Amazon signs Blumhouse, Viacom deals

Fabrik Entertainment produces Amazon drama Bosch

Amazon has unveiled a raft of content deals including an eight-show agreement with US producer Blumhouse TV, a comedy partnership with Viacom and a sixth season of its drama Bosch.

The pact with Blumhouse Television, which is behind USA Networks’ The Purge and Showtime’s Secure & Hold: The Last Days of Roger Ailes, will see eight interconnected feature-length thrillers being produced. They will all be made available via Amazon’s Prime Video service around the world.

It marks Amazon Studios’ first arrangement that will see movie-length shows produced directly for its global streamer and will allow Blumhouse to “empower underrepresented filmmakers” according to the producer’s founder, Jason Blum.

“We are delighted Amazon is entrusting Blumhouse to deliver its signature thrills and chills to its global audience through this deal,” he said, adding his company would ensure underrepresented filmmakers were able to offer “a fresh take on the dark genres loved by fans the world over.”

Meanwhile, Amazon has struck an exclusive streaming deal that will make Brazilian comedies Homens? and Dani Who? available via its service worldwide.

The shows have been created by Viacom International Studios’ Brazilian comedy producer Porta dos Fundos. Homens? follows four very close friends who are dealing with understanding what it means to be a man and is slated to premiere in 2019, while Dani Who? features a woman and her friends as they investigate their shared origins after the disappearance of a friend.

Finally, Amazon Studios has renewed its long-running detective drama Bosch for a sixth season before the fifth has premiered.

The series, based on crime writer Michael Connelly’s bestselling novels about a homicide detective, is produced by Los Angeles outfit Fabrik Entertainment, a label of German multi-national entertainment outfit Red Arrow Studios.