Amazon Studios Boss Jennifer Salke to Oversee MGM

To say that “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is a massive bet for Amazon is a complete understatement. Sure, any big-budget series for a streaming service requires a bit of betting and good luck, but no other series in the history of TV has cost nearly as much as ‘Rings’ and required so much money upfront just to land the rights.

Merry and bright! Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez got into the holiday spirit at a star-studded Christmas party with their closest pals.

Who had Amazon supplyingone of Netflix’s biggest original series on their 2022 bingo card?

Amazon Studios has made it official, confirming that it has secured global rights to the Warhammer 40,000 game from Games Workshop for Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) to star in and executive produce the Warhammer 40,000 franchise across all Amazon Studios productions. The agreement encompasses rights to the universe across TV series, film, and likely games and animation.

Henry Cavill is evaluating his options following him stepping down as Superman as the DC character is being rebooted by the new regime. According to sources, he is exploring multiple opportunities as he is fielding overtures for film and TV projects. One of them, which is in a more advanced stages, is believed to be Warhammer 40,000 at Amazon Studios. Details are murky, but I hear that the deal, which is still being negotiated, would involve Cavill headlining a sci-fi TV series based on the game.

EXCLUSIVE: In a major bidding war among top streamers, Amazon has landed All Stars, a half-hour comedy series starring and executive produced by Reese Witherspoon, with a big two-season straight-to-series order.

All for the family. Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker weighed the idea of having more children shortly before his death at age 40.

The aftershocks from the big executive restructuring at Amazon Studios continue.

Sky Studios Names UK Drama Commissioning Boss

The stars of the Amazon Studios documentary Wildcat are a man, a woman and an orphaned baby jungle cat they live with in a rainforest in Peru. The subject of this first feature from a filmmaking couple based in Virginia is something more: how to survive psychological damage and suicidal depression to find peace and a place in the world. 

EXCLUSIVE: After landing the hot package Red Shirt earlier in the week, Amazon Studios has added another high-profile property to their slate as Sources tell Deadline the studio has landed the action comedy Moxie starring Keke Palmer. Deadline broke the news that the package was out to buyers before the Thanksgiving Holiday and Amazon moved fast to land the rights tot pic featuring one of the bigger stars of 2022. Hawkeye director Bert is on board to direct with Heather Quinn penning the script. Palmer, Peter Lawson and Kate Churchill are producing. Sharon Palmer is exec producing.

EXCLUSIVE: Prolific genre creators Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy (The Haunting Of Hill House, Midnight Mass) have signed an exclusive multiyear overall series deal with Amazon Studios. Under the pact, the duo will develop and produce projects via their Intrepid Pictures company, which will exclusively stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE: The expected alignment of CBS Studios, Paramount TV Studios and the Paramount+ scripted originals team is happening, and it is resulting in staff cuts. The latest round of Paramount Global layoffs is impacting under 30 people, I hear, all on the West Coast. According to sources, the majority of them are at CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios, with handful of employees at CBS also let go.

It’s official – Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, will also oversee MGM, the venerable film and TV studio, which was acquired by Amazon earlier this year for $8.5 billion. Additionally, MGM’s COO Chris Brearton will take on a new role, VP, PVS Corporate Strategy, MGM+ and MGM Alternative Television. Mike Hopkins, SVP, Prime Video and Amazon Studios, just made the announcement internally in a memo (You can red it under the post.)

EXCLUSIVE: After recently restructuring Amazon Studios’ original content operations, Head of Television Vernon Sanders is now setting up the MGM scripted TV leadership with new roles for Lindsay Sloane, Sr. EVP of MGM Scripted TV, and Rola Bauer, President of International TV for MGM. He laid out the reorganization in an internal memo, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline. (you can read it in full below.)