Amazon: IMDb TV will be renamed Amazon Freevee

“Beyond Black Beauty,” “Play Doh Squished” and “Post Malone: Runaway.”Freevee also picked up a second season of “Bosch: Legacy,” as well as two more seasons of “Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.”“Amazon Freevee is a trailblazer in the AVOD space, reimagining, redefining, and leveling up the quality of content offered by a free streaming service,” Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, co-heads of content and programming, Amazon Freevee, said in a joint statement. “By developing and programming inspired, fan-favorite Original series and movies — produced and delivered by Amazon Studios in partnership with some of the industry’s best creators and studio partners — and by securing exclusive, highly sought licensed content, we have built a destination where viewers know they can discover and enjoy something new, or indulge in something they already love.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorTitus Welliver’s ex-cop Harry Bosch will return to crack more cases on Amazon Freevee.Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) announced the pickup of Season 2 of “Bosch: Legacy,” a spin-off of series “Bosch” that ran for seven seasons on Prime Video — ahead of the May 6 premiere of “Bosch: Legacy” on the ecommerce giant’s free, ad-supported streaming service.In addition, Amazon Freevee is expanding its licensed content lineup through a short-term film licensing agreement with Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution for a “limited selection” of 20th Century Studios titles, including “Deadpool,” “Deadpool 2,” “Logan,” “Hidden Figures,” Kenneth Branagh’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The Post.” The announcements came at Amazon’s 2022 NewFronts presentation Monday for marketers.Amazon Freevee also announced the renewal for third and fourth seasons of “Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers,” the docuseries about a Southern California high-school basketball team, from LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted, as well as greenlights for four new originals: cooking competition series “America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation”; coming-of-age drama “Beyond Black Beauty”; family competition series “Play-Doh Squished”; and music documentary “Post Malone: Runaway.”Currently in development at Freevee is “Inside No. 9,” based on the BBC’s award-winning anthology series, combining humor, horror, crime and suspense — with the episodes linked in some way by the inclusion of the number nine.

Amazon Freevee, the ad-funded streaming service, has unveiled a raft of renewals, unscripted orders and developments following its rebrand from IMDb TV.

Sasha Urban editorKate Walsh has joined the cast of “Sprung,” an upcoming original comedy series from Emmy-winning writer Greg Garcia and Amazon Freevee. Camden Garcia and Andre Jamal Kinney have also been added to the cast, which includes Martha Plimpton, Garret Dillahunt, Shakira Barrera, Phillip Garcia, Clare Gilles and James Earl.“Sprung” follows a group of formerly incarcerated people who decide to use their criminal expertise for good.

Judge Judy Sheindlin has a new show coming!

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJudge Judy Sheindlin is expanding her relationship with Amazon Freevee, formerly IMDb TV, with a new courtroom show.Sheindlin will serve as creator and executive producer on “Tribunal,” which will feature a panel of three judges collectively adjudicating real cases. Scott Koondel will also serve as an executive producer.The three judges are: Judge Patricia DiMango, a former New York State Supreme Court Justice and Administrative Judge of the New York State Supreme Court, Criminal Term, Kings County; Judge Tanya Acker, a Yale Law School graduate, experienced civil litigator, former Judge Pro Tem in Los Angeles County Superior Court; and Adam Levy, former Putnam County, New York District Attorney, and an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and New York Prosecutors Training Institute.

EXCLUSIVE: Judith Sheindlin is expanding her footprint at Amazon Freevee (fka IMDb TV) with a second court program to join Judy Justice. Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service has given a series order to Tribunal, a panel-based show starring two of the judges on Sheindlin’s CBS Media Ventures panel court program Hot Bench, Patricia DiMango and Tanya Acker, as well as Sheindlin’s son, former District Attorney Adam Levy.

Amazon’s top U.S. and international execs are banking on even bigger things in India after launching the streamer’s biggest ever slate in the country.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video pulled out the heavy international artillery to launch a massive Indian slate on Thursday. They are bullish about the market.Kelly Day, VP of international, Amazon Prime Video, said at a round table during the event: “The future of global streaming services is really about global expansion, and moving much more ambitiously, to serving customers in our international markets all over the world.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India is betting big on India. At a marquee event in Mumbai the streamer announced that it will more than double its investment in Prime Video India over the next five years and revealed a 40-strong slate, its biggest to date in the country.The titles are in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages, across new and returning scripted and unscripted original series and co-productions, streaming over the next 24 months.

