documentary, is helming the doc, which is produced by The White Helmets and Virunga producer Joanna Natasegara, who runs Violet Films, and Bryn Mooser and his non-fiction studio Xtr.

The doc is backed by Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia, who exec produces alongside Jason Ropell and Nevine Mabro and Xtr’s Justin Lacob and Kathryn Everett.

Al Kateab and Natasegara have had unprecedented access to the Ioc Refugee Olympic Team before, during and after the 2020 Games, which saw 29 athletes competing in Tokyo, originating from 11 countries, and residing in 13 host nations.

“I am so honored to have the opportunity to capture the stories of these inspirational athletes on their way to competing at the...

“For Sama” director Waad Al-Kateab is in Tokyo filming a documentary about the Ioc Refugee Olympic Team for Xtr.

Al-Kateab, a Syrian filmmaker who received an Oscar nomination for “For Sama,” is working with Oscar-winning producer Joanna Natasegara on the project. They have had access to the Ioc Refugee Olympic Team before and during the 2021 Games. The team consists of 29 athletes competing in Tokyo, originating from 11 countries, and residing in 13 host nations.

“I am so honored to have the opportunity to capture the stories of these inspirational athletes on their way to competing at the biggest sports event in the world,” said Al-Kateab. “So much of their experience I recognize in my own journey as a refugee and I feel very committed to representing their heart, determination and resilience in a way that they deserve. Despite the hardship for anyone leaving their homeland behind, the Refugee Olympic Team stories are a moving contribution of ambition,...

Oscar-nominated director Waad Al-Kateab will direct a documentary feature following the Ioc Refugee Olympic Team, Xtr announced Wednesday morning.

The film is in production at the Tokyo Olympics, where Al-Kateab and producer Joanna Natasegara are following the team consisting of 29 athletes originating from 11 countries, and residing in 13 host nations.

Director Al-Kateab made her Oscar-nominated directorial debut with “For Sama,” which followed her own experience as a journalist who elected to stay with her husband and young daughter in the embattled city of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War. After “For Sama” won four BAFTA awards, making it the most nominated documentary in BAFTA’s history, Al-Kateab started the “Action For Sama,” advocacy campaign which raises awareness on Syrian conflicts.

Oscar-winning producer Natasegara will produce the film alongside Bryn Mooser, a former Peace Corps worker and Oscar-nominated producer who founded the nonfiction film and television studio Xtr in 2019.

“I am so...

Ted Hope had quite a ride at Amazon Studios. Early on, when the independent producer (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) saw the digital culture shifts coming to Hollywood, he landed as head of Amazon Original Movies in 2015, where he became the consigliere to successive studio heads who relied on his counsel and support. Today came the news that he would be leaving the job to return to his old routine.

“I came to realize Ted is a producer through and through,” said Amazon studio chief Jennifer Salke in an email to Amazon Studios staffers today. “And that now is the right time for both him and the studio to make a change.”

The news has been a long time coming. Many in Hollywood questioned how long Hope would last inside the Silicon Valley shopping behemoth, but it took five and a half years for Hope to finally make the...

Ted Hope had quite a ride at Amazon Studios. Early on, when the independent producer (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) saw the digital culture shifts coming to Hollywood, he landed as head of Amazon Original Movies in 2015, where he became the consigliere to successive studio heads who relied on his counsel and support. Today came the news that he would be leaving the job to return to his old routine.

“I came to realize Ted is a producer through and through,” said Amazon studio chief Jennifer Salke in an email to Amazon Studios staffers today. “And that now is the right time for both him and the studio to make a change.”

The news has been a long time coming. Many in Hollywood questioned how long Hope would last inside the Silicon Valley shopping behemoth, but it took five and a half years for Hope to finally make the...

Producer deal to start on June 2.

Ted Hope is stepping down as Amazon Studios movies co-head and has signed a multi-year, first-look producing deal with the streaming giant.

Hope will consult on several films planned for release in 2020 and produce select projects on the upcoming development slate. His producing deal starts on June 2.

Matt Newman and Julie Rapaport expand their roles as co-heads of the Original Movies team, reporting to head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke, who said the group would be “in good hands as they continue their collaborative leadership.”

The division’s recent films include Late Night, Brittany Runs A Marathon,...

Producer deal to start on June 2.

Ted Hope is stepping down as Amazon Studios movies co-head and has signed a multi-year, first-look producing deal with the streaming giant.

Hope will consult on several films planned for release in 2020 and produce select projects on the upcoming development slate. His producing deal starts on June 2.

