Jeff Bezos really really wants an Oscar next year.
At Sundance over the weekend, Amazon Studios spent a whopping $27 million on two new features.
The latest purchase, according to reports, is Scott Z. Burns’s “The Report,” starring Adam Driver. Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Maura Tierney and Michael C. Hall co-star. Bening plays California Senator Dianne Feinstein. The film tells the true story of Daniel Jones’ comprehensive six-year investigation into the CIA’s use of torture on detainees suspected of terrorist activities. It was met with standing ovations and lots of offers. But Amazon is going to pony up $14 million.
Driver is a good investment these days. An Oscar nominee for “Blackkklansman,” he’s also Kylo Ren in the next “Star Wars” movie, which should hit around the same time next December. The rest of that cast ain’t chopped liver, either.
Earlier, Amazon paid $13 million for the Mindy Kaling written and produced “Late Night” starring Emma Thompson as a talk show host who is forced to hire Mindy as a writer in a diversity bid. The much loved film comes with a new song written by 10 time Oscar nominee Diane Warren. (Singer to be determined.)
Amazon is swinging for the fences now after a lot of misfires with indie films made by auteurs like Todd Haines and Richard Linklater. This year they’ve had to depend on “Cold War” as a foreign film nominee.
Amazon TV, however, is booming with “Mrs. Maisel.”
Hey– it’s only Monday. Sundance still has several days to go.