Naman Ramachandran Days after the Najafi group’s buyout of STX Entertainment, the Eros STX Global Corporation is changing its name to Eros Media World PLC. The newly renamed company has also revealed a new management structure and some financial projections. Eros will retain a 15% non-voting stake in STX and the company said it has “fully repaid $152 million of outstanding JP Morgan credit facility and subordinated credit facilities at STX level.”Rishika Lulla Singh is the new executive chair, Pradeep Dwivedi the new CEO and Rajesh Chalke is the new CFO of Eros Media World.

Last week, we learned that Netflix was spending $30 million per episode on the fourth season of “Stranger Things,” which is double the costs of the final season of HBO‘s “Game of Thrones” at $15 million per and a huge jump from the $6 million price tag on the first season episodes of “Stranger Things.” That’s not the only high-priced streaming series on the way.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMichel Hazanavicius’s zombie comedy “Z (Comme Z),” which is set to open the Cannes Film Festival next month, has been renamed “Coupé” in France.The decision to change the movie’s French title follows a letter from the Ukrainian Institute to the director and the Cannes Film Festival, as revealed by Variety, pointing out that “Z” is a pro-war symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and had been used in pro-Russian demonstrations across Europe.The letter from the Ukrainian org, which was signed by its managing director Volodymyr Sheiko, said that changing the film’s title would be a “gesture against the barbarity, violence and terror of the Russian army.”In a statement on Monday, Hazanavicius said he will rename the movie “due to the symbolic charge that the letter Z has gained … and following the plea by Ukrainian filmmakers. “The title was perhaps funny when [I] completed the film several months ago but it isn’t at all today and I can’t bear it,” he added.“My film is meant to bring joy and I wouldn’t want it to be associated in any shape or form to this war.

Marta Balaga The Ukrainian Institute has issued an official letter to the Cannes Film Festival and French director Michel Hazanavicius asking them to rename his opening night movie “Z,” which the org claims is a pro-war symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.In Russia, “Z” is considered a pro-war symbol that has also been used in pro-Russian demonstrations across Europe. The symbol has recently been adopted by some Russian figures taking part in world events, such as gymnast Ivan Kuliak who, while in Qatar for a World Cup event, sported a “Z” on his chest while standing on a podium next to Ukrainian athlete Illia Kovtun.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India has teamed with filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Rohit Shetty Picturez for original series “Indian Police Force,” headlined by Bollywood star Sidharth Malhotra.The series, which is in production now, “proudly pays an ode to the selfless service, unconditional commitment and fierce patriotism of our police officers across the country who put everything on the line in their call of duty to keep us safe,” according to a statement from Amazon India, adding that it “aims to set a new bar for action content emerging from India for audiences worldwide.”Shetty is known for his Singham cop franchise, the latest of which, “Sooryavanshi,” starring Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh, was one of the biggest Bollywood box office hits of 2021. Malhotra’s last film, war film “Shershaah,” bowed directly on Amazon and was one of the highest watched films on the service in 2021.

Alexander Skarsgard‘s main photo on his IMDb profile is one of his posing pantsless in his underwear… and he’s finally opening up about it!

Anyone who checks out Alexander Skarsgård’s screen credits on IMDb is greeted with a profile photo of the star of “The Northman” looking especially spiffy in a black tuxedo jacket, crisp white shirt, black bowtie… and no pants.

Troppo” will premiere on Amazon Freevee May 20, as one of the first originals to launch on the newly renamed streaming platform.Based on the novel “Crimson Lake” by Cameron Fox, “Troppo” stars Thomas Jane as Ted Conkaffey, an ex-cop accused of a crime that he didn’t commit. Hiding out in the Far North Queensland, he’s recruited by private investigator Amanda Pharrell (Nicole Chamoun) into helping her investigate a bizarre murder case and track down a missing person. In addition to Jane and Chamoun, the cast also includes David Lyons, Yerin Ha, Sun Park, Ling Cooper Tang, Kate Beahan, Cramer Cain, Peta Wilson, Angela Punch McGregor, Damien Garvey, Josh Helman and Radha Mitchell.

IMDb TV, Amazon’s free, ad-supported video on demand streaming service, is rebranding to Amazon Freevee, beginning April 27. The rebranding had been in the works for awhile, with the idea for the new moniker to share the Amazon branding of its parent company.