In an interview with Vanity Fair, Viggo Mortensen criticized Amazon/MGM for their total disrespect towards Ron Howard’s 2022 movie “Thirteen Lives.” If you remember, the film had very high test scores, was being positioned for awards season and then, suddenly, the streamer decided to just give it a global streaming launch in August.
Mortensen starred in the well-reviewed Thai cave rescue drama, opposite Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, and he insists that it’s a “really good movie” that MGM intended to give a full blown theatrical release to after “they did their test screenings for that movie and got the highest scores in the history of that studio.”
“They were going to put it out worldwide in many, many, many thousands of theaters,” Mortensen said. “Then Amazon bought MGM, initially promised to respect the deal that MGM had made with Ron Howard, and then they went back on that. 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. It’s a really well-shot movie.”
“Thirteen Lives” only opened in only a handful of theaters on July 29, 2022 and, just the week after that, was available to stream on Prime Video on Aug. 5, 2022.
“They have all their excuses for why they did that, but it comes down to greed,” Mortensen said about Amazon. “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.”
“For a guy with such a storied career like Ron Howard, who has made so much money for studios, who was so deservedly well-recognized as a filmmaker historically — to do that to a guy like him I think is appalling,” the actor added. “He’s a very nice guy, so he hasn’t gone out there complaining about it, but I’m happy to do it for him. I’m not speaking for him, I’m just speaking for myself. I think it was shameful what they did.”
“Thirteen Lives” had these incredible test-screening reactions that MGM decided to schedule the film’s release for November 18, 2022, right at the thick of the awards season schedule. Then, Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion in March 2022 and moved the film’s release date to the dog days of August.
Despite the dump, “Thirteen Lives” still managed to get some rousing reactions at Academy screenings in October 2022. Paul Thomas Anderson even came out in support of the film by saying it was ““absolutely [my] favorite film of 2022.”
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