SEATTLE, 2016-Oct-12 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon Studios today (Oct. 11, 2016) announced that the Amazon Original Movie Love & Friendship will be available through Amazon Prime Video at no additional cost to Prime members on October 20. The acclaimed film based on a novella by Jane Austen is written and directed by Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco), stars Kate Beckinsale (Underworld, Pearl Harbor), Chloë Sevigny(Boys Don’t Cry, Big Love), Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Fury), Emma Greenwell (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Shameless) and Tom Bennett (Mascots, PhoneShop), and produced by Katie Holly (Citadel, Shrooms) and Lauranne Bourrachot (A Prophet, Sleepless Night), and co-produced by Raymond van der Kaaij (They Have Escaped, 22nd of May) and Marco Cherqui (A Prophet, Sleepless Night).
Love & Friendship premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was released in theaters on May 13, 2016 to great critical response. The film is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes where it maintains a 98% Fresh rating. Here’s what some have said about the film:
- “As adaptations go, this is a match made in heaven”– Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
- “It’s the Whit Stillman movie that some of us have been waiting a long time for, and also a Jane Austen movie that goes some way toward correcting the record of dull and dutiful cinematic Janeism.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
- “The sharpest, least sentimental and possibly the best version of Austen yet.” – Farran Smith Nehme, The New York Post
- “The language, a lyrical blend of Jane Austen and Whit Stillman, bewitches even as it stings. A sublime Kate Beckinsale digs into the role of her career. Pure pleasure.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- “A supremely elegant and delicately filigreed adaptation of Jane Austen’s epistolary novella “Lady Susan.” – Justin Chang, Variety
“Love & Friendship brings to life Jane Austen’s novella in a captivating comedic style thanks to Whit Stillman’s unique voice and filmmaking coupled with amazing acting by Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny,” said Jason Ropell, Worldwide Head of Motion Pictures, Amazon Studios. “We’re thrilled that after a successful theatrical run, the Amazon Original Movie will be available this month for our Prime members to stream and enjoy.”
Beautiful, young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Beckinsale) visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica (Clark). In doing so she attracts the simultaneous attentions of the young, handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Samuel), the rich and silly Sir James Martin(Bennett) and the divinely handsome, but married, Lord Manwaring, complicating matters severely.
Not available on any other subscription services, Love & Friendship will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Prime members will also be able to download the film to mobile devices for offline viewing. Love & Friendship joins Prime Video’s line-up of award-winning and critically acclaimed Original Series and Movies—to see more originals available exclusively for Prime members visit www.amazon.com/originals.
Customers who are not already Prime members can sign-up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
About Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios launched in 2010 as a new way to develop feature films and episodic series—one that’s open to great ideas from creators and audiences around the world. Anyone can upload a script online for Amazon Studios to review, and those who choose to make their projects public can also receive feedback from the Amazon Studios community. First announced in January 2015, Amazon Original Movies is an initiative by Amazon Studios to produce and acquire original movies for theatrical release and early window distribution exclusively for Prime members. Like Amazon Original Series, Amazon Original Movies focuses on unique stories, voices, and characters from top and up-and-coming creators. In 2015 Amazon Studios released its first film, Chi-Raq from critically acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee. Chi-Raq is now available for Prime members to stream exclusively. This year, Amazon Studios will release, in theaters, Kenneth Longergan’s Manchester By The Sea on November 18th and Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson on December 28th.
About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:
- Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV episodes, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Chi-Raq and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership
- Add-on Subscriptions: Dozens of subscriptions to networks like SHOWTIME, STARZ and more, available to Amazon Prime members as add-ons to their membership
- Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
- Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
- Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of certain content
In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items across all categories, more than one million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, early access to select Lightning Deals all year long, free secure, unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos, one free pre-released book a month with Kindle First, and more. To sign up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.
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Source: Amazon.com, Inc.