It has been four years since Amazon completed its landmark $8.5 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a high-stakes gamble that at the time raised eyebrows across the entertainment and technology industries. Critics questioned whether the e-commerce titan could successfully integrate a legendary Hollywood studio with its sprawling logistics and retail operations. But coming off the blockbuster theatrical success of this year’s hit movie Project Hail Mary, Hollywood has indisputably become a remarkably lucrative business for the tech giant.
Prime Video, Amazon’s flagship streaming service, has emerged as a significant business with a revenue run rate scaling well into the tens of billions of dollars, and the platform is now independently profitable in its own right, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed during a quarterly earnings call on Thursday. While Jassy had previously signaled to investors back in May that Prime Video had achieved profitability, the newly disclosed detail that the service is on track to generate tens of billions in revenue underscores just how vast and formidable Amazon’s entertainment footprint has become.
The financial windfall is not limited to subscription streaming alone. Amazon announced that its movie studio division, Amazon MGM Studios, has brought in more than $1.2 billion in global box office sales so far this year. This impressive milestone has been heavily bolstered by major theatrical successes, most notably Project Hail Mary and Verity.
According to industry tracking data from The Numbers, Project Hail Mary grossed an estimated $684 million worldwide. Based on Andy Weir’s acclaimed novel and starring Ryan Gosling, the sci-fi epic opened in theaters in March and quickly shattered internal records to become Amazon MGM Studios’ highest-grossing theatrical release to date, according to various entertainment reports. Not every theatrical venture was a triumph, however, as the studio also navigated a notable misstep earlier in the year with the box office flop Verity‘s counterpart release, Melania. Despite occasional theatrical bumps, the overall financial trajectory of the studio division has pointed firmly upward.
Beyond the silver screen, Jassy highlighted a robust roster of television series that have driven massive engagement and subscriber retention for Prime Video. Among the television hits fueling the platform’s growth are Carrie, the coming-of-age romance The Summer I Turned Pretty, the gritty superhero satire The Boys, Off Campus, the post-apocalyptic phenomenon Fallout, and the action-packed thriller Reacher.
The television slate continues to demonstrate remarkable staying power. According to internal metrics shared by the company, the fourth season of Reacher drew a staggering 66 million viewers globally in its first 28 days of release. The momentum for the character-driven action series shows no signs of slowing down, with the fifth season currently filming and a sixth season already officially greenlit by the studio. The show’s cultural footprint has also extended off-screen, thanks in part to its star, Alan Ritchson, whose witty and engaging replies on Threads have turned social media interaction into an art form for fans following the actor’s online presence.
In addition to scripted movies and television shows, live sports have served as a critical pillar of Amazon’s modern entertainment strategy, functioning as a powerful engine for both viewership numbers and advertising revenue. Prime Video broadcasts a diverse portfolio of premier sporting events and competitions, including NASCAR races, the Masters golf tournament, and UEFA Champions League soccer matches.
However, Thursday Night Football has undeniably proven to be the crown jewel of Amazon’s sports broadcast portfolio this year. Nielsen figures shared by Amazon indicate that the first six games of the current NFL season have averaged an impressive 17.7 million viewers, representing a robust 16 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, the streaming service has continued to expand its basketball offerings, successfully attracting over 2 million viewers for the second season of the NBA on Prime, according to Nielsen data.
The convergence of profitable streaming operations, a billion-dollar global film slate, powerhouse television franchises, and high-rating live sports broadcasts illustrates a dramatic evolution for Amazon. What began years ago as an ancillary perk designed to drive Prime shipping subscriptions has matured into a self-sustaining entertainment powerhouse, proving that the company’s multi-billion-dollar investments in Hollywood content are finally delivering substantial returns.
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