Amazon.com Inc. CEO Andy Jassy has demanded a detailed budget analysis after a number of recent shows including Priyanka Chopra starrer Citadel derailed in the market, a Bloomberg report said.
He has been "scrutinizing the studio’s ballooning costs and mixed track record with audiences", it said.
The outlet reported that 27,000 people will be laid off from Amazon as part of cost-cutting and that nearly 37 “unnecessary” productions have been killed.
In the past nine months, Amazon's original shows such as Daisy Jones & the Six, The Power, Dead Ringers, and The Peripheral all cost more than USD 100 million to produce but failed to make it to Nielsen’s list of the 10 most-watched streaming programs in the US.
Citadel is a spy thriller series that was released on 28 April with a massive star cast including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, and Stanley Cummings.
In the show, Richard and Priyanka play spies who are part of the independent global spy agency Citadel. It gets destroyed by the Manticore, a powerful syndicate, and the agents' memories get wiped. They then embark on a mission around the world to stop Manticore.
Josh Appelbaum ('Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'), Bryan Oh, and David Weil created the series for Amazon Prime Video, with 'Marvel' films fame Russo brothers acting as executive producers.
The series is a passion project of Jen Salke's, who leads the studio, and who wanted "a global series that could take place in multiple locations and lead to country-specific spinoffs." An Indian version of Citadel directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan is under production while an Italian adaptation is already ready.
The first season of Citadel was intended to have a budget of USD 20 million per episode and run for eight episodes but the budget ballooned due to cost overruns caused by the pandemic as well as a creative overhaul (Russo Brothers Anthony and Joseph insisted on several reshoots.) Only six episodes were aired in the end.
However, the first season was produced with an estimated budget that was above USD 300 million (nearly Rs 2,500 crores), making it the second-most expensive show after The Rings of Power.
Joe Russo has been appointed as the sole director of the second season of Citadel, reportedly receiving a payment of USD 25 million for it.
Head of drama series Odetta Watkins admitted to Bloomberg: “Citadel needs time to grow in the US as the audience have become jaded.”
Even The Rings of Power (budget: USD 400 million-plus) failed to hold on to most of its viewers over the course of the season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Last year, Amazon spent USD 7 billion on producing original shows, licensed programs, and sports content while Netflix and Disney spent more on streaming, Bloomberg said.
Amazon escapes scrutiny as it doesn’t report detailed financial results for its studio or Prime, the report added.