Matt Newman and Julie Rapaport expand their roles as co-heads of the Original Movies team, reporting to head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke, who said the group would be “in good hands as they continue their collaborative leadership.”

The division’s recent films include Late Night, Brittany Runs A Marathon,...

John Lynch is exiting his post as head of production and operations at Amazon Studios, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.

Lynch had been with the company since 2012 but notified the staff about his departure on Friday. A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment.

In June, head of marketing and distribution Bob Berney left the company following the expiration of his four-year contract. And in 2018, Jason Ropell left his post as head of motion pictures — he was replaced by Ted Hope, Julie Rapaport and Matt Newman. Roy Price exited in late 2017, at which point Jennifer Salke stepped in to run film and TV operations.

Also Read: Amazon Studios' Jennifer Salke and AMC's Sarah Barnett on Developing a Diverse Film and TV Slates | Video

Amazon Studios’ releases this year include “The Report,” “The Aeronauts,” “Late Night,” “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” “Seberg” and “Honey Boy,” some of which are getting awards buzz.

John Lynch, the head of production and worldwide operations at Amazon Studios, is leaving the company, Deadline has confirmed. He had been in the post since 2012, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

Amazon declined comment, but it’s the latest departure on the streamer’s film side, now overseen by Julie Rapaport, Matt Newman and Ted Hope. Head of marketing and distribution Bob Berney exited in June following the expiration of his four-year contract.

Berney was hired in mid-2015 to oversee distribution and marketing for Amazon’s original films. Much has happened at the company since then, as Roy Price exited in late 2017, and Jennifer Salke was brought aboard in February 2018 to run both the film and TV operations after Jason Ropell exited last year.

Rapaport, Newman and Hope report to Salke.

Amazon’s film releases this year include The Aeronauts and The Report upcoming as well as Late Night.

Variety...

John Lynch is leaving Amazon Studios, the streaming service where he served as head of production and operations, Variety has learned.

Rumors began swirling earlier this week that Lynch was out at the company. Lynch has been with Amazon since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile. Lynch notified staff of his departure on Friday. It’s unclear what led to his exit. A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment.

Lynch isn’t the only high-ranking employee to leave Amazon Studios this year. In June, Bob Berney, a widely respected indie film executive, stepped down as head of marketing and distribution. The studio has yet to name a replacement. In 2018, Jason Ropell left as head of motion pictures. He was ultimately replaced by the tag team of Ted Hope, Julie Rapaport and Matt Newman.

The moves come as Amazon Studios is plotting a much different course on the feature film front than...

This week, Amazon Studios became a standard-bearer for the issue impacting every specialized distributor: Exactly how is it supposed to get people to watch their movies?

Exhibit A is the failure of “Late Night,” for which Amazon paid $13 million in North American rights. With 2,200 screens in its second week, the well-reviewed “Late Night” saw a per-screen average of $2,367, and will likely end its run at or near $20 million.

Exhibit B is the exit of Bob Berney, head of Amazon Studios’ marketing and distribution. He decided that when his four-year contract expired on June 15, it was the right time to leave. “I fulfilled my deal and we did some great stuff,” he told IndieWire. “I am proud of the team. I want to move on. I’ve done everything I think I can do there.”

Already, Salke is making moves to right the ship. Although Amazon launched declaring its intent to honor traditional theatrical windows,...

This week, Amazon Studios became a standard-bearer for the issue impacting every specialized distributor: Exactly how is it supposed to get people to watch their movies?

Exhibit A is the failure of “Late Night,” for which Amazon paid $13 million in North American rights. With 2,200 screens in its second week, the well-reviewed “Late Night” saw a per-screen average of $2,367, and will likely end its run at or near $20 million.

Exhibit B is the exit of Bob Berney, head of Amazon Studios’ marketing and distribution. He decided that when his four-year contract expired on June 15, it was the right time to leave. “I fulfilled my deal and we did some great stuff,” he told IndieWire. “I am proud of the team. I want to move on. I’ve done everything I think I can do there.”

Already, Salke is making moves to right the ship. Although Amazon launched declaring its intent to honor traditional theatrical windows,...

Sources say veteran’s decision unrelated to disappointng box office of ‘Late Night’.

Bob Berney, the indie darling who served four years as head of marketing and distribution at Amazon Studios, is leaving the company.

Screen understands the move is voluntary and comes after the conclusion of a four-year contract that brought Berney from the relaunched Picturehouse, where he served as CEO, to Amazon Studios.

Berney’s team will report in the interim to Matt Newman, one of three senior executives who along with Ted Hope and Julie Rappaport reports to studio head Jennifer Salke.

According to sources veteran Berney...

