Ben Affleck’s critically acclaimed Air will become available to stream on Amazon Prime Video on May 12 after an exclusive run in theaters across the world.
The star-packed period sports drama, which has sparked early Oscar buzz, marks a new era for Amazon Studios in terms of how it releases certain original titles. Instead of sending Air straight to streaming, the studio has agreed to abide by a traditional theatrical window to give the movie a robust run in thousands of theaters.
Air will have played exclusively on the big screen for 39 days when it premieres on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Written by Alex Convery, Air‘s cast is led by Matt Damon, Viola Davis Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Matthew Maher, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker and Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler. (Affleck also stars.)
Damon portrays former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, while Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight in a story involving Nike’s long-shot effort to sign rising superstar basketball player Michael Jordan to a shoe contract in the mid-’80s, an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time but, thanks to the maverick sneaker salesman, would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete ever, launching the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry. Davis plays Deloris Jordan.
Air‘s global box office gross to date is $70.2 million, including $47.6 million domestically and $31.6 million overseas. The film cost $90 million to produce before marketing (that does not account for the additional tens of millions Amazon paid to take the project off the table).
The film is backed by Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures. It’s also the first project from Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, in addition to marking the first time Affleck directed a feature starring his longtime pal Damon.
Amazon handled Air‘s release in North America, while Warner Bros. International has overseas duties per its distribution pact with MGM.
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