Amazon’s Prime Video Gives Nod to ‘Garage 56’ Nascar Documentary

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Prime Video has unveiled 12 new unscripted reality and entertainment series coming to the Nordics, including an adaptation of the hit format “LOL: Last One Laughing” for Denmark and Norway. The streamer has also renewed the Swedish version of “LOL: Last One Laughing” for a second season. All Nordic versions of “LOL: Last One Laughing” are filmed and produced in Sweden by Jarowskij in Sweden, Metronome in Denmark and Nordisk Banijay in Norway. New Prime Video shows also include the Norwegian docu-reality series “Girls of Oslo,” a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of of well-known influencers Sophie Elise, Isabel Raad, Nora Haukland and Anniken Englund Jørgensen. “Girls of Oslo” is produced by Salto Film and will launch this Fall on Prime Video in Norway.

Prime Video’s unscripted originals push in the Nordics is continuing.

“Atlanta” to Terence Nance’s thought-provoking “Random Acts of Flyness” and Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed films “Get Out” and “Nope,” this formerly niche genre seems to be thriving in mainstream entertainment.Writer, producer and musician Boots Riley, whose 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You” catapulted him to prominence as a filmmaker, returns with his latest project: “I’m A Virgo” on Prime Video. This highly anticipated series solidifies his position among the pioneers of the Afro-surrealist genre.Afrofuturism and Afro-surrealism, often seen as interchangeable, are different.

The Ringer and Religion of Sports have unveiled Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey as the title for their NBA G League documentary greenlighted at Amazon, announcing that the film will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on August 8th. The companies also this afternoon debuted a first-look clip featuring projected NBA Draft lottery pick and NBA G League Ignite star, Scoot Henderson, which you can view above.

Audiences spent more time streaming in May, while broadcast and cable viewership took a bit of a nosedive, according to Nielsen’s monthly state of TV report, The Gauge.

K.J. Yossman Prime Video’s expansion across Europe has helped drive home entertainment revenues up by 22% to £3.5 billion ($4.5 billion), new company filings show. Records filed last week with the U.K.’s company registrar Companies House by the online retailer’s home entertainment arm, Amazon Digital U.K., show that for the year ending December 2022, revenue increased by over £633 million compared to the previous year. In 2021, the company posted revenues of £2.86 billion. The U.K.-registered company, which is a subsidiary of Amazon’s ultimate Seattle-based parent company Amazon.com Inc, primarily provides film, music and entertainment services across the U.K. and Europe. Its primary sources of income come from subscriptions, digital sales and rentals as well as providing marketing support services to other Amazon companies (the latter accounts for £1.3 billion of its revenue.)

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Prime Video has revealed its top traveling non-English local originals in the history of the service, with Spanish YA romance “My Fault” and French crime thriller “Medellín” topping the list. Both are feature films that launched in the last two weeks across Prime Video’s footprint in 240 countries around the world. Interestingly, both titles have more than 75% of their viewership coming from outside their country of origin (Spain for “My Fault,” and France for “Medellín”), though Prime Video hasn’t disclosed any further metrics related to ratings or impressions. Of the list (available in full below), 60% are movies and 40% are TV series.

“Challengers”, the anticipated tennis drama starring  Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and “West Side Story”’s Mike Faist, will skip out on a French theatrical release and premiere on Prime Video instead.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While unveiling its slate of new French originals and acquisitions on Monday, Prime Video announced that it would skip a French theatrical release for “Challengers,” Luca Guadagnino’s anticipated tennis drama. The film, which stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist, will still be released in theaters in all other territories. During a posh press event hosted at the Pavillon Royal on the outskirts of Paris, Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country managing director for France, said the strategic move by the Amazon streamer resulted from France’s notoriously strict windowing rules, which demands streamers to wait 15 to 17 months after a theatrical roll out before making a new film available on their services. The rule has led other studios to opt to skip French cinemas for new releases before, such as Disney’s decision to debut “Strange World” on streaming.

Paramount+ crime-thriller Bargain, Prime Video’s absurdist comedy I’m a Virgo and Greek infertility dramedy Babython were among the awards series winners at last week’s Seriencamp in Germany.