Exclusive: Veteran indie distribution executive Bob Berney is leaving Amazon Studios, sources said. It was his decision and came at the end of his four-year contract, which just ended last week.

Berney was hired in mid-2015 to oversee distribution and marketing for Amazon’s original films. Much has happened at the company since then, as Roy Price exited, and Jennifer Salke was brought in to run both the film and TV operations, this after Jason Ropell exited last year.

Timing is coincidental but unrelated to the disappointing returns of the Nisha Ganatra-directed Late Night, which stars Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling (who wrote it), and for which Amazon paid $13 million, the most ever paid in a U.S. rights deal for a film that premiered at the Sundance Film festival. After its first two weekends, the film has grossed $10.6 million domestically.

This was more about Berney wanting to move on,...

It was close to midnight when Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke got the text. The company had failed in its quest to acquire “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” a body image dramedy that captivated Salke when she saw it at Sundance. A sales agent on the project messaged her to say that a competitor offered a higher number, and unless Amazon stepped up significantly with its bid, the company would be out of the running. But Salke would not budge on the price, and collapsed into bed defeated.

Then she remembered her pitch meeting with “Brittany” writer-director Paul Downs Colaizzo, who a day earlier said his father worked at an Amazon fulfillment center in Missouri. She looked him up on the company phone directory, screen-grabbed his profile and sent it back to the sales agent asking, “Doesn’t this count for a few million?”

Minutes later her phone rang. It was the film’s executive producer,...

In an unprecedented Sundance Film Festival deal haul for a single distributor, Amazon Studios gave the clearest indication of its movie future by paying a record near $50 million for five films. The acquisition avalanche began with the fest’s first big pact for Late Night (record $13M for U.S. rights). Within a matter of days, Amazon bought Brittany Runs A Marathon ($14M for world rights), The Report ($14M for world rights), Honey Boy ($5 million) and One Child Nation. It might have gotten a sixth, the Festival Favorite Award-winning documentary Knock Down the House, which went for a record $10 million to Netflix. But the fit was wrong because the film’s heroine, freshman congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, was simultaneously bashing Amazon for its since-abandoned tax incentive-laden plan to build NYC headquarters near her congressional district.

“That may have been part of it, because we were engaged in that negotiation and then [the film] went elsewhere,...

Salke spoke to Screen about screening giant’s change in film strategy.

Following Jason Ropell’s exit and last week’s news that Julie Rapaport has been promoted to co-head of movies alongside Ted Hope and Matt Newman, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke is actively reshaping her film division.

Salke spoke to Screen ahead of a Prime Video launch event in London (Oct 2), and said that while the film division was “in a transitional moment” and she was “in the process of evaluating our strategy”, Amazon wasn’t planning to abandon the independent/prestige features that have been the division...

Amazon Studios has promoted senior executive Julie Rapaport to serve as co-head of its movies division, where she will lead a new unit focused on big-budget projects that appeal to wider audiences.

This seems to align with Amazon’s overarching content strategy on the series side as well, as it moves away from arthouse pieces like Transparent toward tentpole properties like Lord Of The Rings. Rapaport will work alongside movies co-heads Ted Hope (who will oversee prestige titles) and Matt Newman, reports The Wrap, and all three will report to Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke. Salke is still seeking a senior executive to oversee Amazon’s overall movies division following the departure of Jason Ropell in July.

“I want to stress that across series and movies, all divisions hold quality first and foremost as their bar,” Salke said in a statement. “With Julie joining Ted and Matt, this clears the...

Slate includes Lucy And Desi, Union.

Seeking to broaden its reach and champion bigger budget films with broader appeal alongside the existing art house slate, Amazon Studios has promoted Julie Rapaport to co-head of movies.

In her role, Rapaport will work alongside fellow interim co-heads Ted Hope and Matt Newman. All three report to head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke. Meanwhile the search goes on to replace Amazon Studios worldwide head of the motion picture group Jason Ropell, who left the company recently.

Rapaport will lead a new division focused on expanding the current film slate with higher budget films...

Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke made it clear on Wednesday that big changes are coming to the company’s struggling film business.

Less than a week after Dan Fogelman’s “Life Itself” flopped, the executive moved quickly to stabilize her film team and to encourage the faltering division to start developing more commercial fare. As part of that push, Salke promoted Julie Rapaport to co-head of the film division and tasked her with producing bigger-budget films that will appeal to broader tastes. The restructure puts a band-aid on the “Life Itself” debacle and echoes the same marching orders given to the TV division last year from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos himself: Deliver hits.

