You know you’re getting old when you read that Amazon is buying MGM, and the first two MGM movies that come to mind are 1939’s “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
These two cinema classics are not owned by MGM, but by WarnerMedia, which on May 17 merged with Discovery.
All of this is confusing to an old man like me, who remembers seeing “The Wizard of Oz” in a movie theater in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1939 when I was seven years old.
And I vividly remember seeing my favorite movie of all time, the stupendous “Singing in the Rain,” at the Golden Nugget theater in Hannover, New Hampshire, in 1951.
When Amazon bought MGM, it didn’t buy the rights to “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” or “Singing in the Rain,” which is probably why it paid only $8.5 billion. The value of AT&T’s WarnerMedia merger with Discovery was valued at $43 billion. Of course. Discovery got the MGM library, which, according to a May 26, story in IndieWire:
In 1986, Ted Turner made a series of deals that resulted in Turner Broadcasting taking ownership of all prior MGM films. Not unlike Amazon, he wanted the films for programming his growing cable empire and the library became one of the pillars that built Turner Classic Movies. Today, WarnerMedia owns both TCM and Turner’s MGM library. Many titles, including “The Wizard of Oz,” are available to stream on HBO Max.
So why did Amazon buy MGM? In announcing the deal, according to Media Post on May 27, Jeff Bezos said:
“The only way to get above-average returns is to take risks, and many won’t pay off,” he said. “Our whole history as a company is about taking risks, many of which have failed and many of which will fail, but we’ll continue to take big risks.”
Asked about this week’s announcement of its intention to acquire MGM for $8.45 billion, Bezos said: “MGM has a vast, deep catalog of much-beloved intellectual property, and with the talented people at MGM and Amazon studios, we can reimagine and develop that IP [intellectual property] for the 21st century. It’s going to be a lot of fun and people who love stories are going to be the big beneficiaries.”
Bezos’s key phrase was, “it’s going to be a lot of fun…” Guess who’s going to have fun?
Author Brad Stone in his book Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire, writes:
And off the top of his head, displaying his characteristic ability to shift disciplines multiple times a day, then reduce complex issues down to their most essential essence, he started to reel off the ingredients of epic storytelling:
A heroic protagonist who experiences growth and change
A compelling antagonist
Wish fulfillment (e.g., the protagonist has hidden abilities, such as superpowers or magic)
Moral choices
Diverse worldbuilding (different geographic landscapes)
Urgency to watch next episode (cliffhangers)
Civilizational high stakes (a global threat to humanity like an alien invasion—or a devastating pandemic)
Humor
Betrayal
Positive emotions (love, joy, hope)
Negative emotions (loss, sorrow)
Violence
Like so many rich men have (remember Martin Davis and Paramount), Jeff Bezos wants to make movies. He’s given a lot of thought to what makes a good movie, so we’ll see if he’s as good at making movies as he has been at making himself and Amazon shareholders rich.
I’m guessing that he’ll succeed at making movies. Take a close look at his list above on the ingredients of epic storytelling. Except for the cliffhangers ingredient, doesn’t it seem like he’s describing “The Wizard of Oz?”
