Amazon’s Prime Video and IMDb TV have signed a new licensing agreement with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Deadline reported, with sources saying the multi-year deal could be worth ten figures. Under the agreement, Prime Video will get an exclusive pay-one window for Universal live-action films in the US starting with the studio’s 2022 theatrical release slate. The transaction marks Prime Video‘s first exclusive US pay rights deal with a major movie studio.
Universal recently cut an exclusive deal with Comcast’s Peacock, which will be able to exclusively show 2022 films and beyond four months after their release in cinemas and also during the last four months of the title’s 18-month pay-one window. Prime Video will be able to exclusively stream Universal’s 2022 and future live-action titles after that, during the middle ten month period of that 18-month window, from month 5 to 14. Prime Video will also get the rights to a package of Universal library films.
The deal between Amazon and Universal includes titles such as Jurassic World: Dominion, The 355 and Ambulance from Universal, as well as Focus Features and Blumhouse films. Amblin movies, theatrically distributed by Universal, will go neither through Peacock nor Amazon because the company has just extended its distribution contract with Showtime Networks. Prime Video will gain SVOD rights to Universal animated movies through a subsequent window.
Meanwhile, IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service, has signed an exclusive network window for films from Universal’s 2020-2021 theatrical slate and rights to a package of animated titles. This includes movies such as Dolittle, The Invisible Man, F9 and Illumination’s Sing 2, as well as select titles from Universal’s animation library, including Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 and DWA’s How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Shrek 2.
