You may know Amazon's Prime Video streaming service as the home of The Boys and Ring of Power. Or you may see it as the place to buy or rent digital movies. But you may also come to see it as another streaming service that delivers movies right after their theatrical release.

Bloomberg (opens in new tab) reports that, according to sources, Amazon plans to spend more than Netflix and all other "Internet companies" on theatrical releases. The company plans to spend more than $1 billion a year on theatrical releases, producing 12 to 15 films a year.

The blockbuster will not be released until next year, but its total goal is on par with Paramount Pictures. Although the report does not mention Prime Video once, it would make sense that these Amazon-produced films would then become exclusives on the company's streaming service. So we can expect that the first place to see Prime Video's best movies will be in movie theaters.

This is all after Amazon's $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, which is probably loaded with data showing how profitable theatrical movies are.

Amazon will follow in the footsteps of Disney Plus getting Marvel movies after their theatrical release, HBO Max getting movies like "Batman" and "Elvis," and Paramount Plus finally getting "Top Gun: Maverick" for distribution later this year.

Pandemic.

During the first few years of the pandemic, HBO Max took the initiative to bring movies home, as theaters were not available. This famously sparked a great deal of debate, and even Tom's Guide wrote about the subject, opining that nopes were best seen in theaters and about the decline of the cinema experience. Now that movie theaters have reopened, studios are more committed than ever to releasing their films in theaters, including Warner Bros.' Discovery, which eliminated "Max Batgirl," which was sent directly to HBO.

Film companies seem to believe that movies are best seen in theaters. For proof, look no further than the biggest movie of the year, "Top Gun: Maverick," which opened in theaters on May 27 and took nearly three months to hit video-on-demand (August 23) before its DVD release date (October 31) and streaming release date (December 22). In the meantime, box office revenues continued to rise.

For a time, there was a rush to get as many movies as possible onto streaming services as a way to keep them afloat. Now the priorities have reversed: Netflix has given the sequel to "Knives Out," "Glass Onion," a one-week release period, with several objectives. Not only does it raise funds and qualify for awards, but it also promotes the upcoming streaming release.

However, it is unlikely that Amazon will follow Netflix's instructions. If Bloomberg's sources are correct, such an investment would require a lengthy theatrical run to recoup expenses. This is particularly clear from the comparison with Paramount Pictures (which released "Top Gun: Maverick" above).