Indeed, the pressure is on for a division that’s been operating in limbo for the better part of a year. The ouster of Salke’s predecessor Roy Price, an eccentric executive who was fired after being accused of sexual harassment,...

Under new management after the scandal-tainted departure of film and television leader Roy Price, Amazon Studios is now run by ex-NBC executive Jennifer Salke, who has wasted no time overhauling Amazon’s television content. She is now addressing the direction of the movie side. After pushing out Jason Ropell, whose duties have been jointly shared by production head Ted Hope and Matt Newman, head of strategic initiatives and international distribution, Salke is adding a new co-head of movies, promoting Julie Rapaport from within.

Three-year-Amazon veteran Rapaport will lead a new division focused on films appealing to wider audiences as she works alongside fellow Co-Heads Ted Hope and Matt Newman, with all three reporting to Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.

Arthouse veteran Hope, who had been running the overall movies division with Newman in the interim, will continue to oversee the prestige titles from emerging filmmakers and established auteurs.

Under new management after the scandal-tainted departure of film and television leader Roy Price, Amazon Studios is now run by ex-NBC executive Jennifer Salke, who has wasted no time overhauling Amazon’s television content. She is now addressing the direction of the movie side. After pushing out Jason Ropell, whose duties have been jointly shared by production head Ted Hope and Matt Newman, head of strategic initiatives and international distribution, Salke is adding a new co-head of movies, promoting Julie Rapaport from within.

Three-year-Amazon veteran Rapaport will lead a new division focused on films appealing to wider audiences as she works alongside fellow Co-Heads Ted Hope and Matt Newman, with all three reporting to Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.

Arthouse veteran Hope, who had been running the overall movies division with Newman in the interim, will continue to oversee the prestige titles from emerging filmmakers and established auteurs.

Slate includes Lucy And Desi, Union.

Seeking to broaden its reach and champion bigger budget films with broader appeal alongside the existing art house slate, Amazon Studios has promoted Julie Rapaport to co-head of movies.

In her role, Rapaport will work alongside fellow interim co-heads Ted Hope and Matt Newman. All three report to head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke. Meanwhile the search goes on to replace Amazon Studios worldwide head of the motion picture group Jason Ropell, who left the company recently.

Rapaport will lead a new division focused on expanding the current film slate with higher budget films...

Amazon Studios has promoted Julie Rapaport to Co-Head of Movies in which she’ll lead a new division that will focus on building a slate of movies geared toward wider audiences. While Amazon Studios vice president Ww head of motion pictures Jason Ropell exited this summer, we understand Amazon is still looking for a replacement for him.

Rapaport will oversee a slate of pics with larger budgets, keeping in Amazon’s wheelhouse for singular cinematic voices.

Upcoming projects for the new division include the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Lucille Ball feature Lucy and Desi, and Union scripted by Robert Schenkkan, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached to produce, about the head of the post-Civil War infantry tasked with fighting the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

In her job as Senior Manager, Development, Production and Acquisitions, Rapaport co-managed the team under co-head Ted Hope and was responsible for overseeing the upcoming Beautiful Boy...

Amazon Studios on Wednesday announced that it has promoted Julie Rapaport to co-head of Movies, where she will lead a new division focused on films appealing to wider audiences.

Rapaport will work alongside fellow co-heads Ted Hope and Matt Newman, with all three reporting to Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios.

“Keeping in mind the diverse range of tastes of our Prime Video customers, we are focused on continually expanding our content offerings,” said Salke in a statement. “I want to stress that across series and movies, all divisions hold quality first and foremost as their bar. With Julie joining Ted and Matt, this clears the pathway to further expand our robust movies slate to include more widely engaging stories that audiences will connect with. Julie is a talented and highly respected creative executive and leader and we are thrilled to see her step into this expansive role.”

Salke is,...

Amazon Studios has promoted Julie Rapaport to co-head of movies.

She will head the film division with Ted Hope and Matt Newman, but her portfolio will be different. Rapaport, who has been with Amazon since 2015, is being tasked with finding more broadly commercial films.

Her promotion comes at a time of change for the e-retailer’s entertainment division. The film unit has been floundering in recent months, fielding a string of flops that includes “Life Itself,” a critically reviled drama that premiered to a disastrous $2.1 million. It also struck out with the likes of “You Were Never Really Here,” “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot,” and “Wonder Wheel,” a Woody Allen drama that premiered as the #MeToo movement brought renewed attention on sexual abuse allegations against the filmmaker. Amazon’s last major hit was 2017’s “The Big Sick,” an Oscar-nominated comedy that earned $56.4 million globally.

Amazon...