Film features Nick
Cannon, Wesley
Snipes, Jennifer
Hudson, Teyonah
Parris, D.B.
Sweeney, Harry
Lennix, Steve
Harris, Angela
Bassett with John
Cusack and Samuel
L. Jackson
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 15, 2015--
(NASDAQ:AMZN)–Amazon Studios today announced that Spike
Lee’s next major film (working title, Chi-Raq) is the
first-ever Amazon Original Movie produced. Chi-Raq will feature Nick
Cannon, Wesley
Snipes, Jennifer
Hudson, Teyonah
Parris, D.B.
Sweeney, Harry
Lennix, Steve
Harris, Angela
Bassett with John
Cusack and Samuel
L. Jackson. In what will be her breakout-starring role, Teyonah
Parris will play the central lead character. Chi-Raq was shot
entirely in Chicago and wrapped last week.
Written by both the critically acclaimed filmmaker Spike
Lee (Do The Right Thing), and writer/director Kevin
Willmott (C.S.A.: Confederate States Of America), and
directed by Lee, Chi-Raq will shed light on the serious, but
often overlooked issue of violence in inner city Chicago.
“Spike Lee is one of the most distinct and visionary filmmakers of our
time,” said Ted Hope, Head of Motion Picture Production at Amazon
Studios. “It would be impossible to find a better filmmaker with whom to
launch our studio. He has a unique voice, a distinct eye, and he tackles
important subjects with humor and heart, pointing to solutions and not
exploiting the problems. Chi-Raq may be his greatest, and
definitely his boldest film yet—everything about it is distinctive.”
“I’m honored to be part of the film that will launch Amazon Studios and
to tell a story that is so important. Please don’t be fooled by the
title of Chi-Raq, this new Spike Lee joint will be something very
special. We have assembled a stellar cast,” said Spike Lee.
Bob Berney, Head of Marketing and Distribution at Amazon Studios,
explained, “For Chi-Raq, and for future projects, we will
collaborate with a top-tier theatrical distributor who shares our vision
and passion. We will work together to craft bold and distinctive
marketing and distribution approaches for all our films.”
First announced in January, Amazon Original Movies is an initiative by
Amazon to produce and acquire original movies for theatrical release and
early window distribution exclusively for Prime members. With creative
development and production headed up by independent film visionary Ted
Hope, Amazon Original Movies focuses on unique stories, voices, and
characters from top and up-and-coming creators. Bob
Berney recently joined the Amazon Original Movies team to lead
theatrical distribution and marketing efforts and will be managing
third-party distributors.
Amazon Original Movies will join Amazon Original Series such as Catastrophe,
Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, Alpha House and
multi-Golden Globe winner Transparent, all available exclusively
on Amazon for Prime members. Also premiering this fall are new Amazon
Original series Hand of God, Red Oaks, and The Man in
the High Castle.
About Amazon Instant Video
Amazon Instant Video offers Amazon Prime members instant access to
stream tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, including
award-winning Amazon Original Series, available at no additional cost.
New release movies and current TV shows are available for rent or
purchase.
Prime members can enjoy binge-worthy TV shows including Amazon Original
Series airing now such as the multi-Golden Globe-winning series
Transparent, the hour-long drama Bosch, based on Michael
Connelly’s best-selling books, the Roman Coppola and Jason
Schwartzman comedy, Mozart in the Jungle, and the
comedy created by and starring Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan, Catastrophe,
in addition to HBO favorites like The Sopranos,
True Blood and Girls, and popular primetime series
including 24, Downton Abbey, Extant,
Falling Skies, Grimm, Hannibal, Justified,
Orphan Black, Teen Wolf, The Americans, and Under
the Dome. Prime members also have access to a collection
of kids shows now airing including Amazon Original Series Annedroids,
Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and the Annecy, Annie
and multi-Emmy Award-winning Tumble Leaf, as well as
popular shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. including SpongeBob
SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, and
Blue’s Clues. In addition to tens of thousands of titles to
instantly stream, the Amazon Prime membership (www.amazon.com/prime)
includes more than one million songs, more than a thousand playlists and
hundreds of stations through Prime Music, unlimited Free Two-Day
Shipping on millions of items, early access to select Lightning Deals,
unlimited photo storage with Amazon Photos, and access to borrow from
more than 800,000 books for Kindle owners–all for $99 a year.
Customers can watch movies and TV shows with the Amazon Video app. The
Amazon Video app is available on hundreds of devices including Amazon
Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Roku, smart TVs and Blu-ray players from
Samsung, Sony, LG, and Panasonic, the Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii game
consoles, as well as on mobile devices like Fire tablets, Fire phone,
iPhone, iPad, and Android tablets and phones. Customers can also watch
online at Amazon.com/AIV.
Comprehensive cast and crew information, including bios and
filmographies, is available on Amazon’s IMDb (www.imdb.com),
the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and
celebrity content.
About Amazon
Amazon.com
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four
principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for
invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.
Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime,
Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire
phone, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Amazon Echo are some of the products
and services pioneered by Amazon.

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