Naman Ramachandran “Dangal” filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s “Bawaal,” starring Varun Dhawan (“Bhediya”) and Jahnvi Kapoor (“Mili”), will get a direct-to-digital global premiere on Amazon’s Prime Video, the streamer has confirmed. The love story is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala’s banner Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment in collaboration with Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari’s Earthsky Pictures. Tiwari’s “Dangal” (2016) remains the highest grossing Indian film of all time with $247 million. Manish Menghani, director of content licensing at Prime Video, India, said: “Prime Video is absolutely delighted with the opportunity to take one of the country’s most renowned directors, Nitesh Tiwari’s labor of love ‘Bawaal’ to audiences in more than 200 countries and territories with a worldwide launch. ‘Bawaal’ is an extraordinary story with universal appeal, powered by brilliant performances by Varun and Jahnvi. Set in the heartland of India, the gripping narrative takes viewers on a never-seen-before journey through Europe. We believe that a film that is rooted in India but has a global appeal deserves to reach customers not just in India, but all across the world.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor At the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, the cast of “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” – which debuts on Prime Video on Aug. 18 – spoke about how the show rings true when it comes to presenting a true representation of the country’s diversity, and delivering an authentic depiction of teenage life in the U.S. At the press conference for the show, which followed its world premiere at the festival, were Jaden Michael, Constance Zimmer, Adrian Greensmith and Abby Corrigan, alongside Edward Ornelas, one of the show’s executive producers and directors. Michael, who plays Mickey Bolitar in the teen thriller, said: “When I was growing up, there was one movie I watched religiously. It was called ‘Imagine That’ with Eddie Murphy, Nicole Ari Parker and Yara Shahidi – it was one of her first projects. And I watched that movie on repeat daily, because it was the only movie where I saw someone who looked like me.

Selome Hailu “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” has had the biggest debut of any documentary series ever produced by Amazon Studios, Variety has learned. The limited series investigates controversies surrounding the Duggar family, best known for TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” including Josh Duggar’s conviction for possession of child pornography and the family’s connection to the Institute in Basic Life Principles, a controversial Christian organization. After premiering on Amazon Prime Video with all four episodes on June 2, “Shiny Happy People” reached more viewers in its first nine days than any Amazon docuseries, including high-profile titles like “LuLaRich,” the 2021 docuseries that examined the LuLaRoe pyramid scheme. (An exact tally of viewers for these series is unknown.)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prime Video debuted the first-look image and revealed the premiere date for the adaptation of thriller series “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” from New York Times best-selling author Harlan Coben on Thursday. The show marks Coben’s first collaboration with Prime Video. The first three episodes of the eight-episode series will premiere globally on Aug. 18 exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, with new episodes available each Friday, leading up to the season finale on Sept. 22. “Harlan Coben’s Shelter” follows the story of Mickey Bolitar after the sudden death of his father leads him to start a new life in Kasselton, New Jersey. Mickey quickly finds himself tangled in the mysterious disappearance of a new student at his school, Ashley Kent, which leads to uncovering unimaginable secrets within their quiet suburban community.

Amber Dowling From the outside, Canadian television is having a moment. Over the past 18 months, major streaming services — Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, Disney+ and Apple TV+ — have established Northern presences via offices, execs or PR teams. Canadian broadcasters are also stepping up. During upfronts and a series of meetings in Toronto last week, public broadcaster CBC boasted more than 4,000 hours of new programming. Bell Media confirmed an additional 210 hours of English and French-language original content, bolstering its original library to more than 1,000 hours. Corus Entertainment announced 25 new and returning series across its brands.

Justina Machado stars in The Horror of Dolores Roach, the new series on Amazon’s Prime Video dropping July 7. A trailer for the eight-episode series was released (which you can see above) and it previews the capabilities of Dolores Roach’s “magic hands.”

Things are about to get royally hot on Prime Video.

Even the best intentions sometimes can turn into a nightmare, and this is a situation that Dolores Roach finds herself in after serving an unjust prison sentence in the new Prime Video series, “The Horror of Dolores Roach.” READ MORE: Steven Soderbergh’s Max Limited Series ‘Full Circle’ Headlines 2023 Tribeca Festival’s TV Lineup As seen in the trailer for the series, “The Horror of Dolores Roach” follows the story of the title character, who finally gets out of prison after 16 years, only to find herself needing to find a job to escape her current situation.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. After setting a franchise record with a huge $58 million debut at the box office, “Creed 3” is finally available to stream on Prime Video. In the third installment of the sports drama series, directed by Michael B.

A new documentary from NASCAR Studios that will chronicle its special “Garage 56” entry at the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been greenlit by Prime Video.