Viggo Mortensen Blames MGM-Amazon Buyout for Burying 2022 Film ‘Thirteen Lives’: It Was ‘Greed’
Viggo Mortensen is slamming Amazon for the “shameful” release of 2022 film “Thirteen Lives.”
Directed by Ron Howard and based on the true story of a Thai cave rescue, “Thirteen Lives” received a limited theatrical release plus a Prime Video debut less than a week later. Mortensen is now revealing that prior to the MGM-Amazon buyout, the film was set to have a full, wide theatrical release. According to the actor, that deal was not honored by Amazon.
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“They were going to put it out worldwide in many, many, many thousands of theaters,” Mortensen told Vanity Fair. “Then Amazon bought MGM, initially promised to respect the deal that MGM had made with Ron Howard, and then they went back on that. Basically you saw that movie for a week in Chicago, New York and L.A., London, and that was that. Then you had the streaming, which I thought was really sad. It’s a really well-shot movie.”
IndieWire has reached out to Amazon for comment.
Mortensen added that MGM “did their test screenings for that movie and got the highest scores in the history of that studio” before the Amazon buyout.
“They have all their excuses for why they did that, but it comes down to greed,” Mortensen said about the Amazon release rollout for the film. “How much money do you need? I think Amazon could certainly have respected the deal, as they said they were going to, and released it widely in theaters and let it have its run. And then they could have also made money streaming. But they figured it would be more cost-effective — i.e., they would make more money — if they didn’t have to bother with spending money on promoting it and putting in theaters and sharing that money with theaters, frankly. That’s what it comes down to. To me, it’s greed.”
Mortensen especially thought the rescinded release was insulting to a legendary filmmaker like Howard.
“For a guy with such a storied career like Ron Howard, who has made so much money for studios, who was so deservedly well-recognized as a filmmaker historically — to do that to a guy like him I think is appalling,” Mortensen said. “He’s a very nice guy, so he hasn’t gone out there complaining about it, but I’m happy to do it for him. I’m not speaking for him, I’m just speaking for myself. I think it was shameful what they did.”
“Thirteen Lives” is not the only Amazon property that has allegedly been buried by the studio. Nicolas Winding Refn blamed Prime Video for not promoting his 2019 series “Too Old to Die Young” due to its subject matter.
“They took all my marketing money away because they were afraid that the show would reflect badly on Amazon. They told me that directly,” Refn said to Vulture. “They were so shocked by it. I was like, ‘What’s so shocking?’ They said, ‘It’s going to make us look bad.’ And I said, ‘But I don’t think anyone’s going to look at you at all.’ Certain parts of Hollywood are so self-absorbed that they think they’re at the center of the universe. The rule of fear is very dangerous. Amazon released the show, but they said, ‘We will bury you.’ And so they did. However, you can’t bury a diamond.”
And “Road House” director Doug Liman announced that he was boycotting the premiere of the reboot due its lack of a theatrical run. The feature had a record-breaking over 50 million worldwide viewers over its first two weekends, becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ most-watched film debut ever on a worldwide basis. There is no word yet if the sequel will also be streaming-only as well.
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