‘Elvis and Nixon’ Acquired as Amazon’s First Theatrical Release

Netflix made its first original film acquisition a few months ago with Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation, which will also mark the company’s first theatrical release. Following in their footsteps, Amazon has also stepped their game up, acquiring the distribution rights to the upcoming film Elvis and Nixon, starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey.

Deadline reports that Amazon has reached an agreement with Bleecker Street for domestic distribution rights to the film. Amazon has been perpetually following in the footsteps of Netflix, first entering into original programming, and now making a foray into original films. Netflix recently announced that it would fully fund the upcoming film War Machine, directed by Animal Kingdom’s David Michod and starring Brad Pitt. They also plan to release Beasts of No Nation theatrically and via their streaming service later this year.

Amazon is not far behind — Elvis and Nixon is their first (of presumably many) original film acquisitions, following the company’s entrance into original programming, punctuated with the acclaimed dramatic hit Transparent.

Elvis and Nixon, as the title suggests, tells the story of the famous meeting between President Nixon and Elvis Presley in 1970. That meeting yielded some of the more interesting photographs in the history of the White House, and the stories surrounding it are fascinating. Shannon plays the iconic singer, while Spacey plays the former president. The film is produced by Cary Elwes and directed by Liza Johnston, who previously helmed the Kristen Wiig drama Hateship, Loveship.