Amazon Studios to theater owners: Here to work together

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Amazon Studios plans to work together with theaters, not against, says studio exec Bob Berney. The burgeoning movie studio presented to the CinemaCon audience Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas.

Berney and Amazon Studios head Roy Price stressed that their primary goal is to provide theatrical audiences with quality films. Price added that “almost all” will have traditional theatrical windows before being made available on streaming services — the threat of which is perhaps the biggest elephant in the room at the annual gathering of theater owners.

Since releasing Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq” last year, Amazon Studios has been aggressively diving into the movie acquisition and production business and have a number of high profile theatrical releases planned this year including Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester By the Sea.”