In an unprecedented Sundance Film Festival deal haul for a single distributor, Amazon Studios gave the clearest indication of its movie future by paying a record near $50 million for five films. The acquisition avalanche began with the fest’s first big pact for Late Night (record $13M for U.S. rights). Within a matter…

UPDATE, Oct. 2:  Amazon Studios is now moving Mike Leigh’s Peterloo out of the fall frame after the British historical epic played the fall film festival triad of Venice, Telluride and TIFF. The new date is April 5 next year. Variety‘s Guy Lodge calls the film “a stately, explicitly rhetorical paean to the people…

While Amazon Studios under new leader Jennifer Salke has come out swinging on the TV front, growth on the feature film front will continue to stress quality over volume. Expansion will come as will overall deals with talent, but there is no ambition to compete with the booming film slate of Netflix. In an interview…

It's been a good year for Amazon Studios. The company has proved its worth as a major player in the independent film market thanks to the critical and box office success of Manchester by the Sea, which it picked up in Sundance last year for $10 million before steering it to Oscar success in the Best Actor and…

The story about 1920s British explorer Col. Percival Fawcett, who disappeared while looking for an ancient city in the Amazon, “is a film that demands to be seen in the cinema,” said Amazon’s marketing and distribution czar Bob Berney at the studio’s CinemaCon lunch today. Berney, as well as Lost City Of Z star Charlie…

Jason Ropell, VP Worldwide Motion Pictures at Amazon Studios, told CinemaCon attendees during the streaming service’s afternoon luncheon that the company believes “in the theatrical window fully for our releases.” “I have a very vivid memory of being here last year at CinemaCon … our team was brand new,” he said. “We…

Earlier today Amazon saw five of its films included in the Official Selection for the Cannes Film Festival, so execs had plenty to crow about at the company’s CinemaCon luncheon. Head of marketing and distribution Bob Berney beamed about Amazon’s upcoming date with the Croisette, including Woody Allen’s Cafe Society…

Amazon Studios announced the two hires this morning. Former Disney ABC Television Group digital guru Albert Cheng is the new COO, and indie film marketer Bob Berney is Head of Movies Distribution and Marketing. Cheng just left Disney after a decade of helping it to build its online and on-demand platforms. He had been…

BREAKING: One of my questions for the upcoming Sundance Film Festival has been answered: when the heck are Bob and Jeanne Berney getting back into the indie distribution mix? Well, they’re back. They’ve restarted Picturehouse, the shingle Berney ran before it was shut down by Warner Bros. After that, the Berneys…

Peter Schlessel has begun re-staffing FilmDistrict’s distribution operation, hiring Christine Birch to be president of marketing. He has pledged to have a distribution head in place by the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. All this to replace Bob Berney and Jeanne Berney, who departed right after Oscar season. Schlessel…

Vicky Eguia has been named vice president of publicity at Millennium Entertainment, reporting to marketing head Brooke Ford. Eguia most recently had been publicity veep at Apparition and before that served stints at Newmarket Films and Picturehouse with former Apparition chief Bob Berney. Under CEO Bill Lee…

BREAKING: Bob and Jeanne Berney are leaving FilmDistrict, the company they helped form for GK Films in September, 2010. The distribution company run by Peter Schlessel is consolidating its operations to Los Angeles and the Berneys want to stay in New York. They will stay on until March 1 and see through the release of…