Amazon bags new Woody Allen movie

Woody Allen’s latest feature film will go out exclusively in North America on Amazon Prime Instant Video after its theatrical debut.

Amazon Studios has acquired the rights to the film, a romantic comedy starring Jeannie Berlin and Steve Carrell set in the 1930s.

Amazon Studios’ feature film release model sees films go out theatrically for a short window before moving exclusively to SVOD platform Amazon Prime Instant Video. The film will debut on big screens this summer.

Allen is already working on an untitled six-part TV comedy series starring Elaine May and singer Miley Cyrus for Amazon, which begins shooting next month.

The self-depreciating director described the series as a “catastrophic mistake” and would likely be a “cosmic embarrassment” in May, telling reporters he was only half-joking.

Speaking about his relationship with Amazon in a press release this week, Allen said: “Like all beginning relationships, there is much hope, mutual affection, and genuine goodwill – the lawsuits come later.”

The film shot last summer in LA and New York. It stars Berlin, Carrell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll and Ken Stott.

“Woody Allen is a brilliant filmmaker,” said Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios. “We’re so proud to be in business with him for both his next film and his first ever TV series.”

Amazon launched its Amazon Original Movies initiative in January last year, with the first fruit being Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq. Next up is director Benjamin Dickinson’s Creative Control, which hits theatres on March 11, 2016.