Viggo Mortensenisn’t pulling any punchesabout Amazon’s decision to pull one of his movies from theaters early and release it on Prime Video. The film in question is the Ron Howard directedThirteen Lives, which was slated for a limited theatrical run in 2022. However, the film’s time in theaters was very limited,as Amazon made the decision to pull the film early in order to release it on their streaming service. Mortensen, best known for playing Aragorn inThe Lord of the Rings, starred in Ron Howard’s acclaimed movie about the rescue of a trapped Thai soccer team, and had nothing but condemnation over the way the film’s release was handled by Amazon MGM Studios.
Speaking toVanity Fair, Mortensen held nothing back as he took shotsat Jeff Bezosand the executives at Amazon who he says prioritized profits and greed over the cinematic experience. The actor started off by setting the stage, saying he believes that theaters are still the best place to watch movies. Mortensen said:
“There are less slots for these films to be shown in movie theaters. Call me old-fashioned, but I like seeing movies in movie theaters - and I like people seeing my movies in theaters.”
After amping himself up, Mortensen let out a verbal barrage on Bezos and the executives behind the questionable decision to pullThirteen Livesearly from theaters. Mortensen continued:
“They have all their excuses for why they did that, but it comes down to greed. How much money do you need? I think Amazon could certainly have respected the deal, as they said they were going to, and released it widely in theaters and let it have its run. And then they could have also made money streaming. But they figured it would be more cost-effective - i.e., they would make more money - if they didn’t have to bother with spending money on promoting it and putting in theaters, and sharing that money with theaters, frankly. That’s what it comes down to. To me, it’s greed.”
Viggo Mortensen Was Left Confused After the Release Change
Sadly, in the modern age of streaming, companies shifting their release strategy to cut overall costs isn’t anything new. Prime Video were criticized by fans, and the director, of theRoad Houseremake for cancelingits theatrical release in favor of streaming. Looking back at the handling ofThirteen Lives' release, Viggo Mortensen wasn’t just angry, he was left feeling incredibly confused.
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Thirteen Liveswas well received by critics and audiences, holding astrong 85% on Rotten Tomatoes(with an even stronger 94% audience score). But Mortensen already knew that audiences would love the film, thanks to early test screenings. The screenings gave incredibly positive results, which were heavily in favor of a cinematic release. Mortensen explained:
“That was a movie that MGM made, and when they did their test screenings for that movie, they got the highest scores in the history of that studio, and they got really excited and decided that that year, that November, they were going to put it out worldwide in many, many, many thousands of theaters. Basically, you saw that movie for a week in Chicago, New York, and LA, London, and that was that. Then you had the streaming, which I thought was really sad.”
Thirteen Livesis available to stream onPrime Video.
Thirteen Lives
A rescue mission in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding. Ron Howard directs and Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, and Viggo Mortensen star.
