Here are the details on Amazon's first theatrical film

Steven Loeb · July 15, 2015 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/3ec7

Called Chi-Raq, it is directed by Spike Lee and will likely hit theaters later this year

Now that online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have conquered traditional television, with Amazon even taking home a statue for Best Series at the Golden Globes in January, now those services are setting their sights on much bigger screens.

Amazon, in particular, has made it clear that it has big plans in mind, and now we finally have some details on what its first distributed movie will look like.

The first-ever Amazon Original Movie is a Spike Lee movie called Chi-Raq (though that title sounds like it might be changed) the company revealed on Wednesday. The movie will star Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Hudson, Teyonah Parris, D.B. Sweeney, Harry Lennix, Steve Harris, Angela Bassett, along with John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

The film, which was shot entirely in Chicago, wrapped production last week.

Chi-Raq will presumably be the first of many movies made by Amazon Studios, as the company revealed earlier this year that it wants to create roughly 12 movies a year, a pretty ambitious goal.

There are some key details missing right now, most important when the movie's theatrical launch date will be. Considering the names attached to the film, and the timing of the announcement, it wouldn't be surprising if Amazon was planning on a launch to coincide with awards season.

VatorNews reached out to Amazon for more details regarding the release of Chi-Raq, but a company spokeperson would only say that "there is no confirmed date yet."

The company also did not reveal who it was partnering with to distribute the film, with Bob Berney, Head of Marketing and Distribution at Amazon Studios, saying that “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.”

The other thing that Amazon fails to mention is how long the movie will be running in theaters before it premieres on the company's online video service. In Amazon's original plans it noted that its released would received early window distribution on Amazon Prime Instant Video; they would premiere only four to eight weeks after debuting in theaters, as opposed to the 39 to 52 weeks it usually takes for movies to premiere on subscription video services.

This is an important detail, because the time between theatrical release and when movies hit VOD, has been a bit of a contentious issue for theater owners.

Netflix, which has already found itself in contention for multiple Oscars for its documentaries over the couple of years, ran into this problem last year when got the rights to produce a sequel to the early 2000's martial arts hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's plan was to release the film on its website, and in IMAX theaters, on the same day. The operators of the majority of those screens balked at the idea.

AMC, Regal and Cinemark, which together operate 247 of the 400 IMAX theaters in North America, said that they would refuse to show the film, which is set to come out in August of this year, voicing their opposition to the idea of having it released on-demand on the same day.

The shortened time between theatrical release and the release of movies on home video has become a contentious issue in Hollywood; its one of the reasons that theaters saw their lowest number of patrons in two decades.

A good month, or two month, run, however, might be more appeasing to theater owners, despite the fact that it will still likely cause many people to simply wait out the short period before streaming it on their computer.

(Image source: aaobserveronline.com)