Amazon announced this week that Jennifer Salke has resigned as head of Amazon MGM Studios.
To be clear, Salke boss Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, praised her work in an email to employees, describing her departure as allowing us to “flat down our leadership structure a little.”
In other words, Amazon is not going to fill in the role of Salke. Instead, the head of the film and television studio reports directly to Hopkins.
However, reports on Salke’s departure highlight the streaming of disappointment and challenges under Amazon’s leadership. Salke, a former NBC executive, joined Amazon Studios in 2018.
Since then, streamers have achieved successes such as “Reacher,” “Jack Ryan,” “Fallout,” and “Boys.” We also placed a big bet on “Lord of the Rings: Power of Power.” The show premiered an Amazon record-breaking audience, but it hasn’t proven to be a phenomenon that conquer the world you want with a budget of over $1 billion.
And then there’s the spy show “Citadel,” designed as the epicenter of the fictional universe of global spinoffs like “Citadel: Diana” and “Citadel: Honey Bunny.” The extensive re-shooting reportedly transformed “The Citadel” into the second most expensive show ever made (behind only the “Ring of Power”), but the reception was even more overwhelming. The Hollywood Reporter says the second season will be delayed from fall 2025 to spring 2026, with more spinoffs pending.
Amazon struggled to lead another James Bond film into production following the acquisition of MGM in 2022. Producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (long-time Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli was her father) maintained creative control of the franchise, and a December Wall Street Journal report even reported that Barbara Broccoli, a supposed customer of Amazon, had described the tech giant as “dumb” as “content” when Barbara hit bard.
According to another source, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was angry at WSJ’s story about broccoli, declaring, “I’ll drive her away, what it doesn’t need,” and then paid Wilson and Broccoli to give up control.
Salke’s name was significantly lacking from the announcement of Amazon’s victory in bond trading. However, she starts a new film and television production company with her first appearance deal on Amazon.
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