Prime Video’s European Expansion Drives Revenue Up By 22% to $4.5 Billion

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Casey McQuiston’s romance novel “Red, White & Royal Blue” was an instant New York Times bestseller when it first came out in 2019 and it’s topping bestseller lists once again ahead of Prime Video’s film adaptation which premieres on August 11.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. One of the best Prime Day deals this year is a crazy offer on Prime Video, which is currently offering subscriptions to networks such as Paramount+, AMC+ and Starz for only 99 cents per month.  Although Prime Day doesn’t kick off until July 11, this deal went live on July 5 and runs through the end of Prime Day at 11:59 pm ET on July 12.   Prime members usually have to pay between $7.99 and $10.99 for any individual channel they add onto their Prime Video accounts (the same price they would cost on their respective websites).

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline spoke to leading international sales firm Playtime about why it made sense to join new European film and TV studio Vuelta Group, which we revealed earlier this morning.

Charna Flam Prime Video released the first official trailer for its upcoming original series, “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart,” which will premiere on Aug. 4. The series will drop with the first three episodes and will be followed by a weekly rollout of the remaining four episodes until the series finale on Sept. 1. Sigourney Weaver stars as June Hart, alongside Asher Keddie as Sally Morgan, Leah Purcell as Twig North, Frankie Adams as Candy Blue, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alice Hart, as well as Alexander England, Charlie Vickers, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Sebastián Zurita, Alyla Browne and Xavier Samuel. The new series is based on Holly Ringland’s 2018 debut novel of the same name, which chronicles the story of Alice Hart, her family and their dynamics in the Australian outback. “When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. As she grows from her complicated past, Alice’s journey builds to an emotional climax when she finds herself fighting for her life against a man she loves,” per the official press release.

Prime Video has dropped the official trailer for the Amazon Original series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart starring Sigourney Weaver.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTuber and performer Colleen Ballinger, best known as the creator of Miranda Sings, is facing new criticism over a years-old video in which she sings Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” while apparently in blackface. It’s not clear when the video was shot, but it was shared February 2018 on her Miranda Sings YouTube channel (where it remains viewable but is unlisted). In the video, Ballinger — as her Miranda Sings persona — seems to have black greasepaint smeared on her face as she performs the Beyoncé hit. A clip from the video was shared Wednesday by social media influencer Paige Christie on Twitter, who wrote, “I’m gonna need someone to explain the black on her face…” Christie said it appeared that Ballinger performed the Beyoncé song at a show in London’s West End around the summer of 2010.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic European Taylor Swift fans won’t have to look closely at the fine print on a grid to figure out who will be opening for her on which nights on the “Eras Tour” next year, as American fans did this year. Swift revealed Wednesday that Paramore will be preceding her on stage for her entire European tour. Additionally, she announced that 14 shows have been added to the lineup, all representing second, third, fourth or even sixth nights in cities that were already on the itinerary for May through August of 2024. “Really can’t contain my excitement because… we’re adding 14 new shows to The Eras Tour,” Swift wrote on social media. “And I get to travel the world doing shows with Paramore!! Hayley and I have been friends since we were teens in Nashville and now we get to frolic around the UK/Europe next summer??? I’m screaming???”

K.J. Yossman Soccer star Kalvin Phillips is the subject of a new doc on Amazon Prime Video. Phillips, one of Manchester City’s top players, will tells his story in “Kalvin Phillips: The Road to City.” From his early days at Leeds Academy to Man City’s historic triple win (taking the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League), “The Road to City” will chart Phillips’ meteoric rise. “The documentary paints an intimate portrait of a footballer with deep roots and family values as it follows his journey to Manchester City and the dramatic injury ahead of the biggest tournament in football, the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” reads the logline.

Naman Ramachandran “Dangal” filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s “Bawaal,” starring Varun Dhawan (“Bhediya”) and Jahnvi Kapoor (“Mili”), has unveiled a teaser and confirmed its direct-to-digital global premiere date on Amazon’s Prime Video. Varun Dhawan plays Ajay Dixit, a school teacher in Lucknow, idolized by his students, and admired by everyone in town and Janhvi Kapoor as Nisha, a bright and beautiful girl, whose only hope is to find her one true love. But love is never easy and it has to passage through a war of its own. The film is shot in India and multiple international locations. The film is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala’s banner Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment in collaboration with Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari’s Earthsky Pictures.

