Technology is saving Hollywood – though not what you might think of.

Back in 2022, e-commerce giant and relative film studio Amazon promised to spend about $1 billion a year on drama releases, a figure that would fund 12 to 15 movies a year. Today, it seems ready to be delivered.

Earlier this month, the company operated streaming platform Prime Video and recently acquired MGM Studios, which he took the stage at Cinemacon in Las Vegas to promote its lineup of films made only for the big screen.

Amazon’s inaugural speech at the Cinema United annual conference (formerly known as the National Association of Theater Owners) praised exhibitors, marketers and the media for attending the conference along with Flashy Trailers and First-Office videos from the upcoming films Project Hail Mary, Hunting and Verity.

It also brought Ryan Gosling, Andrew Garfield, Julia Roberts, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, Hugh Jackman and Michael B.

“I think the speech is incredible,” said Brock Bagby, president and chief content, programming and development officer at B&B Theater. “In their first year, they stopped.”

While the studio didn’t have full clips of more than 12 films until 2026, it has steadily invested in dramatic content over the past few years. Amazon has an extensive release, the film aired over 2,000 theaters in 2023 and five films in 2024. This year, Amazon has only four broad releases on the calendar so far, but the company is scheduled to have 14 in 2026 and 16 in 2027.

The surge in drama content is exactly what the domestic box office needs. Although blockbuster franchise films have been abundant after the pandemic, the overall total releases have shrunk over the past decade. Hollywood makes fewer and fewer movies each year, according to COMScore, even before the Covid and Dual Bollywood labor strikes slowed down production.

Medium-sized films (usually in the drama, comedy and romantic comedy genres) began to disappear in the mid-2010s as studios tried to invest in larger budget franchises, which could lead to higher profits. Since then, relatively low-budget movies have been primarily redirected to streaming platforms in order to stock these services into more affordable content.

Analysts predict that domestic box office lost about $1 billion in ticket sales each year due to this shift.

Meanwhile, studios are changing their movie slate, and cinemas are being merged. The latest combination between Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox was first announced in 2017 and completed in early 2019, resulting in 10 to 15 movies released each year, according to COMScore.

In 2015, 20th Century Fox released 17 films. It has released less than six titles every year after receiving the pandemic and strikes.

"Due to the merger of some studios, output has declined in the past few years, and there is less potential for box office and franchise sales," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. "More importantly, cinemas need new movies to attract customers into the auditorium."

Amazon’s commitment to drama, and the emergence of smaller studios like Neon and the A24 should help bridge the gap in the acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

"They fill the gap we're missing from Fox, which is really exciting, and it looks like Fox's slate, where there are some big titles, but a lot of them mid-range," Bagby said.

What industry experts have found is that box office strength depends not only on the success of the franchise movies—superhero movies, big budget action tickets, etc., but also on the huge volume and diversity of the content.

There is a direct correlation between the number of drama releases and the intensity of the entire box office. During the pandemic, the decline in box office ticket sales was largely a lockdown step, while the percentage of movie releases fell.

“The number of movies released continues to move in the right direction,” said Michael O'Leary, CEO of Cinema United. “When we took into account the widespread release of 2,000 or more locations, we saw 94 last year, but we expect at least 110 in 2025. In addition, the publisher has secured a release date until 2028 for films with rich commercial potential.”