Road House sets streaming records amid profit-sharing dispute with Amazon
"Road House", the new rendition of the story told in the film "Road House" from 1989, has become the biggest hit in the history of the Amazon Prime Video platform. However, its creators are frustrated as the streaming giant does not intend to share the profits from the film's success.
2 August 2024 18:19
"Road House" began garnering attention a few weeks before its video-on-demand (VOD) premiere when the film's director, Doug Liman (known for several box office hits, including "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "The Bourne Identity"), gave an interview claiming he felt deceived by Amazon. He asserted that his superiors had promised him that "Road House" would be released in cinemas but ultimately made a different decision.
It is worth noting that "Road House" was initially intended for a cinema release by MGM. These plans were altered when Amazon acquired the film studio. The American company apparently opted not to share profits with cinema owners, choosing to release the film directly on the streaming platform, where it enjoyed record-breaking viewership.
Now, it transpires that Amazon also did not share the profits associated with the film's success with its creators. "My issue on ‘Road House’ is that we made the movie for MGM to be in theatres, everyone was paid as if it was going to be in theatres, and then Amazon switched it on us, and nobody got compensated. Forget about the effect on the industry — 50 million people saw ‘Road House’ — I didn’t get a cent, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t get a cent, [producer] Joel Silver didn’t get a cent. That’s wrong," Doug Liman told IndieWire.
Doug Liman mentioned 50 million viewers in an interview, but it should be noted that this was the number of viewers within the first 10 days of streaming. In total, the number of people who watched this film could be twice as many. Regardless, "Road House" is considered the biggest blockbuster (among feature films) in the history of Amazon Prime Video.
"First of all, I have no issue with streaming. We need streaming movies cause, we need writers to go to work and directors to go to work and actors to go to work and not every movie should be in a movie theater. So I’m a big advocate of TV series, of streaming movies, of theatrical movies, we should have it all," summarises Doug Liman.