Naman Ramachandran Seasoned media executive Gideon Khobane has joined Amazon as the director for Prime Video Africa. Khobane joins with a remit to support the growth of the Prime Video service across sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa and Nigeria. Working closely with the Africa Originals team, headed up by Ned Mitchell, the content acquisitions team, led by Ayanna Lonian and product teams responsible for launching customer features, Khobane is tasked with helping to provide a mix of original and exclusive TV series and movies for existing Prime Video members and to attract new customers in sub-Saharan Africa. The executive, whose experience over his 18-year career ranges from pay-TV to free-to-air broadcasters across sub-Saharan Africa, most recently served as a group executive responsible for general entertainment for the Multichoice Group, and previous to that, served as CEO of SuperSport International and channel director at M-Net. Khobane will continue to be based in South Africa.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is headed for a couple of important benchmarks that have a “B” attached, according to a report in Pollstar. As the global trek moves on from America and proceeds to Europe in 2024, it will assuredly become the first tour in the history of the business to gross a billion dollars. It won’t stop there, though; Pollstar is estimating that the final gross will wind up around $1.4 billion. The live music trade publication concedes that it is doing a fair amount of estimating on current and future grosses, but says its “crack numbers team” believes the tour will cross the historic $1 billion mark at some point during Swift’s shows in Singapore, which will take place during the March 2-9, 2024 window.

Beabadoobee has announced the cancelation of her upcoming run of European tour dates after falling “really ill.”The singer took to social media to share a post explaining why she has had to cancel the forthcoming european dates of her ‘Beatopia’ tour. The statement read: “This was a very hard decision to make but due to illness I will have to cancel my upcoming run of EU shows.”She continued: “I’m so sorry and don’t want to let anyone down. I’ve just fallen really ill and need to work on getting back to a healthy place before performing again.

Jack Ryan is returning to Amazon Prime Video for a fourth and final season – you can find release details below.The new season sees John Krasinski return as Tom Clancy’s titular CIA analyst-turned-field agent for his “most dangerous mission yet”.The official synopsis for season four reads: “The fourth-and-final season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan finds the titular character on his most dangerous mission yet: facing an enemy both foreign and domestic.“As the new CIA Acting Deputy Director, Jack Ryan is tasked with unearthing internal corruption, and in doing so, uncovers a series of suspicious black ops that could expose the vulnerability of the country.“As Jack and the team investigate how deep the corruption runs, he discovers a far-worse reality—the convergence of a drug cartel with a terrorist organisation—ultimately revealing a conspiracy much closer to home and testing our hero’s belief in the system he has always fought to protect.”The first two episodes of season four will be available on the service from 12am GMT on June 30. A further four episodes will follow, with one being released each week.Season three of the series debuted all eight episodes at once, but the service has now switched to a weekly release schedule for the final season.Alongside Krasinski, the fourth season will also see the return of Wendell Pierce (James Greer), Michael Kelly (Mike November) and Betty Gabriel (Elizabeth Wright).

Prime Video has announced a slate of upcoming releases for its India service ahead of Prime Day 2023 (July 15-16 in India), including horror series Adhura and a Telugu adaptation of hit YA drama Hostel Days. 

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.

nearly 8 million views on TikTok as critics ripped the British singing sensation online.In the cringe-worthy clip, captioned “Sam Smith stage diving in Seattle,” a person purported to be the star can be seen attempting to leap into the crowd at a concert. The stunt backfires tremendously after concert-goers fail to catch the crowd surfer, causing them to hit the ground hard.

“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.

Röyksopp have announced new North American and European tour dates for 2023 – find all the details below and buy tickets here.Back in February, the Norwegian electronic duo – Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland – embarked on their European ‘True Electric’ tour, which saw them stop off in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Prague, Berlin and Oslo.Now, they have announced a US tour and second European leg kicking off later this year, which will follow a summer of festival dates.Check your inboxes today for pre-sale access to the «True Electric» 2023 Fall North American tour! General sale tickets online 23rd June 10AM local time

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Amazon has said its investments have contributed £4.8 billion ($6.1 billion) of gross value — and 16,000 jobs — to the U.K. economy since 2010. This covers the gamut of the online retail giant’s various subsidiaries, including Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon Publishing, Prime Video, Audible, Amazon Fashion, Amazon Music and Amazon Games, among others. Overall, the company — which revealed the figures on Wednesday — has invested more than £4.2 billion in U.K. creative industries since 2010, and has doubled its investment since 2018. As Prime Video continues to embed in the U.K. creative sector, it can also count the British Film Institute as its next stop. A number of the streamer’s U.K.-shot originals, including “Good Omens” and “Clarkson’s Farm,” will be digitally preserved in the BFI National Archive as part of a new partnership. The Prime Video deal comes almost a year after Netflix reached a similar agreement to induct some of its own originals into the celebrated archive. That deal was struck in September, Variety understands.

Angry fans have reacted after Taylor Swift announced the dates for her upcoming international tour - but snubbed Manchester.